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From The Toronto Star Healthzone  

Hip-hop album to warn aboriginal youth about diabetes

April 19, 2010 - Elvira Cordileone - STAFF REPORTER

“Where words fail, music speaks.” Hans Christian Andersen.

After John Henhawk graduated with a business degree from Brock University last year, he faced a crisis: try to make lots of money or use his talents to help his people.

He chose the latter, but never imagined he’d do it through music.

Henhawk, 25, is Haudenosaunee, or as he calls himself, one of the People of the Longhouse. After finishing an honours degree in October 2009 in business administration in just three years, he had some hard decisions to make.

“I had an opportunity to go to Dubai and do a co-op in finance,” he says. “Head offices had all kinds of jobs where it’s about making money. But I just wasn’t feeling that. My heart is with my people — their struggle. I was thinking, ‘What can I do to help future generations?’”

Henhawk had to work, but he didn’t want to distract himself by taking on something for the short term. A friend suggested he seek the Creator’s guidance, and Henhawk prayed by ritually burning tobacco.

“And then this job came to me,” Henhawk says.

He’s now youth project coordinator for the Southern Ontario Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative. The province funds the agency to provide programs and services to Aboriginal communities, which have rates of diabetes three to five times the national average.

His job is to oversee the production of a hip-hop album that lays bare the deadly effects of diabetes on Aboriginal people. Henhawk has posted videos of the making of the album on YouTube.

On this day in mid-March, Henhawk stands in the bright sunshine at the back entrance of SOADI’s office in Thorold during the first of what he hopes will be many Youth Day gatherings.

Some 50 people have come to hear the diabetes message. They listened to drumming and singing by the Native group, Ohnia:kara, a performance by Toronto-based songwriter and poet, Spin, and watched graphic demonstrations of how much lard and sugar certain junk foods contain.

Henhawk speaks with naked determination about reaching as many Aboriginal young people so they understand that diabetes consumes their community, and that obesity increases the risk of developing the disease.

According to a 2007 Health Canada report, 55 per cent of First Nations children 2 to 17 living on reserves and 41 per cent of Aboriginal children living off reserve, are overweight or obese. The national average stands at 26 per cent.

The hip-hop album, in production, is the medium Henhawk will use to get their attention. They’ve called the album Reztore Pride.

Artists that have contributed include Rex Smallboy of War Party, Chief Rock, Main Event, Kahseniyo and Spin.

Henhawk plans to take the album on the road with concerts at powwows, schools and all six of the agency’s regional offices.

Unlike much of the commercial hip-hop music on the market today, the songs aren’t about the thirst for money or getting a nice car, he notes.

“If all the negative music out there can influence youth to do certain things, then why can’t the positive music do the same thing?” Henhawk asks.

The idea that music can be used to affect the body and spirit has currency in Native tradition.

Phil Davis, a member of Native musical group Ohnia: kara, says he has been “carrying the drum” for his community for 10 years.

“Everything we do when we drum, dance and sing is a form of prayer,” says Davis. “We used to have a vast knowledge (now lost) of music and the effect voices had on each other. Our knowledge of music was as powerful as medicines used in healing ceremonies.

“But when you lose your identity, who you are and what’s your purpose, you become a lost soul — and that’s what you’re talking about when somebody has ‘dis-ease’ within themselves,” Davis says.

Even in Western medicine, music is sometimes used to encourage healing.

“The relationship between music and medicine is both intimate and ancient,” says Elizabeth Jacobi, a registered music therapist, researcher and professional opera singer.

“For thousands of years, healers have recognized the power of sound vibrations and music to affect the healing process,” says Jacobi, who is also founder and director of the Music Medicine Institute, which is affiliated with St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System in Savannah, Georgia.

“You can look at disease as a form of disharmony. And there’s no organ system in the body that’s not affected by sound and music and vibration,” says oncologist Mitchell Gaynor, founder of Gaynor Integrative Oncology and assistant professor of medicine at Weill Medical College, affiliated with Cornell University and New York Hospital.

Henhawk’s boss, program director Roslynn Baird, has high hopes for the effect her agency’s musical message Rezstore Pride will deliver: restore pride to restore health.

“The youth are the young parents. These are the ones that can either choose to put milk in their babies’ bottles or Coke,” Baird says. “We’re hoping to change a whole generation of people.”

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From http://thehealthyaboriginal.net/

The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy and wellness

We create comic books on health and social issues for youth. The books we have in stock are listed below. Please note the comics on youth health issues, diabetes prevention, gambling addiction and staying in school have all sold out. There are no immediate plans to reprint.  

Diabetes awareness - An Invited Threat is about a family’s realization that the food they eat and make available to their community is not good for them. It’s about making healthy decisions now, rather than waiting until it’s too late.

Click here for an online copy of the comic book

Other comic books from this site include:

Sports/Gang awareness - In Path of the Warrior, Cullen gets rolled out of his gang and is forced to reconnect with his family and community. Team sports and culture become his new support system.

Mental Health - In Just a Story, Wendy doesn’t have any friends her age and feels overwhelmed at school. Her little brother is more social but he’s quick to lose his temper and get into fights. Something is clearly bothering them both. Good thing they’re open to getting help and breaking down the stigma of mental health.

Suicide awareness - Darkness Calls is the story of a teenager who is bullied at school, misunderstood by his teacher and feels socially isolated from his family. He finds one day very overwhelming and considers taking his own life.

Gambling awarenes - In On the Turn, we transformed our sold out comic book into a movie similar to our focus group shorts.  But in color.  The DVD is about a young woman that learns how to play poker at school.  Peer pressure gets the best of her and she learns what it feels like to hurt someone she loves.

Dropping out/staying in school - In Level Up, Terry is contemplating dropping out of school. But before he does, he’s asked to spend some time with his cousin Dave, a successful game developer. Rather than lecture Terry, Dave makes the importance of school relatable - he compares education to moving up a level in a video game.