Isolated Amazon tribe saved from extinction after woman took up role as leader

04 December 2023 , 17:30

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Mandei Juma (right) is leading the tribe to safety (Image: AP)

A tribe in the Amazon isolated from the rest of the world has been saved from extinction by its first female leader.

It had been feared the Juma people were to disappear the same as other people in the area of Brazil which has been virtually destroyed by invading Europeans. A patriarchal society, in the 1990s the entire tribe consisted of Aruká and his daughter Boreá, Mandeí, and Maytá. Aruká became one of the victims of the pandemic in 2021 prompting concerns the tribe would die with him. Instead, Mandei stepped up to lead and a decision by the sisters to marry men from other tribes but keep their people’s lineage has changed everything. Now the village is again full of life with children playing in the river where people also fish and others are out hunting.

Mandei Juma (left) with her sisters Mayta Juma and Borea Juma (AP)

Mandei said: “I became interested in trying to gather more strength. So, I started taking on the role of the leader, the first woman to do so. My sisters…encouraged me to assume the position.

“Because we were few, people didn’t recognize us, didn’t respect us. There had never been a woman leader before, and then people came to tell me, ‘You shouldn’t have assumed it because you’re a woman.’ I adapted to seek solutions for our people.”

Sharing the story of her people, Mandei also gave warnings as to how her village home is changing. She says the river does not fill as it once did and the weather is warmer than when she was younger. The issues are due to deforestation, she says.

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Mandei waves a basket from palm leaves in Brazil (AP)

Last year the Mirror spoke to Josefina Tunki, the first woman president of the Shuar Arutam people, an indigenous nationality in the Ecuadorian Amazon, who is fighting for the survival of her home, her people and her way of life.

She said: “The destruction in our territory is vast. We have 96 hectares [the size of 134 football pitches] of untouched forest and it’s in this forest where the mining companies are getting in. That is why we are making so many demands on the national and international level for them to understand what we are going through. Once they destroy it, it’ll never be the same. We need to make people understand we do this not only for ourselves but for the planet.”

Antony Clements-Thrower