Demarcation Diaries
8 September 2001
It is my first day without my glasses. Manuel left me his pair of
glasses before he went back to Manaus. With different lenses,
everything looks kind of surreal for me. But since the Amazon is a
new reality for me anyway, perhaps it is not a big deal afterall.
Nevertheless, I still hope Manuel will bring me a new pair of
glasses from Manaus and I can say goodbye to the surreal days.
More people joined us today, including Janine, our other teammate,
engineers who will help with finding out the exact demarcation
points and boundary, reporters from the Global TV station, the
people from CIMI, and of course the Deni.
I tried my best to introduce myself to the Deni, and learned their
difficult names by heart. With some help, I explained to them
where China is. It is not easy, trust me. Then I took out the map of the
Deni land, pointed to the Deni and asked "aku? aku?" (meaning "where," one
of the few Deni words I learned from the dictionary prepared by Nilo). I
was hoping to find out which villages they come from, because there are
eight villages altogether, and often they are quite far away from each
other.
The Deni we met could speak some Portuguese because they are
taking Portuguese class organized by the CIMI, one of the NGOs
working with the indigenous people. The fact that they could
speak Portuguese makes the demarcation project easier. For
example, the Deni need to learn how to use the land surveying
equipment from the engineers, and of course these engineers don't
speak Deni. Having taken some anthropology classes during my
University days, I understand that learning a mainstream language
brings all kinds of consequences for the indigenous people, and
these consequences are not always good. Some people would
think it is the best for these people to be left out of the outside
world. But the fact is that they are being contacted by other
people, such as the middlemen who trade with the indigenous people.
Often, the indigenous people are exploited by the middlemen
because the term of trade is unequal. And the life of the Deni is
undergoing transformation through their contact with the outside
world, as their t-shirts and jeans tell us. So the question is not
whether or not they should have contact with the outside world, but
how and on what terms.
The Deni are shorter than us, but they are much stronger and
faster. Steve went with a group of Deni into the jungle, to locate the
starting point of our demarcation process. After he came back, he told us
that they carried a big log up hill and when they reached the top, he was
all soaked, but the Deni did not have a single drop of sweat on their
face! I told Steve that we are quite useless in this environment when
compared to the Indians. Then late in the evening, we decided to have
football game again. I was thinking whether to invite the Deni people to
join us because I thought they might not even have seen a football before.
But I was dead wrong. They are good at football. It is not so much
they have great skills, but they are fast and strong. I could only eat the
sand when they ran in full speed. Later after the game, I was told by one
of the Deni that they actually have football field in their villages. No
wonder!
With the arrival of the Deni and other people, life on the ship is not the
same anymore. Dinner is a big mess, because there are too many people for
the small table and the food. The hammocks are crowded, and I dare not
move a bit inside the hammock, because a small move would swing the
hammock and wake the person sleeping next to me. I told Ian, "Farewell to
the peaceful and spacious days." And Ian said: "It was like honeymoon."
As I am writing at the moment, I am constantly distracted by the
itchy feeling all over my body. My legs, feet, arms, hands, neck
and back are full of bites by piums and mosquitoes. The piums are
smaller than mosquitoes, and they are everywhere, and bite you at
anytime.
But I know this is only the beginning. Compared with living and
sleeping in the forest, I am sure life in the ship is like living in
heaven.
Another change of life in the ship is that there are curious eyes
observing the "sting things" we do. For example, last night Jan
taught me how to play some kind of chess, and the Deni came to
sit next to us and observed us with smiles and curiosity. But of
course, the feeling is mutual: we also observe how they speak to
each other, what kinds of gesture they like to use and how they eat. My first impression of them is that they are generally quiet,
speak gently and eat very sweet. (They pour huge amount of sugar
into the juice!)
After dinner we had a meeting on the deck in complete darkness.
Then I went to sleep early, knowing that the days afterward will be
more difficult.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the quote of the day: one of the Deni told
us in the meeting that "the jaguars don't kill, only the snakes do."
So much for today. Goodnight.
-Kontau
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