Awá

Population: 300

The Awá tribe is one of the last truly nomadic indian tribes. They live in the forests of the eastern Amazon. Some of them now live in government established posts, but most of them still live like nomads without any contact with the outside world. It will be very hard for them to be able to survive.

They decided to change their settled lifes to live a nodamic life around 1800, in order to escape violent attacks by European invaders. Over the last 15 years, many have been contacted by the government Indian agency and now live in villages established by the government. They are hunters and gatherers and the nomadic groups are very mobile. When moving from one place to the other they keep the embers of their fires lit, to relight the fire as soon as they arrive in the new place.

The Awá have been continuously under attack by ranchers and settlers. Many of them are survivors of terrible massacres and are often severely traumatised. They will also stay vulnerable as long as their land has no protection.

In 1982, Brazil undertook to demarcate all Indian territories in the region as a condition of a World Bank loan for an industrial project and World Bank money was put aside for this. Though the Awá area still has not been demarcated and the approaching industrial projects, ranchers and settlers is exposing the surviving Awá to violence and disease.