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ARTICLES |
WE
NEVER FORGOT OUR OWN LAND |
| By
Kuiusi Suyá, translated by Marcela Souza |
Photos
by Miguel Oliveira Jr
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We
lived in this village long before the white man appeared.
The village was called Ngôjhwêrê,
and it was a very good place for us. This was our
grandparents’, our ancestors’ village.
It was here that Claudio and Orlando Villas-Bôas
made contact with us, and afterwards transferred us
from here to the Xingu, to Diauarum. From then on
we lived in the Xingu. |
Kuissi
Suya, the Chief of the village |
But we never forgot our village. We never imagined
that the forest would be destroyed by the white people.
We continued to be the owners of the land. We always
returned there, to visit, to fetch forage and other
material. Here we have arrows, banana, and buriti
for making hammocks. But in the meantime the farmers
took possession of our land, and started to cut down
the forest so they could breed cattle. Our deceased
relatives are buried here.
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I
had an elder brother who died here and is buried in
our village. Even so the white people continued to
destroy the forest. At that time we lived in the Xingu,
but we never forgot our lands, we always returned
here, until we saw the white people cutting down the
forest where we used to hunt. Why? So that they could
breed cattle. |
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We saw the destruction and this made us angry; we
revolted against the farmers and started to destroy
some of their things. We’ve been fighting with
the farmers and the fishermen for a long time. They
came and started fishing and destroying the fish,
and the game, and we always fought with them. They
built a road from the farms to the river, and there
we confiscated the fishermen’s equipment. Just
the equipment, we sent the people away. The farmers
too, we confiscated the equipment, because they were
in our village, and we sent the people away. Our fight
against the farmers was like this all the time.
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Even
though we knew our village had been destroyed, we
wanted to return, we never forgot it, and we always
returned. Claudio and Orlando Villas-Bôas left
the Xingu for their own village, and we continued
to fight against the farmers because of our land.
Until we captured the workers who were cutting down
the forest and took them to the village. |
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Then the people from FUNAI came along to help us,
and FUNAI realized that what we wanted was to return
here. And we managed to mark out our territory and
get our village back. I always wanted to return. We
came back to live here near to the farms, not because
we wanted to live near the town, the white people’s
town, but because this is where my village was, where
I was born, where I grew up, and where my father was
chief of the Kisêdjê people. And I think
about this, and I feel a certain nostalgia when I
remember the old days, when my father was chief, when
there were no white people. The land here was good,
we planted and we had plenty of food – banana,
cassava, potato, cará, corn ? everything grew,
when the land was good, when it hadn’t been
destroyed by the farmers. This is why I was always
fighting with the farmers, until we managed to come
back to our lands. Today I am back here with my people,
I’m happy to have returned to this village,
very happy, and I don’t intend to fight with
the farmers without a good reason.
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I
fought to get these lands back for my people, and
today we are here. But there is still one more thing
to do. Across the river, we have a village called
Rophwikâkajpatá. There were two villages,
Rophwikâkajpatá, where my father was
chief, and Ngôjwêrê, where another
part of the group lived, and where we made contact
with Claudio and Orlando, who transferred us to the
Xingu ? and that was how we nearly lost our villages.
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Today we are back, but our village Rophwikâkajpatá
is on the other side of the river, outside the legal
limits of our land. I would like to extend the boundary
to include this village. There is forage still there,
principally pequi plantations, and there is plenty
of good soil. This is why I am telling you this, so
that maybe you’ll support me in recovering that
village, that maybe I can raise some funds for staking
out this land. I would like you all to be really honest
with me.
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Our
village here is now totally destroyed by the farmers.
The soil is not like it was before, when our parents
cleared the forest in order to plant: today we plant
and it doesn’t produce the same food. Why? Because
the white people cut down the forest and the soil
was trampled by the cattle, and is now hard, and difficult
to plant. |
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In the old days we cut down the forest to plant our
food, but today there is no more forest, just grass
for the cows. This is why I would like to get a tractor
to plough the land so we can plant the food we need.
Today, we know that FUNAI can no longer look after
the indians, they don’t have enough money. There
are lots of indians and there is no other government
agency to help us.
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I
don’t leave Brazil to travel like a tourist.
The reason for my trip is to ask for support. I need
a tractor to clear the land ? you use a tractor to
plough the land, to afterwards plant. I also want
to plough the land to soften it up ? and how can we
prepare large tracts of land with a hoe, digging out
the grass to plant the land? |
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This is very difficult! There is no more forest, it
gets farther and farther away from the village. The
tractor will also help to transport wood to build
houses. I need money in order to create an association,
to work together with my people. The things that you
have ? cars, motors, radio ? spoil, break, get damaged,
and all this is very expensive.
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We
indians don’t want to be like white people.
Just because we have a motor, a car, a radio, doesn’t
mean we want to be like white people. I don’t
want these things so I can be like a white man. These
are your things ? but today we are using tractors,
cars, motors ? to help us in our tasks. We have discussed
all this, and now that you have built roads, and there
is a road that connects this village to the town,
and also to our other villages, |
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I now need a car to go into town whenever necessary,
and also to assist our other villages, so that I can
attend meetings, such as health meetings, or Association
meetings, whenever there is a meeting in Canarana.
I need a motor for the boat so I can go to meetings
in Diauarum, in Pavuru, in Leonardo. I need to pay
for maintenance on the machines, I need to buy gasoline,
diesel for the car, all these things. Don’t
think that we indians want to be like white men. It’s
not the indians that are going after your things.
It’s you who are bringing things into our communities.
We don’t want to become like white people.
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Our
boundaries are marked out, but we don’t have
the resources, we don’t have a car to help us
with checking and inspecting. Today your people are
destroying the forest all around, and we live right
on the frontier. We have a lookout post, the PIV Wawi,
in the old Amoreira ranch, which was created as a
check point, but the old houses of the ranchers, which
were given to us, are very old, and haven’t
been refurbished, and the state of preservation is
precarious. |
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If I get your support for restoring these houses,
they will always have someone there to watch our borders.
I would also like to get a new car to patrol the border.
Radios are expensive. I have only this one radio,
and if it is damaged I don’t have another, so
I need money to buy a new radio. The radio is our
only means of communication.
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I’m
traveling from Brazil to England, just to ask for
some support. But I want everyone to be very straight
with me, and tell me if I’m really going to
get the help I need. Your things are all very expensive,
and we don’t have the funds to get all we need.
This is why I am here in your city to tell you this
story. Let’s see what you are going to say,
if you are really going to give me the support I need,
and raise some money, because it is only with money
that you can buy things. |
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Let’s see if you are going to help me so I
can go back and work with my sons and my grandsons,
in our village.
CAN YOU HELP?
To make a donation to the Kisedje
simply contact your bank to arrange the funds transfer
directly to the Kisedje association account:
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