"Indigenous people and their beliefs are to this very day viewed by the dominate society at large as second-class castes. Indigenous identity is still perceived as a novelty, feathers in the hair, painted faces, dancing in circles or hugging trees. As individuals, these people are rarely seen for their true selves, nor are they recognized for their accomplishments or contributions. They are the world's first doctors, chemists, pharmacists, ecosystem managers and technicians, educators, and humanitarians. Today, however, the identity and value of a doctor, scientist or technician is judged more often by the number of framed degrees prominently displayed on a wall-not by centuries of tested and proven indigenous methodologies which are in many cases superior to their synthetic and/or high-tech counterparts, and also far less expensive." Artwork of Indigenous People in Canada - UN Photo 9307-3202/John Isaac "The incorrect belief is that the data is more important than the people who hold it. Traditional indigenous peoples are not just databases to squeeze and discard once science and large multinationals have extracted what they believe are the only important elements of their cultures. The data or indigenous knowledge base is valuable only as long as the living system of knowledge exists. Data is only viable if the people who have the expertise to use it are still alive. People make the system, not the data in and of itself." So wrote Lahe'ena'e Gay, Chairwomen and President of the Pacific Cultural Conservancy, who was killed in March this year by abductors who had kidnapped her while she was visiting Colombia. As the United Nations reaches the mid-point of the International Decades of the World's Indigenous People and for Human Rights Education (both 1995-2004), the Chronicle is privileged to publish these excerpts from a paper she presented to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development on 10 April 1997.

A long, long time ago, when men and women mingled with the deities of earth and sky, one of the demi-gods who dwelled in the clouds woke from a sound sleep. As he stretched and looked over his ethereal perch, there on the mountain top, he saw his woman embracing another man. In a rage he leapt down upon the earth, picked up the man he believed to be his rival and threw him down on the top of a nearby hill. With a stroke of his hand, he turned him into a large phallic stone. The demi-god then picked up his wife and, throwing her to the base of the hill, turned her to stone in the shape of a vulva.

As the demi-god looked at what he had done, he realized that his actions were based on presumption, not fact. Was the man his wife's lover or merely a friend with whom she shared a friendly embrace? To question it now was too late, for his actions could not be undone. As all elements of indigenous life, including the lives of deities, exist in circular motion, the demi-god knew he was required to provide balance for the shift in time and space he had created.

The demi-god placed his hands upon the stone which was, but a few moments before, his wife and made a decree: "As long as this stone sits above the earth in the full light of the sun and moon, the male stone which stands atop this hill will have the power to impregnate mortal women for all time." He then vanished into the skies above. For hundreds of years, women who were unable to nourish the seeds of life within their wombs came to the great phallic stone to receive the gift of motherhood. Today, this stone is known as Nanahoa.

Women approach the stone on full or new moons, give a small offering, stand on the high point of Nanahoa and ask to be impregnated with the seed of life. In 1995, a woman was told by numerous doctors that she was sterile and would never be capable of having children naturally. Their basis of opinion came from multiple scientific tests over a period of several years. The woman, greatly distressed, went to see an old Hawaiian aunt. Auntie explained to her niece that she had one option open to her. "Go and see the great stone on the hill, he will give you a child." The woman was appalled, "I am Christian, how can I do such a thing?" Her aunt sternly replied, "you are the origin of your ancestors first, everything else comes second. To deny the power of your heritage is to deny your very existence."

The woman spent many days trying to decide what to do. She finally embraced the wisdom of her aunt's advice. Preparing a small offering, she ventured up the hill and completed the ritual of Nanahoa. Within a few weeks she was pregnant. Soon another obstacle appeared. The woman's husband, who was in the navy, returned home. But he had been at sea for two months prior to his wife's impregnation. He believed that she had been unfaithful and went to live on his ship.

When the woman cried to her aunt, the old woman called the husband to her home. She gave him a stern scolding. "Who are you to say that the ways of our ancient ancestors have no truths. Are you so sure that only doctors and science have the cures and remedies for the world. Would you believe the doctors and not allow life to grow in the womb of the woman you profess to love?

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