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Native
Village News Articles
Grandmothers Clara Shinobu Iura
and Maria Alice Campos Freire
Huge Chunk of Amazon Forest Cut Down in 2003
Ranchers, soybean farmers and loggers destroyed a chunk of Brazil's
Amazon rainforest about the size of Massachusetts last year.
Satellite photos and data showed that 9,169 square miles of
rainforest was cut down in the 12 months ending in August, 2003.
During 2002, Brazil estimated 8,980 square miles of rainforest had
been destroyed. Robert Smeraldi, director of Friends of the Earth,
is more concerned that the average annual destruction of the
rainforest had doubled since the 1990s. "Never in history has the
tropical rainforest disappeared at such a rapid rate," he said.
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20040407184209990002&_mpc=news%2e10%2e10
Amazon Holds Key to Future of Earth's Climate
Brazil: 1,700 researchers from 200 universities and institutions
have been working for six years on the "LBA:" Large-scale
Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia. The study tackles the
assault on the unknowns of what some call the planet's "lung," the
Amazon's rainforest. Amazonia is more than 11 times the size of
Texas and home to one-third of the world's species, and the
scientists are studying its critical relationship between the
atmosphere and the region. The respiratory process is well known:
Trees absorb carbon dioxide through their leaves, use it to build
themselves, and emit oxygen into the air. That keeps an atmospheric
balance. However, man has thrown the balance off through
deforestation and burning fossil fuels. This produces excess carbon
dioxide and traps the heat that otherwise would escape into space.
"We already know enough to make policy decisions. The important
thing is to stop deforestation," said ecologist Philip M. Fearnside.
In 2003-2004, over 9,000 square miles were destroyed-- an area about
the size of New Hampshire. The forest is being destroyed by cattle
ranchers, peasants who slash and burn to create cropland, illegal
lumbering, and large businesses planting soybeans.
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050212135409990004
A Rain Forest Debate: Could It Have Been Home To Complex Societies?
South America: Most archeologists have viewed the Amazon rain
forest as an inhospitable environment where early complex societies
could not live. But new research suggests that prehistoric people
thrived in large numbers by overcoming the jungle's natural
limitations. The secret, say the theory's supporters, is in the
ground beneath their feet. The highly fertile soil called terra
preta do indio, [Portuguese for Indian black earth], was either
intentionally created by pre-Columbian people or is the byproduct of
their presence. If today's scientists can discover how the
Amerindians transformed the soil, today's farmers could use that
technology to improve land productivity instead of cutting down
larger swaths of jungle. The benefits of terra preta is already
known to farmers who plant their crops wherever they find it. "It's
made by pre-Columbian Indians and it's still fertile,’" said Bruno
Glaser, a soil chemist from Germany. "If we knew how to do this, it
would be a model for agriculture in the whole region." This
specially modified soil is scattered across millions of acres in the
Amazon rain forest. In some places, it makes up 10% of the ground
area.
H-Amindian Listserv
Television crew 'spread deadly flu to Amazon tribe
Amazon Rainforest, Peru: A British television crew has been blamed
for infecting an ancient Amazonian tribe with a lethal flu epidemic.
Four Matsigenka tribal members, including three children, have died
since two Westerners arrived to film The World's Lost Tribes late
last year. Peru had permitted the filmmakers to visit the community
of Yomybato; however, witnesses say the crew traveled further up
river to find more isolated people. Many of these tribes, including
the Matsigenka, have not been exposed to the flu and other common
illnesses, so their immune systems have no protection. Lost Tribes
producers deny their employees are to blame. "The researcher and his
guide did not visit the area where the deaths are said to have
occurred and no deaths occurred amongst the individuals they met,"
Cicada Productions said in a statement. "They at all times followed
correct procedures..." The documented history of the Matsigenka
tribe goes back 500 years when they traded with the
Incas.
