Blue Dot Brief, Issue 5
Indigenous Arhuaco leaders welcome Blue Dot Project and partners to Colombia
1,790 words, 9 minutes reading time
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IN THIS ISSUE
For this issue only, the Blue Dot Brief abandons its established format to present one unusually long article about an extraordinary visit to Colombia. We return to the normal format in the next issue, to be published on September 15.
FRIENDS AND PARTNERS
Indigenous Arhuaco people of Colombia open their hearts, minds, and spirit to about 30 ‘younger brothers’ from around the world
By David Vranicar
An unusual cross-cultural gathering in the coastal mountains of northern Colombia will likely change lives around the world.
The indigenous Arhuaco people preserved their ancient culture for hundreds of years by distancing themselves from outsiders. Yet this month they opened their hearts, minds, and sacred practices to about 30 visitors from cultures they’ve previously tried to avoid .
Why it matters
The Arhuaco people have been devoted and successful stewards of their environmentally important area of the world, which they believe is the Heart of the World. Their deeply spiritual and peace-loving culture establishes them as caretakers of all of Mother Earth.
Now climate change, mining, and industrial agriculture threaten their culture and well-being.
The challenge the Arhuaco face is common to many indigenous people.
How can they adopt what they need from societies that surround them, without destroying the culture that enabled them to thrive for millennia?
Arhuaco leaders are at a cultural inflection point
The Arhuaco live well isolated in the middle and higher altitudes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Their government-protected territory sits on big deposits of mineral wealth. Its altitude is well suited for growing cacao and coffee.
Glaciers, the source of most water for their region, are melting. Unauthorized plantations are popping up on clear-cut land within protected Arhuaco territories.
The Arhuaco have little administrative or legal recourse to protect their land because they have no money or economic system other than barter. They can’t pay lawyers to take their case through the legal system, and they can’t buy land to protect it from exploitation.
Their language, Iku, is unwritten. Arhuaco elders have handed down their culture through oral tradition for thousands of years.
The Arhuaco communicate with people outside their community through Spanish. They affectionately call such outsiders their “younger brothers” because, like little brothers, they can be unknowingly destructive.
Historical context
Four indigenous tribes now occupy the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. All descended from the original Tayrona (or Tairona), who the Spanish dispersed by colonization in the 16th Century.
By the mid-17th century, the Tayrona had been overwhelmed by slavery, disease, and genocide. Survivors fled to the mountains for protection by steep terrain and jungle.
Today the descendants of the Tayrona are the Arhuaco, Kogi (or Kogui), Wiwa, and Kankuamo tribes. About 11,000 to 25,000 ethnic Kankuamo remain, but a large portion have lost their traditions and moved out of their territories. The Arhuaco, Wiwa, and Kogi together number about 30,000.
Living at one with nature
The tribes adhere to sacred mandates that they believe keep them in harmony with the physical and spiritual universe.
Over many years of training, carefully chosen men (called mamos) and women (sagas) develop skills and sensitivity to read the energies of nature and communicate directly with it.
They care for sacred sites through rites, ritual offerings, traditional dances, and songs dedicated to nature.
The Arhuaco and many other Colombians believe this devotion has played an important role in protecting the Sierra Nevada ecosystem.
How can the Arhuaco develop their territory wisely?
Arhuaco elders are widely respected in Colombia for their wisdom and spirituality. But some of their younger brothers criticize the Arhuaco for what they see as stubborn resistance to development.
Some Arhuaco communities have high rates of poverty and face food insecurity. Recognizing this and other opportunities to improve living standards, the elders say they are not against development that brings well-being to all.
They welcome a future where indigenous and non-indigenous people can survive together long into the future.
The elders’ concern is that no life will be possible when all the clean air and water are used up.
To help navigate these differing views of the world, Arhuaco elders have recently sought help in navigating the financial and legal systems outside their territory.
One goal is to reach co-existence agreements that guarantee all parties the right to life for many generations.
Can the Arhuaco adapt technologies without losing their culture?
The Arhuaco leaders see they have much to gain from adopting appropriate technologies.
They are in the final stages of negotiating construction of a solar power project that will connect to Colombia’s national grid.
