Para escapar do coronavírus, Yanomami se refugiam no interior da Floresta
To escape the Coronavirus, Yanomami take refuge in the Interior of the Forest
My Heart is Broken tonight
It is with the Ticuna, Yanomami, Kokomo
Warao from Orinoco had left the dire economic situation in Tucupita
Arrive in Manaus only to find themselves isolated, without water, without soap, without food .
The virus has arrived in the Amazonia, those Indians who live in cities are the ones in the danger of dying. Whether it would reach the interior of the Amazon forest is not known. But elders tell stories of escaping to the forest to escape from the diseases of outsiders.
Not all know how to get back to the forest
Also, they want to be close to the medical attention
But some have left for the Interior of the forest and there they would stay for 40 days in temporary lodgings
“Quando uma família vai, outras famílias vão, a vizinhada vai. Porque na comunidade somos todos parentes, então eles levaram toda a família”, disse a liderança indígena. Cada grupo está construindo pequenos abrigos para morar por cerca de 40 dias. Além de se manterem com frutas, caça e pesca, levam alimentos. Se for necessário, voltam à comunidade para reforçar os mantimentos. “Levaram alimentos principais como farinha, banana, tapioca, beiju, e também café, açúcar, arroz, feijão e materiais de caça e pesca. E quando acaba os alimentos eles vêm buscar banana, pegar estoque de farinha”, relata Góes.
“Deixar as casas e ficar por um tempo na floresta é uma estratégia que algumas famílias já estão fazendo. Diferente de nós que estamos enfrentando pela primeira vez uma epidemia, os Yanomami têm experiências recentes que dizimaram comunidades inteiras e os sobreviventes foram os que se isolaram no mato”, explica o assessor do Programa Rio Negro do Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Marcos Wesley de Oliveira.
The incessant incursions into their lands by Brasilians, encouraged by their President, had made many an indigenous person to move to the only city in the Amazonian region. There they live in crowded conditions. Soon they get used to the food that is freely available in the markets.
Many people had forgotten how to survive in the jungle, so they had to take sugar coffee etc. with them . But they had gone to isolate themselves!
The Indigenous people remember the other times, in their oral histories, when they had gone back to the forest to escape the illnesses of the society.
I was reading an on line journal called Amazonia Real, rather good journalism and photographs, when I read the heartbreaking story of the Warao Indians from Orinoco (I had visited them there) now refugees in Manaus, and exposed to the ill elements conducive of sickness?
What right the conquistadores and their children have to make the indigenous people who have lived there for time immemorial, refugees .. In short 500 years the owners of the land have become beggars.
Imagine a Warao from Orinoco who speaks warao language, becoming a refugee in Manaus which is the capital of Amazonas state in Brasil, where the language is Portuguese, the Indians they meet do not speak a native language they can understand. Imagine how marginalized they must feel, they are no longer in their own country, here they are with Portuguese speaking foreigners and when they meet other indigenous people they cant communicate with them.
Warao from Tucupita in Orinoco, now refugees in Manaus, Amazonas.
Coronavírus: “Um ancião indígena que morre é uma perda para toda a humanidade”, diz Márcio Meira
I have always felt a great responsibility of protecting the lives of the elderly indigenous people. They are living libraries of their cultures and loosing one is to loose a library.
when an elderly Indian dies, it is a loss for the entire humanity, says Marcio Meira, an anthropologist in Brasil.
Dr Israel Tuyuka of the Tuyuka tribe had to end his medical studies earlier than expected and he was handed his medical diploma one week ago and dispatched to the Urgent care section of a hospital in the city of Manaus where he studied.
Good Luck, Dr Israel, hope we can meet each other one day in the Indian country near Manaus.
Masks in Manaus
Indigenous people making their own masks in Manaus, Amazonia, Brasil.
My dear brothers and sisters along the Amazon River.. Sorry I am not with you, but I will be, as soon as possible and I promise to spend more time with you. I no longer need the comforts of the big city life.
I will be on that little boat plying upstream to Nazareth from the tri border town of Leticia in Colombia .. ojala, pronto..