Photo: http://etnologia.pl/news2/data/upimages/matsigenka1.JPG
NativeNewsDigest
Hit by disease, deforestation and war, Colombia's last nomadic tribe
faces extinction
For thousands of years, the Nukak-Maku Indians roamed the jungles in
southeast Colombia, hunting game with blow guns and gathering
berries. Then, in 1988, their world changed when a few Nukak men
ventured into a town carved out of the jungle. That first encounter
was peaceful, with the Nukak men so trusting that they brought out
their women and children waiting in the bush. But the aftershocks
of that meeting are now devastating the Nukak. Diseases, modern
conveniences, and Colombia's civil war are driving the tribe to
extinction--the same path more than 100 other Amazonian tribes have
walked. In 1988, at least 1,200 Nukak roamed the jungles. Just 15
years later, their number have plunged to about 380. There are no
elders--they have all died. Anthropologists believe there are only a
few dozen Nukak still living deep in the jungle, relatively
untouched by civilization. The United Nations estimates more than
300 indigenous tribes live in the Amazon basin, but only about 60
remain in isolation in Brazil and Peru.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/detail.asp?onNews=1&GRP=A&id=21099
Activist is Brazil's first Indian woman lawyer
Brazil: Officially, she is known as Joênia Batista de Carvalho. But
that is not the real name of the first Indian woman to become a
lawyer in Brazil--just the name a clerk selected when her parents
left their Amazon village to have her birth registered. Whether her
preoccupation with issues of cultural identity and autonomy stems
from that incident, Ms. Batista is not sure. Still, when she went to
the U.S. this year to receive a Reebok Prize for human rights work,
she accepted the award as Joênia Wapixana, using the name of her
tribe. "Everything I do is aimed at focusing attention on our
community, so that others, outside, can see who we really are,"
explained Ms. Batista. "Why have we as a people been able to
continue to exist? Because we know where we come from. By having
roots, you can see the direction in which you want to go."
www.indianz.com/
Report: Brazil Not Respecting Indian Rights
Brazil: Brazil's indigenous population continues to face threats of
violent attacks and discrimination. Amnesty International says that
"while there have been some advances in respect for [Indian groups]
rights over the years," Brazil's native population is treated
unfairly by the government, land-owners, and agro-business interests
in the Amazon. "The continuous failure of Brazilian governments to
act effectively to protect indigenous communities has exposed them
to human rights violations and has laid the foundations for the
violence of the present," said Amnesty International. Among violent
acts include the January beating to death of 72-year-old Marcos
Veron, a Guarani-Kaiowa leader, during a reported attempt to remove
him from ancestral land.
UPi
Innovators of Our Time
Every genius, said Danish writer Isak Dinesen, is doomed. She meant
that geniuses, or those touched with a spark of it, had very little
choice in life. Each one, she said, was powerless "in the face of
his own powers," compelled to follow a certain path and to do a
particular thing with instinctive flair and originality. The
Smithsonian Magazine recently chose 35 innovators who make a
difference, a contribution, and inspire. Included on that list are:
Mark Plotkin:
From his very first visits to the Amazon's indigenous villages, Mark
Plotkin understood that shamans—tribal elders who use plants for
healing—were actually the rain forest's most endangered species.
While the tropical forests and medicinal plants were being destroyed
by miners, ranchers, and farmers, shamanic wisdom was lost as
younger, more Westerinzed, tribal members lost interest in their own
traditions. In 1993, Plotkin published Tales of a Shaman's
Apprentice, a story of his experiences and a call to preserve
nature's pharmacy and undiscovered promise for curing disease. Now
in its 25th printing, Tales has been translated into five languages
and has been adapted into a video, audiotape, children's book and
IMAX film. In 1995 Plotkin and his wife, Liliana Madrigal, founded
the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) to help the tribes. "Our approach
is bottom up," he says. "Tribes come to us. They want to protect
their forest, culture, system of healing. They want clean water, job
opportunities, ethno-education."
