My birthplace is Xaymaka (Jamaica) in the south of Kingston. I grew up near Half-Way-Tree which is about half way between what became Kingston (Kings Town) and Constant Spring. The neighbourhood children taunted me with insults of "Arawak," even though neither of us really knew what they were saying.

Ever since I can remember, my grandfather and his sisters told me that I am "Indian."  My Taíno Indian ancestry is through my mother. I am also of Asian Indian ancestry through my father. My grandfather and my aunties taught me not to speak of these things outside the family as a matter of survival.  I learned to be a closet "Indio" as I listened to the stories, words and traditions that survived. I learned to be who I am by pretending not to be who I am and by spending a lot of time with the earth. Yet all the time I was relating with the land, the sky, the sea and all living things, and experiencing a deep understanding of family. I grew up with Black and mixed culture.

Somehow, my younger brothers and sisters did not think of the earth the way I did. For most of my life I obeyed and did not speak openly about Indio-ness. In the end, instead, I obeyed my spirit and the knowledge that calls us to do our part in revitalizing our stories. And in the end, my family accepted this. I have met many people who say that Taíno are not Indigenous or Amerindian peoples, or that we are extinct. Then I think: Our ancestors were ingenuous as well as Indigenous. They hid their children so well for survival!

My Indian names help me to understand myself. One was explained by Elder Brothers from Boriken and one was explained by an Elder Brother from Xaymaka. The first name means "Rope that Builds Houses"; the second name means "Heart Spirit of the Earth."  In my healing journey of learning, what has occurred to me includes bits of knowledge on our star stories, our calendar and our relatedness with Dene'h peoples, with whom we share some of the same stories. I live in Toronto, Canada where I share stories about Taíno peoples ways of knowing and learning in relation with the original peoples here in the north, and where I am a teacher and a student seeking ways to teach about our relationships with other Indigenous, Native Americans and Aboriginal peoples of the West. I am the smallest dancing bird and a grain of sand in relation to the Great Sacred Mountain. So then, humbly, in each moment, I seek to walk in beauty, honour and nobility. All my Relations. Taíno ti.

Lois Provost
Pilamaya,
Oloa Magei
magei.iaru@sympatico.ca