Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 2 OctOber 2019
Arrows and smartphones: daily life of Amazon Tembe tribe

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