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues05/nov05/35_plotkin.html
Project Seeks to Preserve Dying Languages
WASHINGTON -- Every two weeks or so the last elderly man or woman
fluent in a particular language dies. At that rate, as many as 2,500
native tongues will disappear forever by 2100. Linguists say
languages aren't just words, but a people's way of looking at the
world. Some experts say there are up to 10,000 different languages
left in the world. Others say that if we don't count each dialect,
that estimate is thousands less. David W. Lightfoot is leading a
preservation effort to save some of these dying languages. "If we
are going to lose half the world's languages, that endangers our
capacity to understand the genetic basis of language," said
Lightfoot, who is from the National Science Foundation. The NSF
recently joined the National Endowment for the Humanities in
awarding $4,400,000 to 26 institutions and 13 individual scholars to
investigate 70 endangered languages and help preserve them. The
project is now asking researchers to apply for additional grants,
with the expectation that at least $2,000,000 a year will be
available. Some insights:
Spoken by people in the Australian state of Queensland, the
Guguyimadjir language has not words for "left" or "right."
Instead, the people orient themselves and their world by the points
of the compass -- unlike most of us, who see things in relation to
ourselves rather than to the world as a whole.
Piratapuy-speaking people in Brazil's Amazon rain forest say "The
cake ate John" instead of "John ate the cake." In other words, they
put the object of a verb first and the subject last.
National Endowment for the Humanities:
http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20050505.html
National Science Foundation:
http://www.nsf.gov
The Associated Press
HCJB World Radio To Air Daily Broadcasts In Cofan Language
Ecuador: About 1,000 members of the indigenous Cofan tribe are
scattered throughout the Amazon rainforest in northeast Ecuador and
southeast Colombia. To better serve them, HCJB radio is recording
and broadcasting radio programmes in the unique Cofan language.
Last year, 36 songs were recorded in the Cofan language, with more
than 103 programmes produced at a radio studio. The first known
Cofan Language transmission from HCJB World Radio was aired on
December 17, 2004. Cofan programmes will begin airing daily Monday
through Friday as soon as fix-tuned radios are distributed to the
people.
Financial Times Information
Dire warming report too soft, scientists say
A new global warming issued by the United Nations warns of near
apocalyptic changes in earth future. The report is also, in a sense,
a pointed indictment of the world's biggest polluters — the
industrialized nations. However, many scientists are complaining
that the findings were watered down by governments hoping to deflect
calls for actions. "The science got hijacked by the political
bureaucrats at the late stage of the game," said John Walsh, a
climate expert at the University of Alaska. The new report
reaffirms previous findings and predicts even more devastating world
effects striking all levels of society.
Among the findings:
Global warming is caused by humans;
The world's biggest polluters are industrialized nations.
Spring is arriving earlier, with plants blooming weeks ahead of
schedule. In the mountains, early and longer runoff is shrinking
glaciers in the Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes.
Habitats for plants and animals, on land and in the oceans, are
shifting toward the poles;
Nineteen of the
20 hottest years
on record have occurred since 1980;
More frequent and more intense heat waves are "very likely" in the
future;
By mid-century, rising temperatures and drying soil will turn
tropical forest to savanna in the eastern Amazon;
In North America, snowpack in the West will decline, causing
flooding and reduced summer flows for crops and people;
California agriculture will be decimated by the loss of water for
irrigation;
Water across the world will arrive in its least welcome forms:
storms and floods.
Rising temperatures will change the world's coastlines as the
oceans rise;
Tiny islands of the South Pacific and the Asian deltas will be
overwhelmed by storm surges;
In the Andes and the Himalayas, melting glaciers will unleash
floods and rock avalanches;
Within a few decades, as the glaciers melt down, streams will
dwindle, cutting the water supply to almost
20%
the world's population;
Between
20% and 30%
of the world's species will disappear if temperatures rise
2.7 to 4.5
degrees, the report said.
Africa will suffer the most, with up to
250,000,000
people running short of water by
2020;
Yields from rain-fed crops will drop by
50%
in many countries;
Africa will need at least
5% to 10%
of its gross domestic product to adapt to rising sea levels.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-warming7apr07,1,1960670,full.story?coll=la-default-underdog&ctrack=2&cset=true
Epidemic hits nomadic Amazon
tribe
Columbia: The nomadic Nukak tribe, who fled their jungle homes
because of Colombia's civil war, have been hit by a flu epidemic.
