What can we learn from the seven Melanesian Brothers who died on the Weathercoast?

 

 

 

Brother Robin Lindsay was the Assistant Head Brother of the Melanesian Brotherhood, and has been in the community for nearly 20 years. He was four years Assistant Head Brother in Solomon Islands and four years Head Brother in Papua New Guinea.

This year, because the Melanesian Brotherhood needed someone of his experience so much, he put his studies at Bishop Patteson Theological College on hold and came back to help as Assistant Head Brother. He had great leadership skills. I called him “the encourager” because he had time for everyone and helps build on their strengths. He was known and popular where ever he went in PNG and Solomon Islands, Carpenteria Australia and even Norfolk in the UK. With his strong handshake and absolute dedication to his work the community felt in safe and caring hands whenever he was around. He was so motivated that he even wanted to hold a Brotherhood Council Meetings at the same time as the quarterfinals of the Soccer World Cup and couldn’t understand why the Brothers were making excuses not to attend. He was brilliant at resolving conflicts and helping everyone feel valued and a part of the community. He was so greatly loved how much he will be missed.

My last memory of him was on Maundy Thursday when he washed the feet of the novices in the community. A man who showed us the true way of service, bold and brave and cheerful and impossible to forget. How much we all learnt from him and long for his gifts.

 

Brother Tofi from the time he was a novice was bright and attentive in all his studies. When you meet him you know straight away that here is someone with a deep spiritual life and gentle wisdom. He asked constant questions and understood in his heart what it meant to be a brother. First in Malaita and them on the Weather Coast of Guadalcanal at the time of tension and it’s aftermath he showed incredible courage. Here was a brother who was prepared to speak out to condemn violence and the use of weapons and protect the lives of others even at great personal danger. It was Brother Francis who had organized for the Police Commissioner and a few of the brothers to go out by canoe and dispose of all the many high powered weapons, explosives, and ammunition the Brothers had collected and sink them in the deep sea so they could never be used again. There are stories of how he was able to resolve conflicts and rescue those who were being beaten or in danger from the rebels. Early this year the World Council of Churches offered him a place at the Bossey Institute in Geneva to study and contribute to a course on Conflict Resolution. He was so excited about the prospect.

His courage and commitment to peace in Solomon Islands was very great. He told me he was not frightened of dying in God’s service and in his work for peace. I reminded him that God wanted LIVING sacrifices and he had his whole life ahead of him. We laughed for death never really seems a possibility in one so brave and full of life. After he died, his brothers packed his only possessions in a small black rucksack. A few shirts, a couple of pair of shorts his uniform and some books to return to his family. I cannot believe he is dead and I pray that his courage and love will continue to inspire us all.

 

Brother Alfred Hilly. He was a young and humble brother, for two years he has been looking after Chester Rest house in Honiara. Sometimes the guests find him a bit quiet but he had great kindness: always giving up his bed and mattress to provide extra room for guests. He took particular care of the children who loved coming to the house. He made sure they got fed at lunchtime and has been helping a young boy Selwyn, whose parents have deserted him, learn to read. This year he trained in malaria research and qualified to read blood slides at the local clinic. This has been so helpful to all the religious communities who bring their blood slides to him for fast diagnosis of malaria.

And now he is dead but how much his kindness and brave humility must live on in this world of ours.

 

Brother Ini Paratabatu was free spirited and outspoken brave and full of energy. He was a brilliant actor and became a key member of the Brothers mission team and tour to New Zealand in 2000. Before joining the community he worked in the drama group of Solomon Islands Development Trust performing dramas about development and health issues. He had so much potential and prophetic fire within him. Ini as a Brother had been brave to speak out against all injustice. He even confronted the Solomon Islands Police Force when he believed their methods were unjust or failing to respect the rights of the people. He was a man you could laugh and joke with but a man not afraid to speak the truth and confront what he believed to be wrong.

His faith indeed was like a fire that was always burning.

 

Brother Patteson Gatu. He was so full of joy to be a Brother.

He was only admitted last October 2002 and always smiled from ear to ear when you meet him. He had such youth and warmth and confidence of faith. Not some narrow religiously but natural and real and strong. Indeed he made Christ’s beatitude a reality: ‘Happy are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God’ (Mat.5.9) He seemed fearless in his proclamation of the Gospel. Even when fired at on the Weather Coast a few weeks previously he had not turned back but remained convinced of God’s providential care and love.

To meet him was to meet someone who was full of the light of Christ: he shone it.

 

And Brother Toni Sirihi who lost his father when he was young and found in the Brotherhood a family and home. He developed from a shy, thin and humble novice into a stocky and bold brother. But he never lost his simplicity. So many memories. I remember so clearly the night before he was admitted as a brother how we climbed Pentecost Mountain and celebrated the Eucharist on top with all those who were about to make their vows. He was easy company and a natural and un-assuring friend to many of the brothers who loved having him around. He showed his courage throughout the tension and continued to help the disarmament process.

He was a true brother to so many and all his family and friends and community miss him so much.

 

And Brother Nathaniel Sado the lost Brother for whom they had gone in search. As a novice he was in charge of the piggery and cared for those pigs as if they were members of his own family! He made a sweet potato garden for them and cooked for them. They often seemed better fed than the rest of the novices! The dogs followed him around too and he was one of the few novices who got on well with our donkey. He loved to welcome guests to the community and made friends with many of the expatriates, arranging trips for them to his home volcanic island of Savo where he took them up to the mountain to see the hot springs and sulphar smoke and to dig for megapode eggs in the warm sand. He’s delighted in these expeditions. He had had little formal education and had a somewhat childlike nature always on the move and as a Brother hard to pin down.

During the tension and disarmament he had made friends with the militant group and was rather proud of the fact that he knew Harold Keke and believed Keke to be his friend. The trust was misplaced and he was the first brother to die.

There was no guile or deception in this young man: naïve perhaps, proud of his status as a Brother and the excitement of his mission to the militants but entirely well meaning and innocent.