Coronavirus: an Indigenous Response
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Everyone’s dealing with disruption and challenges right now as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, but imagine how difficult it must be for people in indigenous minority language communities in the global south, where lockdowns have often been much more strict, and resources much more scarce.
What do you think of when you hear about “indigenous people”?
Perhaps you think of grass huts and spear-fishing, or riding shaggy ponies bareback across the steppes. There may be some truth in that. Many indigenous people have worked hard to maintain the lifestyle and knowledge base that have sustained them for millennia. But they have also been profoundly impacted and re-shaped by the forces of globalization, urbanization, and modernization. With great ingenuity and resourcefulness, they have adapted to a new reality while at the same time maintaining a firm grasp on their historical identity.
The Shipibo-Conibo are an indigenous people who live primarily along the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. This population of an estimated twenty thousand people has been described on Wikipedia as “liv[ing] in the 21st century while keeping one foot in the past.”
Shipibo-Conibo artisans are known around the world for their pottery, fabrics, and other crafts. While many still live in traditional village settings in the Amazonian jungle, a great number of them have moved to the urban centers of Pucallpa and Yarinacocha. While they continue to face great challenges as a minority group, they have integrated themselves into the culture, economy, and education systems of the area.
SIL LEAD has been involved in this region, working with a local indigenous organization to provide scholarships for teachers from a variety of indigenous people groups, including the Shipibo-Conibo.
We have recently received word from Jeiser Suarez, the President of ARIAP (Asociacion Raíces Indiígenas Amazónicas Peruanas / Association of Peruvian Amazon Indigenous Roots) , that COVID-19 has hit the Shipibo-Conibo people with a vengeance. As a relatively small population in a developing country, the Shipibo-Conibo are short on resources for dealing with this crisis. They have nonetheless risen to the challenge.
For example, Jeiser’s organization, ARIAP, has worked with local Shipibo-Conibo people to create an informative series of videos that raise awareness about the virus.
Here’s one of them:
Jeiser and his colleagues and friends are also doing their best to collect and distribute food to those in need, even as members of their own families are suffering from COVID-19. He recently shared that he had been given a bottle of paracetamol (acetaminophen) with about 90 pills in it. By the end of the day, all of the pills had been shared with others—all of whom were either suffering or who had family members suffering from COVID-19. And to make matters even worse, in addition to the current pandemic, Dengue fever continues to afflict the Shipibo-Conibo. Today Jeiser is frantically searching for an oxygen bottle to purchase as his own brother is having extreme difficulty breathing.
Indigenous people the world over have painful histories of decimation caused by the introduction of diseases brought by invasive foreigners, and the Shipibo-Conibo are no exception. But in the modern age of integration, they have risen to the challenge and engaged this threat head-on.
It is encouraging to see the Shipibo-Conibo using their own language as active participants in the fight against this disease.
But the fight is far from over.
In addition to keeping indigenous people like the Shipibo-Conibo in your thoughts and prayers, please remember that we are currently directing all donations made to the SIL LEAD general fund to our joint effort with SIL International to help indigenous people groups around the world to spread the word about COVID-19 in their communities.
Thank you for the part you are playing in this fight.
Stay safe.