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A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 8 OcTOber 2019
Arrows and smartphones: daily life of Amazon Tembe tribe

ALTO RIO GUAMA INDIG- trees that allow us to
ENOUS RESERVE, Brazil (AP) breathe," said Gleison Tem-
— They hunt with bows and be of the small village of
arrows, fish for piranhas and Ka' a kyr, which in their na-
gather wild plants, while tive tongue means Green
some watch soap operas Jungle.
on TV or check the internet "The Amazon, nature, is my
on phones inside thatch- mother, because it raised
roof huts. me. The animals that it takes
They paint their faces with care of give us strength. My
dyes from seeds to pre- children only eat natural
pare for battle and also use food and it all comes here
video technology to fight from the forest, he said. "So,
illegal loggers and other why deforest?"
threats. In a corner, he dried fish
Daily life in the remote Tem- in the blazing sun on a grill
be indigenous villages in held by bricks. Inside his
the Amazon jungle of Brazil home, some of his children
mixes tradition and moder- and nephews gathered
nity. around a cellphone on a
They bathe in muddy brown purple hammock to watch
rivers in the mornings, and a children's cartoon on You-
play soccer in sandy fields Tube. Later, during a short
wearing jerseys from Euro- In this Sept. 2, 2019 photo, seven-year-old Emilia Tembe pulls back on her hand-crafted toy bow forest trek, his 7-year-old
pean teams like Chelsea in and arrow made of sticks and leaves as she stands on a fallen tree, in the Ka 'a kyr village, Para daughter Emilia climbed
the afternoons. state, Brazil. on a fallen tree that had
In a Brazilian state ravaged Associated Press burned and pointed a bow
by deforestation and thou- and arrow that she made
sands of fires, the Tembe village, where she grows ease and you don't hear is in Brazil, is also home to with branches.
shoot photos and video to fruits, vegetables and me- the noises. Only the calls 20% of the earth's plant "This part used to be a na-
document the cutting of dicinal herbs. of birds," he said as birds species, many of which are tive forest. This was primary
trees in their land by log- "These are our home rem- chirped on trees. found nowhere else. jungle. But the fire arrived
gers and share them on edies," she said. "We don't One of the trees was plant- Satellite data from the Bra- and it cleared the land,"
social media. They also re- go to pharmacies in the ed by Muti's grandfather, a zilian Space Agency has said Emidio Tembe, Emilia's
cently met with a non-gov- city, we make our own Tembe chieftain and Teko- shown a sharp increase in grandfather and the Ka' a
ernmental group that of- medicines. We have more haw founder. For genera- deforestation and forest kyr chieftain who named
fered the tribe drones and faith in what's ours." tions, members of the tribe fires in the past year. In Au- the village.
GPS devices to track the She also proudly pointed have extracted a black gust, the agency issued an "Our concern here is the
encroachers in exchange to four sugarcane plants dye from that Jenipapo alert that fires in the Ama- food, the cutting of wood,
for harvesting wood sus- — each tended by one of tree in the couple's yard to zon had increased 84% in the fires," said Emidio, who
tainably. And like their an- her children — and avoca- paint their body during cel- the first seven months of this recently traveled to the
cestors, they plant trees to dos, coconuts, lemons and ebrations. year, compared with the state capital of Belem to
teach their children the val- acai, the Amazonian berry During the rite of passage same period in 2018. sell his wooden handcrafts
ue of preserving the world's that's a vitamin-packed that can last for days, tribe Concern about the Ama- at a book fair.
largest rainforest, which is breakfast staple in Brazil. members also hunt mon- zon's rainforest, has height- "They worry us because
a critical bulwark against "This is paradise," her hus- keys and birds that they ened since far-right Presi- we feed ourselves with fish,
global warming. band Muti Tembe said. later cook, while the young dent Jair Bolsonaro took birds, what we hunt from
"I tell my children: I plant- "You don't see any smoke who come into adulthood office this year with calls the forest. So, for us, it's
ed for you, now you have from cars that pollute be- jump, sing and mimic bird to loosen protections for extremely important to re-
to plant for your children," cause we don't have any. sounds with other members nature reserves and indig- main in the forest, listening
Cidalia Tembe said in her In the city, at midday it gets of the tribe inside a com- enous lands. to the sounds of birds, the
backyard at the Tekohaw too hot. ... Here, you're at munal hut to banging of "We have to fight for the calls of the animals."q
feet on the floor and the
shaking of rattles.
About 2,000 Tembe live
in their 1,080-square-mile
(2,766-square-kilometer)
Alto Rio Guama home-
land, which can only be
reached after long jour-
neys on boats or on dirt
roads. Villages along the
Guama and Gurupi rivers
that divide the reserve can
range in size from a few
dozen people to hundreds.
The indigenous reserve is
In this Sept. 4, 2019 photo, Cajueiro cheiftain Sergio Muxi Tem- officially protected, but it's
be leads villagers to the second day of meetings among the constantly under siege by In this Sept. 4, 2019 photo, Cajueiro chieftain Sergio Muxi Tembe,
Tembe tribes in the Alto Rio Guama Indigenous Reserve, in Para loggers who illegally try to stand by as the tank of his motorcycle is filled with gas, in Para
state, Brazil. extract prized hardwood. state, Brazil.
Associated Press The Amazon, 60% of which Associated Press