Makushi tribe seeing their culture being pushed aside for mining interests
September 20, 2019
RAPOSA, Brazil -- Summer evenings in the community of Raposa are golden and gentle. Half-wild horses wander in from the fields to feed on mangos that have fallen from huge trees in front of St. Isidore’s Catholic Church. A few young Makushi grab rakes to push the mangos into piles out of harm’s way. The setting sun seems so close, a giant ball of fire slipping behind the mountains that ring the prairie where the Makushi live. Makushi tradition says life exists as a kind of force — stkaton — that comes from the sun. It’s hard to disagree.