Our most precious resource
Gas sniffing.
A huge problem. No doubt about it right?
But I have to ask, what’s being done? I mean, what is really, really being done to stop First Nation kids from continuing this gruesome habit that eats away at the brain? Do we know the long-term affects of gas sniffing?
It can’t be good, to say the least.
Recently, I happened across an article on CBC online. The Pauingassi First Nation in northeastern Manitoba has taken measures to curb gas sniffing among youth in the community. And by all accounts, they have succeeded.
How did they do it? Well, let’s say they went above and beyond what was needed. “An enormous effort,” says the CBC article.
They invested in their youth by sending them to treatment and by providing cultural programs in the community. They invested, not only money, but also time and effort.
Inspiring.
If only other First Nations can do the same. Not that I’m saying other communities don’t care for their youth.
But what made this community different is band leadership stepped up to the plate to provide resources for the community to heal itself. The need for action came from WITHIN the community.
Too often, First Nation workers become bogged down in community politics. And with so many issues at hand to deal with on a daily basis, sometimes we all lose sight of our most precious resource.
Our youth.
So I ask again: What are we really doing to protect our most precious resource?
1 comment:
There are a number of communities who despite best efforts are caught in cycles of abuse that are not easily relinquished with treatment alone. It's not only the children who need to heal...but their parents, uncles, aunties, grandparents, etc. The community as a whole has to commit to change. EVERYONE has to want to heal. Indigenous peoples ARE their communities...meaning people can only find a well beaten path, and if there aren't enough people walking on it...you get little effect, and find yourself not getting far on paths to healing. I suppose then that this less beaten path is what most of our communities are travelling on. I believe nothing can change if the adults in a community cannot set a positive example for the youth.
Gas huffing, alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, etc, etc, are all symptoms of greater problems, historical problems. The issues so big, the diseases so embedded that it almost appears hopeless at times! Huffing and the like are only symptoms of bigger issues.
I think the bigger question to ask is not what are we doing, but first: what am I doing?? Set an example of biimadziwin and facilitate a ripple effect. A people so entrenched in dependency need to be led to the watering hole to drink. Certainly the a bi part of these dependencies has to do with lack of identity, voids in the lives of people who no longer know who they are, or where they in. So disconnected from who they are, yet so different from main stream, that hitting the bottle, the rag, the pipe, what ever...is easier than trying to figure the REAL problem out.
We've got to look at living on the other side of fear as my good friend T says...be brave enough to be who you are, embrace your true self and hang on. Part of the problem is just not having the guts to be Indian! LOL I know that sounds terrible, but it's true. Reassertion of tradition, culture, and being who we are is necessary...but real steps, real attempts to reassert tradition. Not half-ass government funded programs that really just tighten that noose of dependency.
I have far too much to say about too many things where Anishinabe peoples are concerned. I fear I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here! Apologies. But kudos, this is a good conversation to initiate.
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