Several weeks ago I read an article about the tangata whenua of Bolivia being forced off their lands, their houses and farms being distroyed and even worse - being killed or murdered by the Government's troops. That same evening I went to bed and as I went to sleep I saw a small boy standing in a wooden hutt.
He must've been as small as a 6 or 7 year old but the look on his face totally shook me - there was very little or no life left in his eyes whatsoever. The look of total trauma on his face and in his eyes was something I'd never ever seen before. Automatically I remembered the Bolivia incident and then realised he must have been a victim.
I also noticed there were no friends and family around so he was obviously on his own - either having to face the prospect of living a life on his own, or having to face the possibility of his spirit moving onto te ao wairua with no-one to guide him.
I knew all I could do was give him the love and confidence he needed to make whatever steps were ahead of him - even though at the age of 6 or 7 no child should have to make that decision - let alone do it on their own.
So, in my mind I began to focus all my attention on him and repeated one, single, phrase continuously, over-and-over again with the aim of the intent of my message to become stronger and stronger, 'I wish for you comfort and hope, I wish for you comfort and hope, I wish for you comfort and hope'
All of a sudden the scenery changed and there he was, laid out in a white coffin, and there were people wearing white all around him, and then his parents came forward - all dressed in white, and laid white garlands of flowers at my feet. I did some research several days later about Bolivian funeral customs and read that white is a colour of mourning there.
For a while after I was a little shaken as I had hoped the little boy would continue on and live some sort of semblence of a life but I'm beginning to realise that whether an individual is alive or not - one of the main purposes is to bring peace to an individual.
I guess we re-joice for those who manage to pull through these dilemmas and if they don't, then the ancestors and everyone else re-joices at the other end when they come through there?!
He must've been as small as a 6 or 7 year old but the look on his face totally shook me - there was very little or no life left in his eyes whatsoever. The look of total trauma on his face and in his eyes was something I'd never ever seen before. Automatically I remembered the Bolivia incident and then realised he must have been a victim.
I also noticed there were no friends and family around so he was obviously on his own - either having to face the prospect of living a life on his own, or having to face the possibility of his spirit moving onto te ao wairua with no-one to guide him.
I knew all I could do was give him the love and confidence he needed to make whatever steps were ahead of him - even though at the age of 6 or 7 no child should have to make that decision - let alone do it on their own.
So, in my mind I began to focus all my attention on him and repeated one, single, phrase continuously, over-and-over again with the aim of the intent of my message to become stronger and stronger, 'I wish for you comfort and hope, I wish for you comfort and hope, I wish for you comfort and hope'
All of a sudden the scenery changed and there he was, laid out in a white coffin, and there were people wearing white all around him, and then his parents came forward - all dressed in white, and laid white garlands of flowers at my feet. I did some research several days later about Bolivian funeral customs and read that white is a colour of mourning there.
For a while after I was a little shaken as I had hoped the little boy would continue on and live some sort of semblence of a life but I'm beginning to realise that whether an individual is alive or not - one of the main purposes is to bring peace to an individual.
I guess we re-joice for those who manage to pull through these dilemmas and if they don't, then the ancestors and everyone else re-joices at the other end when they come through there?!
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