AMAZON'S ANCIENT TRIBE

Story details

http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/article/-/10164176/amazons-ancient-tribe/

Guest reporter: Tim Noonan

Date aired: 4 September, 2011(Sunday Night – Channel Seven – Australia)

In a world exclusive, after more than a year of planning, Sunday Night ventures deep into the Brazilian jungle to make contact with one of the lost tribes of the Amazon.

The Stone Age Suruwaha tribe live just as they have for thousands of years, including practicing human sacrifice. Just a handful of government officials and scientists have ever been granted access – until now.

Sunday Night reporter/cameraman Tim Noonan and adventure writer Paul Raffaele are the first foreigners to live amongst this ancient Indian

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warrior people. What the pair discover - after overcoming many dangers, is truly remarkable.

ATINI, is a Brazilian charity that provides sanctuary for Indian children, and their parents, who were condemned to death by their tribes but managed to escape. You can go to the website

http://voiceforlifewhoweare.blogspot.com/

for further details.

These are the bank details if you would like to donate to help children such as Iganani to live in a sanctuary when they have fled the tribes.

Millennium relief and development services, MRDSWestpac norwoodBsb: 345-039Acct: 172053

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Amazon's ancient tribe transcript

http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/transcripts/article/-/10196580/amazons-ancient-tribe-transcript/

TIM NOONAN: DEEP IN THE AMAZON JUNGLE IS A PLACE OF WONDER ...A PLACE OF DANGER.

PAUL RAFFAELE: You press a button and suddenly, you’re in the stone age, you’re really there!

TIM NOONAN: IT’S TAKEN SEVEN MONTHS OF NEGOTIATIONS TO JOIN THIS EXPEDITION. WE’RE BEING TAKEN BY OFFICERS FROM BRAZIL’S DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS TO ONE OF THE WORLD’S LAST AND MOST ISOLATED STONE AGE TRIBES. WE’RE IN THE FAR NORTH-WEST OF BRAZIL, NEAR THE BORDER WITH PERU.

WE’RE HEADING TO THE HOME OF THE SURUWAHA. A THREE-DAY BOAT RIDE WILL BE FOLLOWED BY TWO WEEKS IN QUARANTINE, TO MAKE SURE WE BRING IN NO DISEASES. THEN ... ANOTHER TWO DAYS BY CANOE. WITH US IS AUTHOR AND ADVENTURER, PAUL RAFFAELE.

PAUL RAFFAELE: These are some of the last survivors of a time way beyond historical memory, thousands of years ago.

TIM NOONAN: The waterways here are a labyrinth and as the jungle closes in on us we’ve left the steamer behind to go deep into the heart of one of the Amazon’s forbidden zones.

TIM NOONAN: TO PROTECT THE AMAZON INDIANS, THE GOVERNMENT HAS CLOSED OFF THIS REGION TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. ONLY A FEW ARE EVER ALLOWED IN. THE FINAL LEG IS A TOUGH TREK THROUGH THE DENSE JUNGLE. IT’S TAKEN US NEARLY A MONTH TO GET TO THIS POINT. THEN,

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OUR GUIDE MAKES THE SOUND OF A JAGUAR; HE’S TELLING THE SURUWAHA THAT OUTSIDERS ARE NEAR.

TIM NOONAN: We’re finally here, we’re literally about to time-travel back 10,000 years.

TIM NOONAN: BUT THEN THE MOOD CHANGES ... THERE ARE THREATS OF MURDER.

PAUL RAFFAELE: Who wants to kill me? The girl? She wants to kill me? Did you hear that? The girl wants to kill me because she’s scared.

TIM NOONAN: HERE, WE’RE OUTSIDE THE PROTECTION OF BRAZILIAN LAW.

PAUL RAFFAELE: We were in Suruwaha land, their laws apply. Had we been killed on that spot, the Brazilian government would not have punished those indians.

TIM NOONAN: THEN A BRAVE GIRL OFFERS HER HAND TO PAUL ... AND THE THREAT IS GONE.

TIM NOONAN: Oh, what a trek!

