Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Joshua Leo.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
When people talk about progress they often talk about things getting better or improving. Often, people talk about groups of people or communities developing and progressing. For many poor citizens around the world, progress is a good thing. It means education. It means more money. It means better health care. It means longer life. But for some groups of people, progress can do more harm than good. Progress can mean problems. Today’s Spotlight is on the problems of progress.
Voice 2
Tribal communities exist all over the world. They are small communities that share a similar culture. These groups have existed for a long time. People lived in tribes before any state or government was created. Tribal communities often live off the land. Many of them still grow plants and hunt animals for food.
Voice 1
The lives of tribal peoples are very different than most people in the world today. The Yanomami tribe lives in the forests of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. The community lives in one large house that can fit up to four hundred [400] people. The tribe grows, hunts, and catches all its food. The tribe grows about sixty [60] different crops. Twenty [20] of those are used for food, the rest are used for medicine.
Voice 2
But the tribe has experienced problems when meeting people from developed areas of Brazil. Gold miners invaded the tribe’s land in the 1970s and 1980s. The miners killed people from the tribe. The miners destroyed their villages. When the Yanomami tribe met people from outside their tribe, they also met with new diseases. Their bodies were not used to these diseases. Many people in the tribe became infected and died.
Voice 1
But disease is just one of the problems that faces tribal communities. Other people sometimes force progress and development on tribal communities. Such people may think that tribal peoples should live like they do. They may encourage tribal people to move to big cities. But many times, the tribes do not want to change. They do not want to move from their land.
Voice 2
The tribes may not have a lot of money, but their quality of life is good. When tribal peoples are forced off their land, their health and quality of life both drop. The people are more likely to suffer from depression and drug addiction.
Voice 1
Recently, a study measured happiness in different groups of people around the world. Tribes who still lived on their land were as happy as the world’s richest billionaires. Tribal communities enjoyed their lives. But still people continue to mistreat tribal peoples. They move tribes from their homelands. They make the lives of tribal peoples worse. People think they are helping the tribes, but they often cause many problems.
Voice 2
The first, and most common problem tribes experience is a decrease in health. When tribes are forced from their land, their diet changes. They eat different food. Often, when tribes are moved to larger cities, the tribal people gain a lot of weight. They do not move as much as they used to. They eat processed foods that contain more fat. Tribal peoples in Australia, Canada, and the United States have serious problems with their body weight. High body weight can cause serious sicknesses such as heart disease and diabetes.
Voice 1
But other tribes suffer from not getting enough food. In Brazil, members of the Guarani tribe are dying from starvation. The tribe was moved onto a much smaller area of land than where they used to live. They are no longer able to grow and hunt enough food. The government has given the tribe small amounts of rice and other foods, but the tribe can no longer find wood for fires to cook this food. The tribe used to live off the land. Today, they can no longer do this.
Voice 1
Another problem tribes face is disease. When tribal peoples meet other people from outside the tribe, it is common for disease to spread. All over the world, tribal communities have been infected with sexual diseases such as gonorrhoea and HIV. These are diseases that did not affect the tribes until they met non-tribal peoples. Tribal communities in Indonesia have a much higher rate of AIDS then the rest of the population. And yet government AIDS prevention programs are not directed at tribal peoples. Tribal peoples also suffer from mental health problems. When tribes are moved from their land, the tribal people’s lives become very different. They can no longer live like they used to. Parents and children may be separated. And other people may act with hate against the tribe.
Voice 1
These problems can cause tribal people to suffer from depression. Tribal communities suffer from very high rates of suicide. Tribal people kill themselves more than other groups of people. A member of the Guarani tribe in Brazil says this:
Voice 3
“The Guarani are committing suicide because we have no land. We do not have space any more. In the old days, we were free, now we are no longer free. So our young people look around them and think there is nothing left and wonder how they can live. They sit down and think, they forget, they lose themselves and then they commit suicide.”
Voice 2
Often tribe members turn to drugs to escape their problems. But this just causes more problems. These drugs damage the person’s body. They may cause brain damage. The person becomes addicted - he or she cannot stop using the drugs. Children do not receive good care from parents who use drugs. Even tribal children become addicted to drugs.
Voice 1
These problems are very serious. But there is hope for these tribal communities. Survival International is a group that is working to protect the rights of tribal communities. It helps tribes keep their own land. They educate people about the dangers facing tribes all over the world. The group wants people, businesses, and governments to understand what progress truly is. Progress makes people’s lives better. And sometimes that means allowing tribes to live their lives however they desire.
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