Section 10

Final Observations and Recommendations

We summarize in this section the observations and recommendations that we have made separately in distinct parts of this report. For more detail on the issues discussed here, we refer the reader to the relevant section in the previous sections of the report. We hope that those reading this section will recognize the spirit in which these recommendations are made -- one of concern for the present and future well-being of the Nanti.

10.1  The Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua and Nanti Welfare

The Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua is one of the best resources available for protecting the well-being of the Nanti. However, at present it is an unused resource, because its boundaries are not being enforced. The two most valuable results of the enforcement of the boundaries of this Reserve would be:

  1. Greatly reducing the incidence of introduced illnesses in the Nanti population by reducing and controlling the entry of non-Nanti in to their immediate environment.

  2. Reducing the misuse and mistreatment of the Nanti by outsiders with selfish, commercial or destructive intentions, by preventing their access to the Nanti and to the land within the Reserve that is legally set aside for the Nanti and other isolated indigenous groups.

In the interest of making the boundaries of the Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua real and enforceable, we make the following recommendations:

  1. Post signs at the boundaries of the Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua on the rivers leading in to it. These signs would warn away many individuals who are unaware of the protected status of the area, and enter due to simple ignorance. The signs posted at either end of the Pongo de Mainique, announcing the boundaries of the Sanctuario Machiguenga Megantoni, would be a good model. They are large, clear, prominently displayed, and indicate that entry into the Reserve without a permit is illegal, and they also indicate which government bodies manage the Reserve.

  2. Establish a guard post on the Rio Camisea at the boundary of the Reserve. This would serve to stop people who consciously violate the Reserve boundaries -- especially woodcutters attempting to enter the Reserve without proper permission. Having a guard post at the community of Cashiriari, as is presently the case, is unlikely to be effective in stopping individuals who are deliberately attempting to sneak into the Reserve. Cashiriari does not lie on the Rio Camisea per se, and it would not be difficult for interlopers to elude the guard. Only in cases where the guard at Cashiriari is forewarned or where the traveler chooses to stop in Cashiriari, is the guard there effective. We have never heard of the Cashiriari guard post impeding anyone's entry into the Reserve, apart from the incident in December of 1997, in which the authors played a central role in notifying Cashiriari of someone's intention to enter the Reserve illegally.

  3. Run an information campaign in all the nearby communities, especially in Segakiato, Cashiriari, and Boca Camisea, to educate the Machiguenga there about the legal status and purpose of the Reserve. All of these communities are likely stopping points for any outsiders traveling up the Camisea and into the Reserve, as well as the actual point of departure for many Machiguenga interested in visiting, cutting wood or thatch, or even settling within the boundaries of the Reserve. At present, the restricted status of the Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua is not widely known or respected in these communities, nor are the reasons that limiting access to the Reserve is important. If this information were popularly available, many people would be dissuaded from entering the Reserve.

  4. Educate the community leaders of Segakiato and Boca Camisea about the status of the Reserve. These people must be persuaded to respect the Reserve and to take their legal responsibility toward it seriously, as they are the individuals most likely to have contact with people intending to enter the Reserve.

  5. Given the vastly different situation on the Rio Mishagua with the Yabashta at present, it would seem appropriate to redefine the Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua, excluding the area of the Yabashta community of Sereja. Because it is soon to be a legitimate Comunidad Nativa, with a Dominican mission and school there; and because the Rio Mishagua in that area is much-used for wood cutting activities, the Reserve is no longer necessary, and furthermore is impossible to enforce, which damages its integrity in other areas.

  6. Establish a process for gaining permission to enter the Reserve, and then ensure that those who wish to enter it have obtained that permission. If the Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua is to be enforced, it should be enforced consistently. To exclude people such as ourselves, whose sole interest is in the welfare of the Nanti, but not to exclude people with commercial or purely selfish interests would surely be a net loss for the Nanti.