TIM NOONAN: SIMPLE ITEMS WE’VE BROUGHT INTRIGUE THEM. BOOKS, BOOTS AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY. OVER THE NEXT WEEK I LEARN HOW IMPORTANT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE IS TO THE SURUWAHA. THE BODY PAINT MADE FROM GROUND BERRIES IS ONE WAY OF ENHANCING THEIR BEAUTY. ANOTHER IS GROOMING EACH OTHER.

TIM NOONAN: Yep, they don’t have any hair but I do!

TIM NOONAN: THERE ARE ONLY 155 SURUWAHA, BUT THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE THE PERFECT RACE AND THEIR EXISTENCE APPEARS IDYLIC. THEY MARRY FOR LIFE, BUT NOT AGUNIU ...

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AGUNIU: I will not get married. Girls are very annoying and talk too much. They complain about everything!

TIM NOONAN: THE STRENGTH OF YOUNG WARRIORS IS TESTED IN A WRESTLING MATCH CALLED THE WOOLLY MONKEY RITUAL.

AGUNIU IS BARELY OUT OF HIS TEENS AND EAGER TO PROVE HIMSELF AS A MAN. THE SURUWAHA HAVE NO CHIEFS, THE MEN EARN RESPECT BY BECOMING GOOD HUNTERS. HERE, AGUNIU IS ARMING A BLOWPIPE WITH POISON DARTS.

TIM NOONAN: So this is one of the marvels of stone age technology!

PAUL RAFFAELE: You’re seeing almost like the most wonderful movie you could ever see in your life. They live caught in some kind of bubble of thousands of years ago.

TIM NOONAN: THE MEN FROM THE SURUWAHA FAN OUT ACROSS THE DENSE JUNGLE, HUNTING FOR MONKEYS BIRDS AND WILD PIGS.

TIM NOONAN: Finding prey in this jungle is tough enough but keeping up with these guys is even harder. We’ve been walking all day, probably five hours, they’ve got to be the fittest men in the world.

TIM NOONAN: THE FRESH FOOD MAKES THEM AMONG THE HEALTHIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH. THERE ARE VERY FEW DISEASES, BUT I ALSO NOTICE THAT THERE ARE VERY FEW OLD PEOPLE.

TIM NOONAN: Well the average life expectancy here is just thirty-five, but it’s not because of bad health, I’ve just found out this is home to one of the most extreme and bizarre euthanasia practices on the planet.

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TIM NOONAN: AGUNIU CONFESSES THAT HE PLANS TO COMMIT SUICIDE BEFORE HE REACHES THIRTY.

AGUNIU: I don’t want to be here for a long time. I will never be an adult, I will take the poison before that and I will die.

TIM NOONAN: HE’LL KILL HIMSELF BY TAKING A DEADLY POISON MADE FROM A GROUND UP ROOT CALLED, TIMBO.

PAUL RAFFAELE: This is a true suicide cult and I wondered what is the reason for this?

TIM NOONAN: Why do so many people take the poison?

WAHIDIANI: A lot of Suruwaha take the poison because they miss each other.

TIM NOONAN: WAHIDIANI EXPLAINS WHY THEY KILL THEMSELVES ... TO BE REUNITED WITH THEIR RELATIVES IN THE AFTERLIFE. HIS BROTHER AND SISTER HAVE ALREADY TAKEN THE POISON.

WAHIDIANI: And this one, then this one take the poison and it goes on forever.

TIM NOONAN: Right now I’m being painted by Urucum, it is vibrantly red and it’s because the Suruwaha believe it’s the most beautiful colour in the world. It’s not this I’m worried about, it’s the initiation that comes next ...

TIM NOONAN: EVERY NIGHT THEY INHALE A POTENT DRUG CALLED KUMADI, MADE FROM TREE BARK. EVEN THE CHILDREN TAKE IT ... I WASN’T GIVEN A CHOICE!

TIM: Oh man, my head is spinning now. The Suruwaha believe it opens the door to the spiritual world, I can’t ... I don’t know if you can

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see but I’m starting to sweat, my feet are tingling and numb and my hands are equally as numb.

