A MYTH is what we generally term in pijin ‘Kastom Story’.
And I remember an anthropologist, a dear friend of mine, who collected kastom stories from my island many years ago.
Most of these stories were about trees, animals, birds and fish, the sun and the moon and stars, rain and wind, and the sea.
When he was collecting these stories one old man told him that these are stories we tell our children – as bed-time stories, as entertainment stories when we sit about in our houses, or as stories for them when we take them out working in our gardens, in the forest or at the coast.
I remember this anthropologist telling me that, in anthropological research fashion he feigned surprise by this piece of information, and he asked this old man why we tell these stories to our children.
The old man told him, “So that our children can learn everything about life and when they grow up they will know exactly what to do and how – when they build houses and canoes, make gardens and go out fishing, and how to live together.”
My anthropologist friend told me he felt very embarrassed with himself for pretending to be surprised when he asked.
But this is what myths are about – to help us learn everything we need in order to live better lives.
And this is why it is very important that myths are told with care and responsibility – because they impact on the real lives of real people.
In Solomon Islands life, traditional and contemporary, we are very familiar with myth-telling and myth-making.
In fact we are very familiar with the organic metamorphoses of myths in our daily lives where some traditional stories get told with a contemporary slant, and some contemporary stories are re-told with certain exaggeration and even deliberate misinformation.
Or, in Honiara you may hear a particular joke-story, and when you go to another part of the country you hear the same story but with a slight difference – to suit that island setting or to suit the particular gathering you find yourself in.
Again, this is why when we put out kastom stories to our people we need to put them out with care and responsibility, and not with anger and reprisal in mind – because myths run and work through society the very same way blood runs and works through the body!
When we live our lives in accordance to positive myths we bless ourselves with life abundance and positive relationships.
But when we twist fate with negative myths we create poison, evil witchcraft.
We are all very familiar with these from our village settings, in Greek and Egyptian myths and in a lot of Bible stories.
Once again, this is why we have to be responsible and careful when we develop and expand on myths about the people of this country.
Any myth that gets developed around any of our groups in the country – whether positive or negative – absolutely encapsulates that group.
If you base that myth on lying about that particular group, or blinding them, any further explanation or expansion only dig that lie or blinding effort deeper.
On the other hand, a myth based on goodness and light, based on encouraging a group to look up and move forward, helps the group toward ‘deliverance’ and ‘emancipation’.
I am very sure Christians are familiar with this.
I have recently had the privilege to attend a gathering of leaders and elders of Western Province in a provincial feedback on the ongoing drafting process of the Federal Constitution.
We must all admit we are on this journey together, pulled into contemplation and planning together by necessity engrained in our colonial and national history and locations – if nothing else – through this myth of democracy and its detail implications on democratization for us as communities and island groups.
And this gathering was impressive – highly qualified and experienced leaders and well-meaning elders – all positively charged with the intention and responsibility to leave behind a legacy of meaningful governance for the people here.
I was personally touched by the sense of responsibility and care carried by all concerned, and the raw honesty demanded in all the deliberations.
I was particularly enlightened by the detail resolves decided on.
Democratisation is a myth we are very familiar with – even within our traditional organisational processes.
And democracy is another myth, but more recently introduced to us as a governance underpinning.
The distinction between the two is often confusing in our national government work – particularly because of a democracy that has been centralised in Honiara.
And this gathering of leaders and elders was very certain of its stance to ensure that the democracy we have taken on board for our national governing system must enshrine the democratisation process for all our island groups and communities.
This way we ensure our democracy will accommodate our various cultures and values.
What this means is this introduced myth of democracy must accommodate our own myths – some traditional and some also introduced but well-entrenched into our communities.
These include our tribal and chief systems, our women and children, our churches and all other details about our land, sea and airspace around us.
In short, this Western Provincial Feedback meeting was impressive and heartening – to know the thinking about our governance and people is carried with responsibility and care.
It is my sincere hope that what comes out of such gatherings in our other eight provinces, and the ensuing National Convention, will demonstrate and accommodate this same sense of responsibility and care I witnessed here.
By ANGIKINUI FRANCIS
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