Last updated: 6 february 2009
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The activities of Cabeceras
Aid Project are inspired by a set of ideals that form
a working philosopy. To translate
this philosopy into reality in
the context of our complicated present-day world, we set goals
for our activities, which we seek to achieve through strategies
sensitive to the details of the particular setting in which we are active.
Our
philosophy: Self-determination is an important freedom for all peoples,
whether the group is large or small. And cultural and linguistic diversity within the human species are inherently
valuable, and should be protected and nurtured.
These two philosophical
tenets guide the activities of Cabeceras Aid Project, and though they
are brief, their implications are profound. To act in accordance with
these principles in the context of early contact situations involving
Amazonian indigenous groups, and to foster respect for these principles
in others who are involved in the same situation, is a complicated matter.
The tensions between these two ideals, and the difficulties posed by the
political, social, and economic contexts in which such contact takes place
requires careful thought in formulating both the goals we seek to achieve and the strategies
we pursue.
Our first goal is to assure the physical survival of the indigenous groups
with which we work.
Small indigenous groups are at risk of physical extinction. The areas
in which uncontacted or minimally-contacted groups live are small, remote
pockets, surrounded by vast areas in which heavy colonization and commercial
activity, such as timber extraction, oil and gas production, and cattle-farming,
are steadily increasing. This means that direct contact between these
small indigenous groups and the outside world is only a matter of time.
Once this contact occurs, the lack of resistance that indigenous peoples
have to the new diseases brought by contact with outsiders imperils the
physical survival of the indigenous group.
In the region of southeastern Peru where we are active, for example, an
indigenous group called the Yabashta made contact with the outside world
in the early 1980s. Shortly after contact, respiratory diseases which
are common in mainstream Peruvian society but deadly to the Yabashta spread
rapidly through their group. Within a few short years, over half the group
had perished as a result of these diseases.
We advocate direct medical intervention in the case of health emergencies.
Therefore, Cabeceras employs a strategy of providing basic but essential
medical care to the indigenous groups we work with. The simplest and most
common of illnesses can quickly devastate a small population, and introduced
diseases demand introduced remedies. Rehydration in cases of severe diarrhea,
and the use of antibiotics in cases of pneumonia serve as two examples
of simple yet life-saving interventions.
We implement health education strategies.
Isolated indigenous groups typically do not receive sufficient medical
care from the outside world, largely due to obstacles posed by the remote
locations in which they live. Yet diseases arrive with visiting outsiders
and quickly spread throughout the village, often killing the youngest
and the oldest. Therefore, we feel it is essential to introduce survival
strategies to the indigenous people to combat introduced illnesses.
As part of our 1997-1998
Montetoni Project, our fieldworkers worked to help the Nanti understand
why they suffer these new illnesses and to learn new ways of responding
to them. They also dug a latrine for the village, and explained its purpose
and function to the Nanti, since intestinal illnesses are the most common
killer in Montetoni. The Nanti now have an understanding that diarrhea
is a cause as well as a symptom of disease -- and in fact, after our fieldworkers
dug that first latrine, the Nanti dug seven more of their own! Similarly,
central to our 1999 Montetoni Project was beginning
to train two young Nanti men in the use of anti-malarial medicines, in
order to prepare the community for outbreaks of this recently-introduced
and devastating disease.
Our second goal is to assure the cultural survival
of the indigenous groups with which we work.
In addition to diseases, outsiders often bring a cultural threat to isolated
indigenous groups in an early contact situation. Whether the outsiders
are from the capital city or from the nearest acculturated native village,
they may hold prejudices about how others should behave or conduct their
lives. Overt pressures to "become civilized"; to adopt the national language,
and to participate in new commerce activities easily influence small,
previously isolated groups, and all too quickly, a group can lose its
unique language and traditions, as well as their traditional means of
self-sufficiency. Natural change is always happening within cultures and
languages; what we wish to combat is the sudden, devastating change that
is often forced on smaller groups by larger, more powerful groups.
