The Awá are often called Brazil's last truly nomadic tribe. Their home is in the devastated forests of the eastern Amazon.
How do they live? The Awá
abandoned a settled lifestyle for a nomadic one in around 1800, in order to
escape violent attacks by European invaders. Over the last 15 years, many have
been contacted by the government Indian agency and now live in villages
established by the government. Others live a
nomadic lifestyle without any contact with outsiders. All provide for themselves by hunting and
gathering, and those who are nomadic are highly mobile, living in bands of no
more than 20-30 people. As they travel, they keep the embers of their fires lit,
relighting the fire as they arrive in each place.
What problems
do they face? Throughout the last 100 years, the Awá have been the
victims of vicious and systematic extermination attempts by ranchers and
settlers. Many of those who are in contact with outsiders are the survivors of
massacres and are severely traumatised - and we know that many more of the
nomadic Awá are survivors of the same and similar attacks. They will continue to
be vulnerable as long as their land has no protection. In 1982, Brazil undertook
to demarcate all Indian territories in the region as a condition of a World Bank
loan for an industrial project, and World Bank money was put aside for this. Yet
even now, the Awá area has not been demarcated - and the increasing encroachment
by industrial projects, ranchers and settlers is exposing the surviving Awá to
violence and disease. The Awá are
in severe danger of being wiped out altogether.
How can I help?
Click
here to donate to Survival.
Click
here for a sample letter to send to the Brazilian government.
Click
here to write a letter to your MP or MEP (UK).
Click
here to write to the President, your senators, congressmen or other elected officials (US).
Write to your local Brazilian embassy, click
here to find out the address.
How does Survival help? Survival
is campaigning for the Awá's land rights to be recognised. The Brazilian
government refuses to recognise any Indian land ownership, but they can at least
demarcate the Awá area as an Indian reserve, as they long ago undertook to do.
The Awá are under great threat, and protection of their land will give them some
measure of safety.
