PATA WAI
Words by Te Huihui o Matariki Chí Huy Tran (he/him; Taranaki, Te iwi o Maruwharanui)
CW: Cyclone Gabrielle
Water is one of the most important elements to all beings on earth. It is sacred to many cultures. In my family, us Vietnamese consider the ocean surrounding us to be the ancient root of life, wisdom, and wealth. That ocean births and feeds, gives and takes. Every drop of water is a treasure, and as far as I can remember that was the first knowledge my elders ever passed down to me. In Te ao Māori, we consider water to be just as tapu, every body of water has its own mauri and wairua. Each individual has a connection to their roto, awa, and moana. Nō reira, acknowledging te mana o te wai is indispensable.
“Ko Oakura me Waitara ōku awa
Ko au te wai, ko te wai ko au”
As the climate continues to change, the intensity of storms is likely to increase. A warmer climate increases rainfall, hence sea level continues to rise. Those effects together add up to a greater possibility of flooding, especially in coastal areas. Seeing those who have an indescribable connection to their wai suffering when their awa gets destroyed is absolutely heartbreaking. Like how Mangahauini river in Tokomaru was washed away after flooding in Cyclone Gabrielle not long ago. No one deserves to go through the pain of losing a sacred part of their identity. I count myself as lucky since my awa weren’t affected. They are in the place where my ancestors grew up, where all of our mātauranga Māori come from.
“Rừng vàng, biển bạc.”
The proverb above literally translates to “Forest is gold, ocean is silver”. I recite it to show how valuable the ocean is to the people of my island—Phú Quốc. We are surrounded by silver, the type of silver that you can’t just sell to become rich. The richness it bears is humble yet mighty. Still, a lot of people don’t appreciate what we consider our most precious gift. The ocean has been suffering for a long time from pollution, rapid development of industry, and the abuse of tourism by many organisations. All they care about is the profit.
As I said before: the ocean doesn’t just give, it also takes. I was devastated last time when I visited the island. The whole town was drowned in flood for days—sea water, rain water, and polluted water all mixed in one. The locals had to suffer terrible physical and mental damage.
Who is it to blame? Not the ocean, but mainly the shit caused by us humans. Deforestation, poor awareness of people, houses built blatantly encroaching on streams and rivers. Even some people built houses on the canal to block the drainage. A few years ago, the beautiful big beaches were still wild and empty. Now, they are divided into lots of tens or hundreds of hectares to be sold among investors. Heaps of construction is still going on throughout the whole island, regardless of nature’s response.
Yes, disaster happens and that’s normal. But when will we stop ignoring the fact that every terrible thing we do to the environment has an impact on the frequency of disasters and the outcome?
Chur,
Huy