Valerie:
First of all, could you congratulate Sydney on making this contact.
Interpreter: (translating for Sydney Possuelo):
Thank you very much.
Hes saying its a whole teamwork, its not just him.
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The expedition crew includes Brazilian officials, members of four local tribes, and journalists (two of whom were women). |
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He wants to have a little small explanation. The basic team was
seven people, but then there were participants from Indian groups as well
as reporters that tape everything and record everything, plus the extra
people that carried all the equipment. So the total was 26 people.
Valerie:
OK, and could you ask him who the Indians were
that joined the group, and why were they there?
Interpreter:
Marubo, Kanamari, Kulihna, and Matis. In total,
eight Indians were part of the contact group.
Valerie:
Why did you want to bring in this group of Indians?
Interpreter:
Youre asking about the Indians that he
brought in to help with the expedition?
Valerie:
Right.
Interpreter: The first reason is to be able to try to have
various languages to help with the communication with the Korubo. That
was the main reason.
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A Matis Indian from the expedition team tries to communicate with a Korubo woman. |
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The other reason is because I feel its very, very important
for the other Indian groups to have contact with the Korubo, so that the
Korubo know that in this universe there are other kinds of Indians, other
groups of Indians, that are also their friends, and theres no other
better way than to have the personal contact.
Valerie: What events preceded this contact?
Interpreter: This is the fourth entry into the jungle.
Valerie:This was the first time that you actually made
face-to-face contact, correct?
Interpreter: Ok, what hes saying is that yes, this is the
first time. Maybe they could have had face-to-face contact before, but
because of the risks, you know, they had to be very, very careful.
So this is actually the first time.
Valerie: Could you ask Sydney to describe the contact? How
he went about it and what happened?
Interpreter: Every time theres a first contact with an
isolated group its full of tension and people are nervous. And
were also going to explain piece by piece so we can get it all right.
Valerie: Okay. Good. Thank you.
Next Page of Interview
©1996 National Geographic Society.
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