Maria Tanner spends 5 minutes with ... Sheldon Ramer
The self-confessed “chatter
box” Sheldon Ramer,
counsellor and Punanga
Tauturu worker cordially
agreed to meet on what he
describes as his “undetermined
Mondays” where due to my
encouragement majority
of the Cook Islands Heralds
infamous ‘5 Minutes’ column
is conceived, Salsa Café.
Without hesitation Ramer’s
eyes brighten not only with the
sudden and timely injection of
caffeine but the chance to talk about the one thing that remains on
the tip of both our tongues, our youth.
Little did the Bronx born Ramer realise that the mundane task
of lining for the bank would eventually turn into a four year
posting in the Cook Islands.
Despite the fact that Sheldon was
already operating a small counselling practice in the outskirts of
Christchurch, bumping into Punanga Tauturu’s Nani Samuela at
the bank would prove to be one of those life changing moments
for the Yankee come Cantabrian. Ramer and the Punanga Tauturu
worker got to “chatting” where he offered his counselling services
and assistance and because their coupling “worked so well” as he
neatly puts it,was offered a permanent role with the counselling
services.Ramer sounds every bit as young as he feels, carpe diem
and all that jazz but he really is a wise old sage under his cloak
of sprightly demeanour as he didn’t dare make a decision without “first consulting my wife,” he says between fits of laughter. “I’m working with people right now who really want to work with
youth,” Ramer says inching forward on his seat, “as you know there
is a real difficulty with our young people, they seem to reach a point
of no way out so they seem….”
“to take the most dire of actions,” I say finishing his sentence.
Nodding in silent agreement Ramer continues on undisrupted, “The work that I do is with people who have hit the wall and basically
I help them find the exit. There’s always a ‘back door’ in life and you
can always find a way out but sometimes you need a guide, and I
know how to help people find their‘back door’.”
This comes off the cusp of the Punanga Tauturu’s three week
training course set to begin this week, run by none other than Ramer
himself. A basic course “on how to deal with youth, for people who
desire to work with youth,” may be the timely injection we need to
address the prevalent issues we the Cook Islands face.
Coming from the cooler climate of the deep New Zealand south
Ramer has taken some time warming to the informal comparisons of
the Cook Islands, “the challenge that I face here is that counselling
here is really about telling people what to do, but my practice of
counselling is companioning someone until they find out what to
do. However there is a great sense of ‘God factor’ or The Divine here
that I can really appreciate and work with,” he quickly highlights.
Tackling huge themes of sexuality, violence and dysfunctional
behaviour in our communityRamer suggest that culture is largely
what dominates our world and argues that for the most part this
is the internet, dvd’s and even goes as far to give gangster rap a
bad rap, althoughI’m impartial to this last notion myself, adversity
is universal despite it chosen platform.
It safe to say that Canterbury holds little or no nostalgic clutch
over the balmy climatic grasp of the Cooks for Ramer “and the work
that I’m doing feels like I’m actually becoming one of the youth out
here, and that suits me from my head down to the ground.”
Swell.
-Maria Tanner
Herald Issue 608 21 March
- Terms of one China Policy document should be reviewed
- Pacific Media Assistance Scheme Seeks Innovation
- Successful NZ visit by PM
- Rerekura Teaurere New Climate Change Coordinator
- News Briefs