One young Arhuaco family wanted a visitor to speak English with their four-year-old daughter. They are raising her to speak Iku and English. Both parents speak Iku and Spanish only, with no English. They think English will help their daughter use a smartphone and tablet computers.
You are likely to see about a dozen motorcycles during the two-hour drive from Pueblo Bello to the ancestral Arhuaco city of Nabusimake. You make the trip in a 4-wheel-drive vehicle up a heavily pitted single-lane road that whitens knuckles, rocks passengers, and bangs heads and shoulders against side panels and window panes.
Outsiders have offered to pave the road to Nabusimake, but the Arhuaco are not eager to make their sacred capital (population about 8,000) easier to reach from Pueblo Bello (population about 29,000).
Arhuaco gatekeepers control entry to the territory through stations along the road. They allow only a few outsiders to pass.
Visitors are discouraged from taking photos, but our group received permissions that are broader than most.
An idyllic retreat
The ambiance of Nabusimake is tranquil and quiet except for the bleating of sheep and goats. Pigs, donkeys, and chickens graze on broad lawns that look like the fairways of a well-managed public golf course.
A visitor has the sense of wandering into ShangriLa, the utopian city in Tibet from James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon.
Toddlers and other young children play outdoors in full confidence, with little obvious adult supervision.
Life is basic. Homes have indoor plumbing, but the water here and in Pueblo Bello is always cold. Families bathe together in the shallow river before sunrise.
Windows remain open to night air that gets down to 60 degrees F. (15 degrees C.) or lower, depending on the season.
Some Arhuaco leaders use smartphones and walkie-talkies
Near Nabusimake, the music of a vintage video game drifted through the open windows of a thatch-roofed farmhouse with mud walls.
The adoption of smartphones and electronic devices—or even of more basic technologies such as motorcycles or mechanical washing machines—seems likely to change Arhuaco culture in ways no one can reliably foresee.
Some young Arhuaco leave their ancestral lands to live in the cities of younger brothers.
To this jaded younger brother, it seems likely the trend for young people to drift away will only grow as the Arhuaco gain access to more comforts and distractions of modern life.
Could our current visit and future interactions infect this beautiful culture in ways that will undermine it?
What caused the Arhuaco to open up now?
Kogi elders have traveled to France, Mexico, the United States, and other countries in the past 18 months to share their concerns about the declining state of their lands and the whole natural world.
They’ve sought international allies to help protect their land, and they become more open to sharing their culture and spiritual values.
The Arhuaco have watched the Kogis’ ambassadorship and learned from their experience.
The immediate reason for the Arhuaco’s recent overture was the patient, methodical work of a not-for-profit group in Colombia called Sun Nation.
Sun Nation’s mission, as stated on their website, is to “co-develop regenerative systems with indigenous nations to conserve the natural world.” They have worked with the Arhuaco and their sister tribes for more than five years.
Sun Nation began working in partnership with Blue Dot Project early this year, and the Blue Dot Project co-sponsored the international conference in Pueblo Bello and Nabusimake.
A Sun Nation leader who calls himself Tiamoesg worked with Kelsey Faith and Sun Nation partners to make arrangements for the meetings.
What happens next?
Discussions during the summit focused on the effects of environmental pressures on local ecosystems—including rivers, flora, and fauna. Of particular concern are the growth of industrial agriculture and mining.
Arhuaco communities need energy, water management, and sewage treatment.
Blue Dot Project founder Eduardo Esparza sees further collaboration with local groups, both indigenous and non-indigenous.
“As the Blue Dot Project engages with the Arhuaco and other groups in the Sierra Nevada region, our mission is to develop solutions collaboratively, in ways that respect and integrate multiple local perspectives,” he said.
“We will work toward helping indigenous people here speak with a unified voice. We also welcome relationships with all groups in the region.
“For the sake of the whole planet, we’ll work with anyone who is ready to put the long-term interests of Mother Nature ahead of short-term gains.”
Following the conference, the Arhuaco, Sun Nation, and Blue Dot Project met with officials of the Colombian government and spiritual authorities from the Kogi and the Wiwa communities on the north side of the Sierra.
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Please look for the Blue Dot Brief issue 6 on September 15.
Best wishes,
David Vranicar, editor