Almost 25% of the tribe have fallen ill. Experts fear that further
epidemics are likely unless the Nukak can be returned to their own
territory. Their Nukak's new camp is just 2% of the size of their
own territory. Health experts warned that settling 200 Nukak there
would lead to disease and epidemics because the Nukak are used to
living in small, nomadic groups. Also, their wild food is in
short supply -- there are few fish in the river and area trees do
not provide what's needed to make blowpipes and poison for hunting
meat. The Nukak's own territory contains abundant natural
resources. "It is absolutely essential that the Colombian government
finds a way to let the Nukak return to their own land," said Stephen
Corry, Survival International, "otherwise they will not survive in
the long term." Flu and malaria have already killed half the Nukak
since they were first contacted in 1988; just 500 Nukak survive.
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1876
Poisonous Tree Frog Could
Bring Wealth to Tribe in Brazilian Amazon
Brazil: In the Amazon
rainforest, tribal shamans have used poisonous tree frog slime as an
ancestral remedy for illness, pain, and even laziness. Scientists
are now seeking $1,000,000 in donations or grants to learn more and
to reimburse the tribes for their knowledge. "Traditional knowledge
can help modern medicine and generate significant economic benefits,
too," said Bruno Filizola, a Brazilian biologist. Fernando Katukina
is chief of an Amazon tribe without running water, electricity, or
links to the world. He is working with the Brazilian government in
accessing the tree frog. Katukina's help is crucial because Brazil,
like other developing nations, is fighting biopiracy. Biopiracy is
the theft of biological resources from the country's native habitats
for commercial use.
H-Amindian Listserve
Brazil's President Pledges
$270 Million for Amazon Indians
Brazil: Brazil will spend $270,000,000 in three years to create
new Indian reservations and bring water and electric power to remote
Amazon communities. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said
military engineering units would do the work if private companies
wouldn't. Brazil has 615 recognized Indian reservations that cover
12.5% of the country -- larger than the 48 continental United
States. The most recent census says 730,000 Indians live in the
country and belong to 220 different ethnic groups that speak 180
languages.
2007 Associated Press
More Isolated Indians
Survive in Amazon Rain Forest, but Face Peril
Brazil: More uncontacted Indian groups are surviving in Brazil's
Amazon rain forest than previously thought. A study by FUNAI, the
government's National Indian Foundation, estimates that 67 Indian
groups live in complete isolation, up from previous estimates of
40. "With the rate of destruction in the Amazon, it is amazing
there are any isolated people left at all," said Fiona Watson from
Survival International. Brazil probably has the largest number of
uncontacted tribes in the world. Most still hunt with blow guns or
bows and arrows, and most uncontacted tribes live as their ancestors
did before European invasion. However, these tribes risk being
destroyed by encroaching loggers and miners.
Nukak tribe - "We are being
wiped out"
Columbia: The nomadic Nukak live in small family groups deep in the
rainforests of Colombia and Brazil. They move from camp to camp
every few days depending on the availability of fruits, vegetables,
fishing and hunting. Since their first close contact with
non-Indians in 1988, more than 50% of the Nukak have died, mainly
from flu and malaria transmitted by outsiders. Now, the 400
remaining tribal members are displaced because of civil war among
guerrillas and the Colombian army. "We are few now; hardly any Nukak
remain. The outsiders are many, and have big houses. They don't care
that the Nukak are being wiped out,' says Nukak man Chorebe
Colombia's left-wing guerilla army, FARC is warring the right-wing
paramilitary army, AUC, to control the coca crops. In addition, the
army is spraying poison on coca plantations owned by colonists on
the Nukak's land. The remaining tribal members run a huge risk of
being killed in crossfire if they return to their Amazon
forest home. "If the authorities do not act swiftly to protect the
Nukak and their land, Colombia's last nomads face extinction," said
Survival International director, Stephen Corry.
Learn more and sign a petition protecting the Nukak:
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1610
Amazon tribes to get free
Internet
Brazil: Brazil is a relatively poor country the size of the
continental United States. It struggles to protect its vast Amazon
rain forest from illegal miners, loggers and ranchers. Now Brazil is
offering free satellite Internet connections to Amazon's tribes.