TIM NOONAN: THE MORE I GOT TO KNOW THEM, THE CLEARER IT BECAME THAT THERE WERE OTHER, MORE DISTURBING PRACTICES.

TIM NOONAN: THESE LOST TRIBES ENCOURAGE THE MURDER OF DISABLED CHILDREN.

PAUL RAFFAELE: The Suruwaha believe that children born with birth defects or born to a single mother are evil spirits and should be killed in the most gruesome way possible. They take these poor little innocent babes out into the jungle to be eaten alive by the wild beasts or jaguars or they bury them alive, this is one of the worst human rights violations in the world.

TIM NOONAN: IN BRAZIL’S BIGGEST CITY SAO PAULO, WE FIND ONE LITTLE GIRL WHO SURVIVED. IGANANI WAS BORN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY.

TIM NOONAN: WHEN SHE WAS A BABY, HER MOTHER WAS FORCED TO LEAVE HER IN THE JUNGLE TO BE EATEN BY JAGUARS ... BUT LATER, SHE WENT BACK. THEY MADE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE JUNGLE AND EVENTUALLY TO SAFETY. A BRAZILIAN HEALTH OFFICIAL TOOK THEM IN.

TIM NOONAN: Do you believe that infanticide still occurs in the Suruwaha?

MAIRA BARRETO (HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER): I wish they didn’t but I think that they still do.

AGUNIU: We haven’t killed babies for a long time. Even though we kill some, some we don’t kill, we let them grow up.

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PAUL RAFFAELE: I believe this is one of the most profound questions facing the world today. What to do with these stone age tribes? To let them live as they have for thousands of years protected from outside or to let them come out into our modern world?

AGUNIU: Is there and end to the land? Do the oceans go forever? We don’t know.

TIM NOONAN: THERE IS GOOD AND EVIL IN THIS LOST WORLD, BUT THERE ARE NO EASY ANSWERS AS TO WHAT WILL OR SHOULD HAPPEN NEXT.

A blog by Amazon adventurer Paul Raffaele

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http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/blogs/article/-/10175873/a-blog-by-amazon-adventurer-paul-raffaele/

For three weeks, Sunday Night reporter Tim Noonan and I journeyed deep into the Amazon to reach the Suruwaha, one of the last tribes on earth still living in the Stone Age, much as their ancestors have for thousands of years. This last day was the toughest through dense jungle with hundreds of massive fallen rainforests logs strewn in our path.

Now, at late afternoon, in a clearing ahead we spied an enormous communal hut and heard excited cries. Suddenly, we were confronted by a dozen young Indians, almost naked and swathed in blood-red paint. Some carried bows and arrows and they pointed them at us. Once we entered their territory we knew we were at their mercy, they could kill us if they wanted because it was Indian law, not Brazilian law, that was in force here. A girl in her mid-teens growled that she wanted to kill me and threatened me with a bow and arrow. For a few moments, I was concerned that she would carry out her threat but then another girl tentatively held out her hand to me in friendship.

Over the past four decades as an adventure author, I have journeyed to many remote tribes in South America, Africa and Asia, but none were as isolated as the Suruwaha. The Brazilian government, to allow the isolated tribes in the Amazon to live in their traditional way without interference, has closed off millions of hectares, turning them into forbidden zones, refusing permission for outsiders to enter. Tim and I were a rare exception, guided to the Suruwaha by an expert from the Department of Isolated Indians. It took me seven months to gain that permission.

Our journey began at the small riverside town of Labrea in north-western Brazil in the Amazon. We chartered a snub-nosed steamer and surged along a labyrinth of rivers for three days and nights, passing just a handful of settlements. Far from habitation, the steamer anchored in deep water and we steered a speedboat we were carrying

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on board for an hour along a shallow river. We reached a small remote government base where we stayed for two weeks under strict supervision, a necessary quarantine to ensure that we were not carrying germs into the Suruwaha.