10.2  The Health of the Camisea Nanti

Generally speaking, the health of the Camisea Nanti is good. Although introduced illnesses, especially gastrointestinal ones, are having an impact, the Nanti have proved more resistant to some new illnesses, such respiratory illnesses, than many other recently contacted groups. The diet of the Camisea Nanti is substantial and varied, including a broad range of foods grown in their gardens, as well as wild game and fish found in the surrounding territory. In Malanksiá, where the gardens are new, and have yet to produce a great quantity of yuca or plantains, food is scarcer, and some signs of malnourishment are present.

Gastrointestinal illnesses are the single greatest cause of death among the Camisea Nanti. Sudden outbreaks of severe diarrhea in November of 1997 and May of 1995 killed seven and four children respectively, and other deaths have also been attributed to outbreaks of diarrhea. The deaths in these outbreaks, all of children a year or less in age, have been due to easily preventable dehydration. These outbreaks are correlated with the return of residents of Montetoni and Malanksiá, principally Silverio Araña and José Arisha, from trips to downriver Machiguenga communities. This fact, connected with the rapid onset and spread of the outbreaks, along with their equally abrupt cessation, suggests that the travel of residents of the Nanti communities down to the Machiguenga communities downriver are the vector for these illnesses.

Although there are several cases of chronic bronchitis among the older Nanti, and occasional cases of pneumonia among the younger, deaths from these causes are rare. There have, however, been two confirmed cases of tuberculosis among the Camisea Nanti, and presently several adults in both Montetoni and Malanksiá display symptoms consistent with tuberculosis. We believe one or two adult deaths every year are attributable to this illness. Testimonial evidence from the Nanti themselves indicates that they were probably exposed to tuberculosis on the Timpia decades ago.

In October of 1997, the first outbreak of malaria occurred in Malanksiá, following the return of Silverio Araña and several Nanti youths from a trip to Chokoriari and other communities on the Urubamba. At this time, a severe outbreak of malaria was taking place in this region, making it very likely that Silverio and the Nanti lads were the vector for introducing the disease into Malanksiá. Fortunately, Angel Diaz, a Machiguenga evangelist, was visiting Malanksiá at the time. He had brought a two-way radio with him and called the Ministry of Health medical post at Boca Camisea for assistance. Dr. Cabrera, based in Boca Camisea, was flown to Malanksiá by a Shell helicopter, and once there diagnosed the illness as malaria. By the time Dr. Cabrera arrived in Malanksiá, ten adults there had become infected with malaria, but the illness had not yet spread to Montetoni. Dr. Cabrera gave the ill courses of treatment for malaria in Malanksiá, and instructed the villagers of Malanksiá and Montetoni to refrain from visiting each others villages for at least a month. No deaths have been attributed to this outbreak of malaria.

We recommend the following courses of action to reduce the incidence of illness in the communities of the Camisea Nanti, and reduce the number of deaths in those cases that illness cannot be prevented.

  1. Construct and latrines and educate the Nanti in their use. Diarrhea epidemics are the single greatest cause of death among the Camisea Nanti. Presently, in both Montetoni and Malanksiá the Nanti and Machiguenga residents defecate on the beaches close to the villages, and leave their feces uncovered. This means that healthy individuals can easily come in contact with the feces of a person with diarrhea and either become ill, or contaminate food and water that is later consumed by others. The construction and use of latrines would isolate feces, making it more difficult for diarrhea to spread.

  2. Conduct health education among the Camisea Nanti. The implementation of a number of simple strategies could drastically reduce the transmission of disease. Emphasis on personal cleanliness, especially during the early stages of a diarrhea epidemic, could substantially limit the spread of the infection. Hand washing and the boiling of drinking water are two principal strategies that could be implemented to reduce the spread of illness in general.

    Even were it not possible to put into action any of the suggested strategies, the instruction of Nanti mothers in the importance of giving fluids to children with severe diarrhea could drastically reduce the number of deaths from these epidemics. Since the diarrhea appears to run its course and disappear without treatment, and since the cause of death in these cases is dehydration, it is very probable that conscientious rehydration of affected children would be highly effective.