Land protection is a key aim of that plan. "It's a way to open
communications between indigenous communities, former slave
villages, coconut crackers, river fishermen and the rest of
society," said Environment Minister Marina Silva. The plan will
bring the Internet to 150 small remote communities, such as an
Ashaninka village which has already experienced success. "Internet
helped us bring in the police [when we had illegal logging in our
area]," said Benhi Piyanko. "We managed to spread the message
widely. We even reached the president." While indigenous leaders
support the program, many worry that computers could erode native
cultures in a country with more than 200 tribes, said Ailton Krenak,
an indigenous member of Brazil's national Forest People's Network.
"I don't like computers but I don't like planes either," he said.
"What can you do?"
http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/amazon-tribes-to-get-free-internet/2007/03/30/1174761716468.html
Little known Indian tribe
spotted in Brazil
Brazil: The tiny Jururei tribe, numbering only eight or 10, and is
the second "uncontacted" group to be threatened this month by
loggers in Brazil. The tribe was spotted by a photographer during a
recent helicopter flyover of Pacaas Novos national park to catch
land grabbers. One Jururei shot three arrows at the helicopter as it
flew overhead. In the most recent scuffles, Jururei Indians set
booby traps with spikes, piercing the foot of one logger who was
within 5 km of the Indian camps. "Unless Brazil acts now to protect
uncontacted tribes, they will disappear off the face of the earth
forever. The annihilation of a tribe, however small, is genocide,"
said Fiona Watson of Survival International. Rainforest
destruction continues to grow, threatening the few remaining
uncontacted tribes. From 2003-04, 26,130 sq km of the rainforest
was destroyed, the most in nearly a decade. Most blame political
leaders, cattle ranchers and soybean farmers for the destruction
that threatens Brazil's 700,000 Indians.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Brazil authorises Indian
reserve
Brazil: President Liz Inca Lull DA Silver has signed a decree
creating Rapes Sera Do Solon, an Amazonian Indian reserve in
northern Brazil. The move follows 30 years of campaigns by the
Indians which led to bitter conflicts with miners, settlers and
farmers. During that time, at least a dozen Indians were killed in
conflicts. Rapes Sera Do Solan --"The land of the fox and mountain
of the sun--" is home to 12,000 Indians. Its hills, rivers and
forests cover 17,000 sq. km (6,500 square miles).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4450755.stm
Hit by disease, deforestation and war, Colombia's last nomadic tribe
faces extinction
For thousands of years, the Nukak-Maku Indians roamed the jungles in
southeast Colombia, hunting game with blow guns and gathering
berries. Then, in 1988, their world changed when a few Nukak men
ventured into a town carved out of the jungle. That first encounter
was peaceful, with the Nukak men so trusting that they brought out
their women and children waiting in the bush. But the aftershocks
of that meeting are now devastating the Nukak. Diseases, modern
conveniences, and Colombia's civil war are driving the tribe to
extinction--the same path more than 100 other Amazonian tribes have
walked. In 1988, at least 1,200 Nukak roamed the jungles. Just 15
years later, their number have plunged to about 380. There are no
elders--they have all died. Anthropologists believe there are only a
few dozen Nukak still living deep in the jungle, relatively
untouched by civilization. The United Nations estimates more than
300 indigenous tribes live in the Amazon basin, but only about 60
remain in isolation in Brazil and Peru.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/detail.asp?onNews=1&GRP=A&id=21099
Amazon Holds Key to Future
of Earth's Climate
Brazil: 1,700 researchers from 200 universities and institutions
have been working for six years on the "LBA:" Large-scale
Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia. The study tackles the
assault on the unknowns of what some call the planet's "lung," the
Amazon's rainforest. Amazonia is more than 11 times the size of
Texas and home to one-third of the world's species, and the
scientists are studying its critical relationship between the
atmosphere and the region. The respiratory process is well known:
Trees absorb carbon dioxide through their leaves, use it to build
themselves, and emit oxygen into the air. That keeps an atmospheric
balance. However, man has thrown the balance off through
deforestation and burning fossil fuels. This produces excess carbon
dioxide and traps the heat that otherwise would escape into space.
