WIKWEMIKONG—Music has always played an important role in Robbie Shawana’s as has the Catholic Church, and those two influences, along with that of his family, have created a strong sense of community and the importance of volunteerism.
“I’ve had a few important influences in my life, including some very influential music teachers while I was in school,” he recalled. “We would go off to the annual Kiwanis Music Festival in Sudbury every year and we would usually place well.”
Mr. Shawana, a member of the Wikwemikong community, said that growing up his family was always very involved in the church. “I was an altar boy, so I started there,” he said. “I had an aunt who was a nun.”
When he reached Grade 8, and then on to high school, Mr. Shawana entered the separate school system, moving to Sudbury so that he could receive a Catholic education. “I went to St. Charles Secondary School in Sudbury, it was an all boys school when I started and we attended Christ the King Church,” he said.
As a teenager, Mr. Shawana became very involved in volunteering with the church, a remarkably unusual pastime for a young man in his age cohort. “It wasn’t very common,” he admitted, but he pointed out that his motives were not entirely spiritual or altruistic. “I was a teenager and there were a lot of pretty girls there,” he laughed.
As part of his confirmation requirement, Mr. Shawana was supposed to take part in a set number of hours of community service work. “I ended up being short a number of hours,” he said. “So, I am still paying off the interest on that debt.”
Mr. Shawana can often be found playing at charity fundraising events such as the annual Wikwemikong TV5 Christmas Telethon and the larger Sudbury Lions Telethon and he has made a number of close friendships through his activities.
Volunteerism is “just something I enjoy doing,” he said, but sometimes the demands on his time can become almost overwhelming. “At one point I almost quit everything, music, the church, everything,” he admitted, but then he had a Rubicon moment.
“It was a vision, kind of an out of body dream,” explained Mr. Shawana. “I was sitting in a pew in the church looking up and seeing myself playing. I ended up listening to myself, experiencing myself and the music from the other side and I realized ‘this is how people feel when they hear me play’.” He realized at that moment he could not walk away. Mr. Shawana quoted St. Augustine in saying “He who sings prays twice,” by singing we echo the choirs of heaven and express the joys of heaven.
“I don’t think I will ever stop while I still can,” he said. “It is a part of who I am as a person.”
