Praying to heal the wounds
30.11.2004
IN the crush of Aborigines and police in full riot-squad armour milling around Palm Island's main shopping mall yesterday, a tiny Franciscan nun was going about her business and wondering if things would ever change.
Irish-born Sister Christina McGlynn has been a pastoral carer in the Palm Island hospital for the past six months.
But what she has experienced since Cameron Doomadgee, 36, died in police custody 10 days ago has taken her back to the same fear and anger she saw in the most troubled parts of Africa.
``It is a tragedy this gentle man died in custody,'' Sister Christina said. ``But to say that four broken ribs and a ruptured liver is a consequence of a fall is something I, as a trained nurse, find hard to accept.
``This is a community of good people. There are a few wild characters around, but these happenings fan into a flame all the sorrows and experiences of the past. If the truth is not spoken and justice does not happen, reconciliation cannot happen. But if justice can be done, it will re-establish good communications.''
Sister Christina came to Palm Island after two years at Kakuma in Kenya, where she was one of a team looking after 86,000 severely traumatised Sudanese, Ethiopian and Rwandan refugees.
She said the brutality and trauma she witnessed in Kenya was being replayed on Palm Island.
Her major concern yesterday was for the children, who were ``frightened to death'' of the armed police patrolling the streets.
``The police are rampaging around looking for a missing gun and the kids are terrified,'' she said. ``It is so painful to see these people suffering.
``I think there is something of a corporate post-traumatic syndrome with Aboriginal people with their dispossession, stolen children and deaths in custody.
``Unless you have support and help, reconciliation cannot occur because they are all part of the healing. I pray for these people.''