"We already know enough to make policy decisions. The important
thing is to stop deforestation," said ecologist Philip M. Fearnside.
In 2003-2004, over 9,000 square miles were destroyed-- an area about
the size of New Hampshire. The forest is being destroyed by cattle
ranchers, peasants who slash and burn to create cropland, illegal
lumbering, and large businesses planting soybeans.
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050212135409990004
DOCTORS CONFIRM JARAWA HAVE
MEASLES
India: Doctors on the Andaman Islands have confirmed that members of
the Jarawa tribe are suffering from measles. Large numbers of Jarawa
children have been admitted to a Port Blair hospital with various
diseases including pneumonia and eye problems - both common
after-effects of measles. All have now returned to their forest.
When 108 Jarawa contracted measles in 1999, the local authorities
first denied the report. Several weeks later they admitted the truth
following doctors' testimonies. Many are warning the authorities to
keep outsiders out of the Jarawa reserve and close the road that
illegally runs through it. This will help prevent the Jarawa from
contacting potentially fatal diseases which have wiped out tribal
peoples worldwide. In the 19th century, measles killed at least half
of the Great Andamanese on one island and all those on another
island. That tribe, once 5,000 strong, now numbers only 41 people.
In 1978, following the construction of a highway through their
forest, four Yanomami communities in Brazil
lost 50% of their population to measles.
To help, visit:
http://www.survival-international.org/how_to_help.php?howto_help_id=39
On the Warpath
Caiapo Reserve, Brazil:
To the cabodos (rubber-tree tappers and Brazil-nut gatherers), the
Caiapó Indians are bad medicine. "The best thing to do when you see
a Caiapó is to shoot first," said one trader. To the Caiapó,
however, the cabodos are part of a light-skinned tribe who threaten
their tropical hunting grounds and may rightfully be attacked. The
Caiapó are supported by Brazil's Indian Protective Services, a
powerful federal bureau. Recently, Para State's Chamber of Commerce
sent an angry telegram to Brazil's Congress about Caiapó threats and
attacks. It noted: "at a time when Brazil needs its rubber for its
economy, security and defense," rubber production has dropped 80%
because cabodos refused to enter Caiapó territory. The IPS
responded: "When nuts and rubber pay good prices, white men invade
Indian territory. From the position we take against exploiters and
invaders comes the animosity against our service."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890174,00.html?promoid=googlep
Brazil orders hospitals to obey Indian birth rites
Sao Paulo, Brazil, has ordered public hospitals near Indian villages
to abide by ancient tribal customs when delivering the babies of
Guarani Indian women. This obliges hospitals to allow tribal
midwives to assist in childbirth. Hospitals must also respect the
Indians' traditional diet by serving chicken, rice, corn and a
porridge made from the cassava root. Hospitals will also preserve
the mother's placenta so it can be buried in the tribe's village or
kept with the community's most prized possessions, in accordance
with Guarani traditions. "The Indians believe the ritual of burying
the placenta has an impact on the rhythm of life of the newborn
baby. We're just respecting their wishes," said Augusta Sato, who
tracks Indian health issues for Sao Paulo.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20103966.htm
COLUMBUS DAY MARKED BY INDIANS SUICIDE EPIDEMIC
Indians in North and South America are killing themselves in record
numbers as the continent marked Columbus Day. In the Innu community
of Natuashish in Labrador, four young people have hanged themselves
in the past three months. Other Innu communities face suicides with
epidemics of petrol-sniffing amongst the children, and alcoholism
amongst the adults. All ages have been committing suicide in
shocking numbers for many years, but this is now at an all-time
high. At the other end of the continent in Brazil, over 300 Indians
Guarani Indians have killed themselves since 1986, including 26
children under the age of 14. The tribe has been robbed of almost
all its land. Neither government has made much effort to help the
tribes.
