Ayoreo-Totobiegosode girl Ibore tells how, on 11 June 1998, their household risked all the pieces and made contact.
We walked to a spot the place my husband Parojnai had sharpened a spear earlier than. We stayed there, making ready our camp. After some time we heard the noise of a truck.
We went to get honey, as a result of Parojnai had already discovered a tree with honey. Amajane [their eldest son] and I noticed a bulldozer. We noticed the bulldozer and we went close to, regardless of if the cojñone [white people, literally strange people] killed us, we didn’t care in the event that they killed us.
There we noticed a bit of home [this was actually a mobile trailer for a Paraguayan bulldozer-driver]. Amajane stated to us, ‘Keep right here, whereas I’m going and discover out what the cojñone are like, whether it is potential to contact them’. At the moment we had no information of how the cojñone had been. When he got here again Amajane stated to us, ‘I noticed some cojñone however I received scared and I couldn’t go nearer.’
Parojnai requested me if I used to be terrified of the cojñone or not. I answered, ‘I’m not scared, I’m going to get nearer to them.
Berui [their second-eldest son] stated: ‘I’m going with you too.’ However I stated to Berui, ‘I don’t need you to come back with us. If the cojñone kill us, you will take care of your little brothers [Tocoi and Aripei] and dwell with them. Berui obeyed and he stayed along with his little brothers. We went alongside the facet of a street, in direction of the cojñone.
We noticed the home of the cojñone. Once we received to the little home Parojnai shouted, ‘I’m Parojnai’. Nevertheless it regarded as if no one was in the home. In that second Amajane shouted additionally, ‘My title is Amajane. I haven’t come to kill you.’
Parojnai stored shouting, ‘I’m Parojnai’, and out of the blue a cojñoi got here out and I noticed what the cojñone are like; I noticed that they’re folks like us. I advised him once more, ‘We don’t come to kill you, fairly we wish to dwell with you.’
The person stated ‘Eha, eha, eha’ and I seen that he was very scared. He stored shifting his head and looking out behind himself, it regarded like he needed to run. He stepped again and I stated to him, ‘There’s no motive to run, we aren’t going to kill you, we’re good folks.’
Amajane made indicators to him to come back nearer. When he got here nearer I hugged him with one arm and Parojnai hugged him on the opposite facet, and I stated to him, ‘Sit right here’. I stated, ‘Don’t be afraid of us’ and I shouted to Parojnai, ‘You maintain him too, we don’t need him to depart once more’, and all the time with the identical phrases I stated to him, ‘Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid of us, we’re good folks’. The person stored repeating, ‘Eha, Eha, Eha’.
I stored repeating to him ‘Don’t be afraid’. The cojñoi held one thing in his hand [a shotgun] and I requested Parojnai, ‘What’s it that he has in his hand?’ and Parojnai answered, ‘It’s a weapon’. And I stated to the cojñoi, ‘Don’t be afraid of us, carry us one thing to eat, we’re hungry’. The cojñoi went into the little home and introduced a plate filled with biscuits and he ate the biscuits in entrance of us. I attempted too, however I didn’t like them.
The person handed the biscuits round and laughed, ‘hello, hello, hello’, and he introduced some stew on one other plate. Similar to the biscuits, he ate it in entrance of us, I additionally tried it, and I didn’t prefer it.
Parojnai stated, ‘Deliver us water, I’m thirsty, I wish to drink water’. We noticed a bucket and there was water inside and we drank. Amajane arrived simply once we had already discovered water from the cojñoi. Amajane was afraid of the water and poured it out. I stated to him, ‘You shouldn’t pour out the water.’
The cojnoi went into his little home and introduced out a weapon. Amajane and his father stayed beside this man for the entire time, they adopted him step-by-step. All of the sudden, he shot within the air.
I received scared, pondering that he was taking pictures at my son and my husband. And I shouted, ‘Heeee’ out of concern, and out of the blue the person took off his shirt and he handed me his shirt, laughing. After which I went to provide him a necklace of purucode [black seeds] and I put it round his neck. Parojnai additionally introduced out a necklace of purucode and he additionally put it round his neck.
In images taken the following day, Ibore will be seen carrying the person’s crimson soccer shirt.
Ibore and her youngsters now dwell in a small Ayoreo group on the sting of the forest. Parojnai contracted flu and tuberculosis quickly after contact, and died of tuberculosis in 2008.