In the past, hundreds of thousands of Indians have died when coming into contact with outsiders who entered their territory because they have no immunity to diseases such as influenza. It was very uncomfortable, in a small wooden shed with a tin roof in 40 degree C with no fans. We ate piranha and other fish caught by our porters in the river and drank river and stream water. But we were happy to undergo the quarantine because we wanted to protect the Suruwaha.

From the base we travelled for two days by speedboat deeper into the Amazon, now a tangle of small rivers and streams overhung by rainforest hardwoods and then trekked for a further day through the jungle to be with the Suruwaha. No words of description can equal the vision of the tribe as seen on Sunday Night.

Being with the tribe was the peak of my career. But the experience was not only enthralling but deeply disturbing. The Suruwaha practice a bizarre suicide cult, unlike anything I’d ever seen before, where many of the tribe kill themselves with a deadly poison made from tree bark before they reach old age. They told Tim and I that in the afterlife they’ll meet their relatives who have passed away. They would be forever young, being able to hunt and fish and live as youthful people for time eternal.

Even more disturbing was evidence that the Suruwaha may still practice the killing in the most gruesome way of disabled babies and babies born to single mothers because they believe them to be evil spirits. They bury the babies in graves while they are still alive or abandon them in the jungle to be eaten alive by wild beasts including jaguars. About twenty isolated tribes in the Amazon still practice this barbaric human sacrifice.

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The most recent verifiable Suruwaha episode took place six years ago when a baby named Iganani was born with cerebral palsy. The tribe, including the brother of her mother, put pressure on the mother, Muwaji, to kill Iganani by abandoning her in the jungle. “Kill her, kill her,” Muwaji said the tribe urged. In obedience she took the tiny baby into the jungle and left her there, but returned when she heard Iganani’s pitiful cries. Muwaji found rats already gnawing at the baby’s knees.

Muwaji bravely decided to defy the tribe and bring Iganani back to the communal hut. Soon after, a government health worker arranged for Muwaji and Iganani to go to Sao Paulo for treatment. Iganani was given a wheelchair and also physiotherapy twice a week. She and her mother now live in a sanctuary for such tribal children run by the NGO Atini near the capital, Brasilia.

The Suruwaha , and the Brazilian government, have urged Muwaji and Iganani to return to the tribe but Muwaji refuses, believing the tribe might still force her to kill Iganani. She told us that she had witnessed 28 babies killed by her tribe and believes they could still be carrying out such human sacrifice, although the tribe denies it.

I was astonished to learn that the Brazilian federal government implicitly condones this ritual killing of babies by several Amazon isolated tribes. It has ruled that within Indian territory, Brazilian law does not apply, only Indian law and if that involves burying babies alive or abandoning them to be eaten by wild beasts in the jungle then so be it.

So, the Brazilian government clearly has the blood of countless innocent babies on its hands. Many Brazilian federal parliamentarians want to go into the territory of the isolated Indians, including the Suruwaha, to investigate these horrifying murders but the Brazilian government refuses them permission. No one believes ending the killing will be easy, but the Brazilian government should at least condemn the practice in principle and attempt to devise ways to bring

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the tribes into the 21st century.

Many older tribal members want to remain living as their ancestors did and they should be aided to do so, though helped to abandon the killing of babies. But many tribal youngsters want to come out to the cities and study. We met one young boy who wants to go and study to be a doctor in Sao Paulo so that he can return to help his people. But under the present Brazilian government policy that is not possible. It prefers to keep the isolated tribes in what can only be described as a living anthropological museum. So, the limit of ambition of young Suruwahan boys, whatever their intellectual potential, is to be expert hunters with bow and arrows and blowpipes, while the limit of ambition of young Suruwahan girls is to plant crops such as pineapples and to raise babies that are healthy.

In condoning the killing, the Brazilian government is flouting international covenants it has signed guaranteeing the protection of all children. So, the UN and other bodies including the Australian federal government should pressure the Brazilian government to live up to its legal obligations and condemn the slaughter of innocent babies by the isolated tribes in the Amazon, and devise ways to stop them.

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