500 years ago, the Awa tribe lived in settlements in Brazil's Maranhao state. They were pushed to the edge of extinction, wiped out of their land by illegal ranchers and enslaved by European colonists. Today, only around 300 of them remain! It is the most endangered tribe, and they just keep trudging through Amazon forests carrying all their belongings, children, weapons, and pets. This tribe is on the edge of extinction. Those who are still alive are kept far from our modern world! As a result, only very few people ever come to contact with this endangered and remarkable tribe.
They still live in perfect harmony with their jungle home. Most of Awa families love and adopt wild animals, who live beside the Awa children as brothers and sisters. Remarkably, their women breastfeed wild animals' newborns until they are fully-grown.
Recently,
Domenico Pugliese, a photographer, was lucky enough to spend some time with the Awa tribe, and had some fun while taking photos of them. The taken shots are distinctive proof that they still have their unique relationship with Amazonian forest animals. The Awa tribe just love animals. The women in the tribe breastfeed the newborn animals to become "hanima" who are treated as family, in return, the "hanima" help their human families with everyday tasks such as getting fruit from high trees and cracking nuts!
It was in 2009 when Pugliese and a journalist friend of his had accompanied an anthropologist down the Amazon River on a two-day journey to reach a certain place in the rain forest, the Awa call home.
When the travelers approach the home, the Awa heard their boat engines and came down the riverbank. Pugliese describes that moment as an 'unexplainable' sensation; he extended his hand to shake it while he was confused thinking of what to do later.
The Awas do not have a concept of the world. At first, they could not understand the reason of their arrival, but soon, they found something to laugh at. Why was old Pugliese still without a family of his own!
Although he tried to tell them about where he came from, they could not understand at all. He could not explain his lifestyle to them, as they did not believe that a man could have no family.
Family is so important to the Awas, and it is not restricted to humans. Their pets are family just as their children are. They do not only help them doing daily tasks, they even watch them while they asleep. In addition to monkeys, their favorite pets, they bring up squirrels, wild pigs, parakeets, and large agoutis rodents.
The Awas are not vegetarian. However, although the primates are an important food source to them, they will never eat a baby who was part of their family and breast-fed by one of their women; they can recognize it even if it returns to the wild, they call it "hanima" which means part of the family. "They are more than close to nature, they are part of it" said Pugleise "They highlight how far we went from where we were!".
500 years ago, Awa populated in tens of thousands, they lived in settlements across state of Marahao before the European colonists arrived. Almost all of Awa were wiped out by diseases imported by colonists, including measles, flu, and smallpox. Moreover, the survives were enslaved to be put for work on sugar cane and rubber plantations. In 1835, they revolted against centuries of oppression, during the later 5 years; around 100,000 indigenous people of Awa were exterminated throughout the state. The remaining of them live in a small jungle home near Barra do Corda; they learned to build shelters in few hours just to abandon days later. They are known to be skilled hunters.
The EU and the World Bank gave Brazil a loan of £600million to protect the land of Awa in 1982, nevertheless, illegal loggers kept threatening their existence for the next 30 years. According to the CIMI, the Indigenous Missionary Council, around 450 of the Awa people were murdered in only 7 years (2003 to 2010). Last year, the governorate has announced that all invaders had been prevented from Awa land.
Today, they face another greater danger, which is the wildfire that rages through the Amazon. Moreover, it is said that the ranchers are responsible for the first blazes in forest of eastern Amazon fringe known as "earth's lungs". "There is fire everywhere, and it gets closer to our communities" said Tatuxa'a, one of the Awa spokesman "I was surrounded by dust and smoke today in the forest" he added.
Obviously, the Awa tribe is in bad need for governorate help, as they cannot put out these many fires alone. The Awa people also wonder where will they eat from when all fruit trees burn; they will not be able to hunt either as their stream is drying up too. The Awa people live in a real worry as Amazon forests are vital to their survival, and the jungle keeps getting eradicated by farmland and fire.
You can donate to help.
You can donate to the
Awa campaign of Survival International to help protect the Awa people live with their "hanima" in their territory.
Please share with friends and family, they might like to help too!
source:
The Daily Mail
