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COLOMBIA / AWA MAYASQUER DISPLACED
STORY: COLOMBIA / AWA MAYASQUER DISPLACED
TRT: 02:52
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 06 DECEMBER 2017, VILLAGARZON, DEPARTMENT OF PUTUMAYO, COLOMBIA
06 DECEMBER 2017, VILLAGARZON, DEPARTMENT OF PUTUMAYO, COLOMBIA
1. Wide shot, Armando cutting bananas from tree
2. Wide shot, Armando walking with banana bunch
3. Close up, Armando’s baby
4. Med shot, Armando and his family
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“What does our indigenous community need? Not just land. We need housing, electricity, water, running water in order to live, and a livelihoods project so we can grow food. The government has really neglected us.”
6. Wide shot, land granted to Awa Mayasquer community
7. Wide shot, wooden shack with plastic covering
8. Med shot, chicken coop
9. Various shots, Armando and his family having breakfast
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“That is why it has been hard for us here. Some days we eat, other days we get by on just a cup of coffee.”
11. Various shots, children playing
12. Various shots, children being taught native language
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Harold Juajibioy, Community Assistant, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Often, they stop speaking in their native language when they aren’t on their own lands, either because of fear, or as a way to protect themselves. Because of discrimination in urban areas, those cultural traditions and customs… the rituals usually begin to disappear or deteriorate.”
14. Wide shot, elderly woman walking with young girl
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“The elders don’t even want to consider going back. They say they would rather die here than be made to go back.”
16. Wide shot, Armando and his family walking with UNHCR field officer
17. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“We cannot forget our traditions and music… We need to make sure our story is known. We need to teach our community and remain united as an indigenous people. We will never be defeated because we can overcome and we are native, rich in culture.”
18. Various shots, Armando playing ‘marimba’ traditional Awa Mayasquer instrument
Back on their ancestral lands in the Colombian rainforest, the Awá Mayasquer people hunted, raised livestock and planted food crops. But caught in the crossfire between government forces and left-wing guerrillas, they were forced to flee.
Indigenous peoples like them are among those most impacted by more than five decades of armed conflict in Colombia that has displaced more than 7.6 million people both within the country and beyond its borders.
Last year this tiny group of 17 Awa Mayasquer families made history. The Colombian government granted them 239 hectares of land, but they lack the basic rights and services needed to start over. They are the first ethnic group in Putumayo to be relocated.
Still, Awa Mayasquer Community Leader Armando Cuasaluzan Pai said more needs to be done.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“What does our indigenous community need? Not just land. We need housing, electricity, water, running water in order to live, and a livelihoods project so we can grow food. The government has really neglected us.”
Armando said the families are finding difficulty feeding their children which has been the cause of much pain for them.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“That is why it has been hard for us here. Some days we eat, other days we get by on just a cup of coffee.”
A 2016 peace deal brought an end to the fighting between FARC rebels and the government, but Colombia is still struggling to emerge from a half-century of war. Indigenous communities have been hit the hardest. Advocates say two thirds of native cultures in Colombia could die out in displacement.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Harold Juajibioy, Community Assistant, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Often, they stop speaking in their native language when they aren’t on their own lands, either because of fear, or as a way to protect themselves. Because of discrimination in urban areas, those cultural traditions and customs… the rituals usually begin to disappear or deteriorate.”
But the Awa Mayasquer fear insecurity back in their native land.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“The elders don’t even want to consider going back. They say they would rather die here than be made to go back.”
Despite the hardship Armando continues to fight to see his culture survive and hear their story told.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Armando Cuasaluzan Pai, Leader, Awa Mayasquer Community:
“We cannot forget our traditions and music… We need to make sure our story is known. We need to teach our community and remain united as an indigenous people. We will never be defeated because we can overcome and we are native, rich in culture.”
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