Sam McKechnie

I am tryung to raise money in an attempt to reach Peru, and to meet with the good people of Takiwasi, a rehabilitation centre run by renowned MD and curandero (traditional curer) Dr. Jacques Mabit, who uses Western science and traditional healing methods to treat social and cultural diseases that have devastatingly effected indigenous populations worldwide.

Since colonisation, the Indigenous peoples of Australia have been subject to countless atrocities at the hands of European colonisers, the effects of which are still evident in Indigenous people today. The loss of culture and identity, and the inherited psychological damage of generations of being made to feel less than human have resulted in drug and alcohol abuse of endemic proportions among indigenous Australians.

I myself can testify to the fact that the effects of colonisation are still very much present in young indigenous people. Despite the fact that I grew up with alot of drug and alcohol abuse around, and became very resentful of that lifestyle, I eventually made my own progression into drug and alcohol abuse. It seemed like harmless fun till the birth of my daughter (now 14 months old), at which point I decided I didn't want to raise a family in that kind of environment. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to distance myself from that lifestyle; the "harmless fun" fun with friends had very quickly spiralled out of control.

Luckily, through a chance meeting I came to work with Simon Green who is a curer who has worked with Indigenous communities in both Australia and South America. In the course of that work, I’ve discovered, often using traditional means , many of the mechanisms which have driven me, and many like me, to overlay my existing wounds with new ones caused by addiction. I have come to realise that cultural wounding can be hereditary, and that the majority of Australia's Indigenous peoples still bear the trauma of the atrocities that were inflicted on our people in the past.

This inherited wounding goes unacknowledged in modern medical practise, and indeed society at large, despite millions of dollars being spent on policies and public health systems which have largely failed in Indigenous communities. When these ill-informed policies continually fail, the natural knee-jerk reaction of Government policy becomes punitive; the Indigenous people are being punished for bearing the wounds and negative effects of the atrocities that have been inflicted on us by the very same governement bodies in the past.

This is where I would like to ask for your help. This work with Simon has led to an introduction to Dr. Jacques Mabitt. Dr. Mabitt has for many years combined traditional and modern modalities of healing to treat addiction, with a success rate much higher than that of conventional therapies that continually fail the indigenous peoples of Australia, and I have seen through my own research the extent to which indigenous peoples of Peru have incorporated aspects of colonialism into their traditional medicines and culture, in order to forge a new manner of curing the ill effects of colonisation.

I have been successful in turning my own life around to create something better for my family, but recognise that I still have a long way to go, and likely could never have done it on my own. And because of this I feel a duty to give my best to explore new avenues of treatment when the old methods have so tragically failed. There are many more young men and women in this country like me who want something better than the inherited sickness and cultural wounding of our forefathers. This is a chance for you to help make a difference.

As mentioned above, this trip is about establishing relationship in the hope of engendering a cross-cultural relationship. If the funding is not acquired, this may not ever come to fruition, and perhaps an opportunity will be lost for both the peoples of Peru, and here in Australia.