In order to address this phenomenon, Cabeceras employs a set of related strategies.
The Cabeceras Aid Project fieldwork team documents
the language, culture and history of indigenous groups.
We feel it is essential to record as much information as possible while
working in the field, for two purposes. Firstly, we thereby create a record
for the indigenous group to have and to use in their own future years.
This will also aid the process of formal education when the group begins
that process. Secondly, we wish to contribute this information to the
wealth of knowledge that humans are gathering about ourselves and the
world we live in. We use the written word, photographs, audio recordings,
and video recordings to create a diverse set of documents.
The Cabeceras Aid Project fieldwork team learns the language of the indigenous
people with whom we are working.
In order to work directly with an isolated indigenous group, we think
it is essential to learn to speak their language. Not only does this make
our work more effective, but it also demonstrates our respect for their
culture in a palpable manner, and allows us to function as advocates through
whom the indigenous group in question can voice their desires and opinions
to the outside world.
Cabeceras Aid Project works directly with and in indigenous communities.
Our fieldworkers are committed to spending as much time as possible living
and working in indigenous communities, dealing with the people as friends
and allies. In order to do responsible and ethical research, we feel it
is essential to understand the people as individuals as well as as an "ethnic group".
Since we believe that the indigenous groups we are working with have the
right to articulate their own desires and needs, Cabeceras Aid Project
does not work via intermediaries. Our experience suggests that intermediaries
in early contact situations frequently put their own interests ahead of
those of the indigenous group they pretend to represent.
Our experience also suggests that organizations who work with indigenous
groups, but who do so with minimal contact with the group in question,
often incorrectly assess the needs and desires of that group. We believe
it is difficult to be helpful to an indigenous group without an intimate
familiarity with their daily lives, desires, and culture.
Cabeceras Aid Project's fieldworkers act as advocates
for indigenous people who otherwise have no voice in the modern world.
Clearly, a recently contacted indigenous group has no means by which to
speak for itself effectively in the modern world. Unfortunately, all too
often others will speak for the group in the forum of local and national
politics without an understanding or even a respect for the desires of
that group; and all too often important decisions are made as a result
that impact the well-being of the group. Therefore, our fieldworkers are
committed to learning and understanding the will of the indigenous group
with which they are working, and then bearing that message to any outsiders
for whom this information is relevant. For the Nanti of Montetoni, our
advocacy work on both the local and national levels turned the tide for
them in bringing them recognition as an independent ethnic group, and
they now stand to maintain their previously-threatened autonomy as a community.
The strategies used by Cabeceras Aid Project in a given indigenous group
are determined by the needs of the group as the group itself sees them.
We believe that a community knows what is best for its own well-being.
Therefore, our activities in a community are shaped and guided by the
interests and requests of our hosts. At times it can be very challenging
to integrate our perspective as outsiders from the modern world with the
values of a small and isolated community, but with patience and effective
communication we feel that it is possible. Our goal is to exchange experience
and knowledge with our hosts, and thereby find the most effective strategies
to solve the problems of early contact.
Cabeceras
Aid Project seeks to provide resources
and knowledge to indigenous groups and thereby to minimize their dependence
on the outside world.
Our interest in aiding indigenous groups keeps the long-term future in
mind. While giving our immediate assistance may solve certain problems
a group is facing (such as a health emergency), we aim to find the ways
in which an isolated indigenous group will best be able to live in physical
and cultural health for the longest time possible. We can not read the
future. But we can hope to apply some of the knowledge humans have gained
over the centuries to avert problems, even catastrophes, that have happened
in our collective past.
Cabeceras'
interests in health education, native language literacy projects and political
advocacy work all reflect our commitment to implementing long-term solutions
to the challenges of early contact.
Thank you for your
interest in Cabeceras Aid
Project.
Please consider supporting our valuable work!
Last
updated: March 2, 2009
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