Survival International
Indian tribes fear for way of life
Brazil: Xingu, Brazil's oldest and most successful Indian
reservation, is 10,800-square-miles of pristine rain forest where 14
Indian tribes live much as their people have for thousands of
years. Xingu has become surrounded by fields and pasture in the
center of Brazil's fastest developing agricultural region. The
Indians, whose numbers have grown to 5,000 since the reservation was
created in 1961, say they are feeling the pressure. "Right now, we
have to fight to maintain our traditions. The world won't be the
same for our children and grandchildren, so we have to hold on to
what we have as long as we can," said Kuiussi, chief of the Suya
Indians. That includes fighting. "We taught [the Indians that] if
they wanted to survive, if they wanted their children to survive,
not to let anyone in. We told them if anyone came, to fight them,"
said Orlando Villas Boas, one of four brothers who fought to
establish the reservation. On at least one occasion, Indians took
the advice to heart. They killed 11 loggers who refused to leave,
Mr. Villas Boas said. "No one even thought of coming here after
that." Today, the Indians perform joint patrols with the Federal
Indian Bureau and Brazil's environmental protection agency. But when
no officials are around, the Indians aren't afraid to put on war
paint and pick up bows, arrows and even hunting rifles to expel
invaders.
http://washingtontimes.com/
At This Olympics, They Throw Spears And Blow Darts
Brazil: About 1,000 athletes from more than 40 Brazilian tribes
recently competed in the Indigenous Peoples' Games VII. The Super
Bowl-like tournament is billed as the world's largest sporting
events for Indian tribes. Among the sports: archery, dart-blowing,
spear-throwing, canoe-rowing and footraces in which the runners
carry 200-pound tree trunks on their shoulders. For many of the
athletes, taking first place isn't the point of the games. "We are
not strong sportsmen, but we participate as a celebration of being
alive," says Celso Suruí. For some native athletes, the facilities
are the most exotic part of the game. Some swimmers have never been
in a man-made pool before. Reginaldo Bakairi, chief of the Bakairi
tribe, recalls, "We were strong when we won the tug of war on land,
but in the pool we seemed weak because we could not swim fast
without a current propelling us." During the Indigenous People's
games, the crowds can be rowdy. At the third Indian Olympics, some
women from the Xikrin tribe threw sand in the faces of their braves
after they lost a tug of war to a rival tribe. That's the same
treatment that Xikrin hunters get when they fail to kill anything
for dinner.
Among the games
Wrestling;
Xikunahity:
In this game of "head soccer," touching the ball with feet or hands
is prohibited. The Indians say the game was shown to them long ago
by a mystic from the heavens;
Tihimore:
Contestants bowl, using ears of corn as pins and a quince as the
ball;
Apanare:
Bowmen loft arrows into the sky and braves try to snatch them before
they hit the ground;
Ronkra:
A kind of field hockey, players use a heavy wooden stick, without
the curved tip, to swat a puck carved out of a coconut;
http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/1122ruelas22.html
Businessman Aims To Preserve Shaman Culture in Amazon
Carlos Fierro is a 56-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant who moved to
Santa Fe more than 30 years ago. He has a large real estate
business, two successful sons, a deep religious faith and a knack
for making his dreams come true. Carlos's latest vision is an
ecological project on 250 acres of land deep in the heart of the
Amazon jungle. The project, called Amada Encarnación, aims to help
preserve the culture and medicinal traditions of the Amazonian
shamans, or medicine men. "Ever since I was a little boy, my father
would take me on trips into the jungle," Fierro said. "I wanted to
know about these healers, the shaman. Why do they not live in the
city? Why do they wear feathers on their head? Why don't they wear
shoes? What kind of language do they speak? Why are they so strong?
" Launched in January 2003, Amada Encarnación has attained nonprofit
tax status in the United States and earned the blessing of
government health officials in Ecuador. The project is also
supported by powerful people in the financial industry. "I am
truly blessed," Fierro said. "I feel like God has sent me to this
Earth for a purpose -- to help some of the most needy people in the
world."
Learn more: www.amadaencarnacion.com.
http://www.abqjournal.com/venue/personalities/153838person03-05-04.htm
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