VOA新闻杂志2023--Indigenous Women Bring Amazon Tribe Back from Near Extinction

Indigenous¹ Women Bring Amazon Tribe² Back from Near Extinction⁴

The Juma are native people of the Amazon rain forest area in Brazil. In the 1990s, there were only four people remaining in the tribe.

They were Aruká, the father, and his three daughters – Boreá, Mandeí and Maytá.

In 2021, Aruká died from COVID-19. The news appeared around the world. The New York Times newspaper wrote the "last man of his tribe" was gone and many people believed the tribe would go extinct³.

The tribe, in the past, was built upon the idea that men had to be in charge. Once the last man died, the tribe would no longer exist.

But the daughters had a different idea. Before Aruká died, he and his daughters started thinking about a way to keep the tribe alive by choosing a female⁵ leader.

Mandeí said her sisters and father wanted her to take the position. So, Mandeí became the first woman chief in the area.

Earlier in their lives, the Juma sisters married men from other tribes⁶ to make sure their family line could continue.

Over many years, the number of Juma people has grown. In the area that is now Juma territory, there is a lot of activity. Children play in the river. People catch fish. Women work to make flour from the cassava root. Others hunt in the forest.

They also gather at a community building called a maloca, to eat, take care of animals, rest, and use their phones. The building has mobile⁷ phone signal equipment.

Aruká, the last Juma male leader, is buried under the maloca.

Mandeí recently retired⁸ as leader. Her older sister, Boreá, is chief now.

Mandeí said she found leadership difficult, at first. She said other people did not treat the Juma with respect because the tribe was so small. People also opposed her leadership because she is female, she said.

It hurt her but did not stop her. "I adapted to seek solutions for our people," she said.

The Juma territory needs a strong leader. It is about the size of a large city, similar to Las Vegas, Nevada. Old-growth forest covers the land. A Juma leader's main job is to protect the territory and its natural wealth from outsiders.

People come and cut down the trees. They then use the cleared land to plant grasses that are used to raise animals.

The changes are damaging to the traditional life of native people. Developers plan to build a road nearby. The Juma say that will bring more people and industry to the area. Mandeí says the environment is already changing.

"The river doesn't fill with water as it used to ... The water shouldn't dry up so much like this. It's much hotter, it wasn't like this before. Our concern is: Why is this happening? Because of deforestation," she said.

The Juma people work to protect their land – they move around the territory by boat and even use drones to view their land from above.

Mandeí's nephew, Puré, is one of the guards. He said he is proud to be a Juma and protect the land.

He said he broke the rules and followed his mother's lineage. "If I don't identify myself as Juma, who else will?"

Puré's mother married a man from another tribe. When he was born, he was registered⁹ as a member of his father's tribe. But at 15, he decided¹⁰ to add the Juma name, his mother's name, to his name. He had to visit Brazil's indigenous people's office to make the change.

Two of his cousins also added Juma to their names.

There were not many Juma people to begin with. Experts on Brazil's native people say before non-indigenous people made contact with the Juma, there were probably a few thousand. The Juma fought the invaders¹¹ and suffered major losses in battle. A book by a German Christian¹² clergyman says the last attack on the Juma came in 1964. Over 30 people were killed, including Aruká's father.

Later, when Mandeí became the leader, she asked for help in saving¹³ the Juma language. In 2019, she invited a language expert to visit and help create a dictionary for use with mobile phones. They also created digital records of the language with stories, speeches, and songs in the Juma language.

Wesley dos Santos went to Brazil to work on the project. He is a graduate student at the University of California – Berkeley. He said the language, Kawahiva, is endangered. It is only used by 560 people. One of its variations¹⁴ is Juma, and there are seven others.

Mandeí said she is concerned that the language and the people who speak it will disappear one day. There are only 24 people living in the Juma village. The three sisters are still trying to decide how to pass down the Juma traditions to the people who come after them.

"The largest responsibility I share with my sisters is not to lose Juma culture as taught by our father," Mandeí said.

Words in This Story

extinct –n. no longer existing

adapt –v. to change based on new information

drone–n. a small flying robot that often has a camera

1 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

2 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

3 extinct   

adj.灭绝的，不再活跃的，熄灭了的，已废弃的

参考例句：

• All hopes were extinct.所有希望都破灭了。
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。

4 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

5 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

6 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 mobile   

adj.可移动的，易变的，机动的；n.运动物体

参考例句：

• The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
• She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后，活动量就大多了。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 registered   

adj.登记的，注册的

参考例句：

• Ships were registered abroad to circumvent employment and safety regulation. 船只在外国注册以逃避有关雇佣和安全的规定。
• In former times, only property owners could be registered as voters. 从前，只有有财产的人才能登记作选民。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

12 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

13 saving   

n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款

参考例句：

• Energy saving is term strategic policy of our country.节约能源是我国长期的战略国策。
• Old-fashioned housewives were usually very saving.旧时的家庭主妇通常都很节俭。

14 variations   

变化( variation的名词复数 )； 变异； 变奏（曲）； 变量

参考例句：

• regional variations in pronunciation 发音的地区差异
• The dial records very slight variations in pressure. 该刻度盘能显示很微小的压力变化。