  3. Limit travel in and out of the Reserve. We believe that it is travel by residents of Montetoni and Malanksiá to downriver Machiguenga and mestizo communities and towns that is directly responsible for both the introduction of severe diarrhea and malaria into the communities of the upper Camisea. Removing the Machiguenga residents of the Nanti communities would greatly reduce the traveling done between the Nanti communities and communities further downriver. All such travel is instigated by the adult Machiguenga males of Montetoni and Malanksiá, and their removal would drastically reduce contact between the Nanti and pathogens from the downriver communities. More stringent control on the boundaries of the Reserve would also decrease the chance of illnesses being introduced into the community by short-term visitors.

10.3  Education Among the Camisea Nanti

It is unfortunate that there is little positive that can be said about the educational efforts underway among the Camisea Nanti or the individual responsible for them, the bilingual teacher Silverio Araña Gomez. In seven years of work, Silverio Araña has failed not only to promote literacy, mathematical ability, or knowledge of Spanish to any significant degree, but has also failed to provide more basic education in critical areas like health and hygiene.

This problem has a twofold origin. The first is that the educational materials available for use among the Camisea Nanti are written either in Machiguenga or in Spanish. While Machiguenga is closely related to Nanti, it is sufficiently different that Nanti children find the texts designed for Machiguenga children very difficult to use. Spanish texts are, of course, completely useless. Without educational materials written in Nanti, it is highly unlikely that much progress will be made in the educational sphere.

The second problem arises from the ability and motivation of the bilingual teacher himself, Silverio Araña. Although trained at the Bilingual Institute in Yarinacocha, Silverio displays little understanding of the difficult task that lies before him in educating the Nanti. As a preliterate society, the Nanti cannot be expected to respond well to the same educational strategies employed in Machiguenga communities that have been in constant contact with the modern world for decades. The central problem in Silverio's teaching technique is that he does not aim his teaching at a sufficiently elementary level for his students to make the slow but crucial initial steps of the educational process which would allow more advanced learning to take place. The result is the inability of his Nanti students to learn even the rudiments of literacy or arithmetic.

Furthermore, Silverio appears more interested in "civilizing" the Nanti, according to his own narrow criteria, than educating them. This has meant that he has made great efforts to suppress most elements of Nanti culture that differ from the culture of modernized mainriver Machiguenga. In the context of education, what is relevant are his attempts to eliminate, as much as has been possible, the use of Nanti words that differ from Machiguenga ones. He has told the Nanti that these words are "bad" and that they should use the Machiguenga equivalents instead. Given that the Nanti have the right to be educated in their own language, the active efforts of a teacher to suppress the use of the Nanti language is at the very least unethical.

The authors of this report believe that education is essential for the long-term ability of the Nanti to defend their rights and represent themselves in the modern world. For this reason, we recommend that the following actions be taken to remedy the troubled educational situation among the Camisea Nanti:

  1. Remove Silverio Araña as the teacher among the Camisea Nanti, both for the ineffectiveness of his teaching efforts and the abuse of his position and power over the Nanti.

  2. Replace him with a teacher who has skills appropriate to the task of bringing education to a preliterate society; perhaps since the Nanti now live in two communities, two teachers would be appropriate.

  3. Ensure that the new teachers among the Nanti learn, use, and teach in the Nanti language.

  4. Supervise the teachers. Representatives of USE and/or other teachers in the region need to visit Montetoni and Malanksiá periodically to ensure that an educational failure of the type under Silverio does not occur again unnoticed.

  5. Develop and provide educational materials in the Nantis' own language. This step is essential if the Nanti are ever to become literate in any meaningful sense, or if their language is to survive intact, and distinct from Machiguenga.

  6. Finally, the approach to educating the Nanti in the future must take into account their history and experiences thus far, including the inadequate, frustrating and even detrimental experiences they have had with education to this point with Silverio. The Nanti need to be taught from the beginning again, starting with the most basic lessons, like hygiene, simple health care and disease avoidance; how to count, the alphabet -- and why these things will be beneficial, even essential, to their long-term survival, both physical and cultural. They have not yet learned that an education should be to their true benefit, and will help prepare them for their future.