Under The Shade, 'We' Flourish

Passing into Para State, Brazil via the BR-163 Highway, Jane recalibrates her bearings on a bus that travels northwards towards the intersection of the Trans-Amazonian Highway. Enamored by her new surroundings and with an urgency to adjust the shutter speed, Jane positi0ns her camera by the window capturing away at the vastness of the rainforests, or so it seemed. To her left, enormous soybean fields stretch along with no end in sight. Though it stops for a while it starts again then expands beyond her line of sight, only this time visible on both sides of the road. It was only a matter of time before Jane witnessed tractors harvesting the soybeans and more land cleared in the process. Her keen eye began to notice the disturbed soil swept into the air as dry dust and suddenly she knew she was right in the middle of it all. The bus followed along with the drifting soil in the air leaving Jane to contemplate the abundance of the crop and the space needed to grow it. Nearby processes of queimada are at work blanketing the bus windows. Jane had familiarized herself with the slash and burn method employed by the ranchers, something she remembered in her sustainability class, though to see it utilized firsthand, for her favorite crop hit close to home.

As a tofu consumer and a self-professed lover of soy lattes, Jane wondered what this all meant. It did not trouble her the very least the sight of the industry at work but rather the magnitude of it. Though she understood the nature of harvest and its reasons, still the depletion and what gets left behind disturbed her deeply. Especially when she thought of the grind of daily living that drove the demand and supply of resources, and how could she not be affected? For she was just one of many involved in this process, as a consumer in this world and as a consumer of energy, materials, and of this earth. Now, suddenly she was at one of the biggest areas of this exchange, as trees tumble around her and further development are undertaken on the highway she travels on.

There seemed to be no end in sight of the development, neither were consequences enacted, though if there were, it had been out of sight from where Jane was sitting. Now she was an observer, taking a trip into the heart of one of Earth's lifeforce, its lungs.  Only imagine every one of its ventricles was collapsing on to one another, in a house of cards, or like a virus that invades and succeeds in the self-destruction of a system that it hosts, passing through with indifference and without consequences, and as Jane would surmise was neither met with resistance or outcry, at least not on the surface.

Up ahead, the highway yields further constructions and land cleared for cattle pastures, and subsequently soybean farms there were providing cattle feed all around the world. Seeing this, Jane felt conscious about her choice of consumption. What did it mean for her that her favorite crop resulted in such devastation? The numerous trucks passing by them send Jane back into the present moment, then even further when the mini-bus carrying Jane and her companions suddenly halted and the skies turned ominously grey with smoke from burning fields or rather more dust sent into the atmosphere from more industry at work. Suddenly it jolted her with a reminder that this was not a sightseeing experience, and she had in fact volunteered for this.

Voices from beside the bus yelled and slammed their hands against the bus in desperation to the bus driver, who seemed hesitant. Though back and forth communication proved fruitful, then the bus driver carried on instinctively. Maybe he knew who they were, Jane thought. Then commotion filled the bus and for the rest of the group of volunteers who sat back stunned at the sight. That's when the influx of bodies passing by the bus driver were screaming with great urgency in a language Jane and neither her companions could understand, a group of four, including a fellow member of their company they were lugging from his limbs. Their companion was laid out flat on the narrow aisle of the bus. He had gashing wounds across his face and blood oozing from his abdomen. Jane wondered now if she was in over her head when she saw that a member of this group was armed and beyond furious.

The bus descended down the road hurriedly, with more trucks passing by, seemingly logging trucks. The volunteers scurried for scraps of material for Zyanya, the most notable of the group, clutching at whatever she could use to stop the bleeding. She looked helpless and equally vengeful but then she lowered her eyes at the incoming trucks. It was more than instinct. She's done this before. That's when she catches a wide-eyed Jane, with an outsider's lens that had been broadened and was eager to capture the moment. Though before Jane could capture it all, Zyanya snaps the camera from her hand. Just in time for Jane to lower her gaze.

"Do you have a death wish?" Zyanya vented. Jane suddenly tenses, then cowers away from Zyanya who was neither malicious nor apologetic. Sitting beside her was Ayansh who placed himself in between the pair. As he stabilizes the head position of their companion, on Zyanya's lap.

"Who is he. What happened?" Jane innocently inquired.

"A guardian of the forest" Ayansh replied. That's when reality hit for the unsuspecting Jane, "Was he guarding the Amazon?"

"Yes, but it's a long story," Ayansh said with resignation. Holding the young man who they called a guardian of the forest, was a companion of similar age, erupting with contempt.

"Madeireiros" he screams repeatedly in anger. This word Jane knew. Unable to curb her curiosity, Jane turns to Ayansh, who contrary to his look may not have been born with that name, however, he seemed to have had a notable connection to the local people here. More so than he did with Jane, even if he could have been a boy she would have easily known back home, perhaps like a Dartmouth undergrad studying environmental science or of that ilk like herself. Ayansh was equally intrigued about Jane.

"What's your name?" he said.

"Jane," she said stooping in her seat looking shy.

"Sweet Jane," he remarked borderline singing it. They easily could have run in the same circles, Jane thought. But they were of varying ends of a movement, that was neither a hidden secret nor operating underground. Here now, they seemed worlds apart.

"That's what they call me," Jane replied.

"You can't be sweet on a mission like this," Zyanya quipped. Her tone intimidated Jane.

"Mission?" Jane wondered.

"Well yeah," Ayansh said. That's when a flag patch of Zyanya's backpack catches Jane's eye, it appeared to have two loggers embedded on it with the following motto, Sub Umba Florea.

"Are you guys anti-loggers?" Jane asked.

"I suppose you can say that," Zyanya says with hesitation as if it was the truth but not the whole truth. Jane smiles nervously.

"She's from Belize," Ayansh corrected. "That's the Belize flag, they became a commonwealth or rather I should say colonized because of logging. Then eventually they were free from it," Ayansh went on but Jane was overwhelmed. Jane's education had not prepared her to be accustomed to other flags of the world. Not that she was not educated, she just happened to not be exposed to knowledge one would find outside her classroom as Ayansh continues,

"She speaks many languages; Yucatec Maya, Spanish, Portuguese, and of course English." Apart from the latter, Jane was neither knowledgeable in such languages, with the slight exception to some Portuguese phrases which she picked up from a year living in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Though it intimidated her more to hear of Zyanya's talents, she was just as intrigued.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jane wondered. Ayansh, looked around before diverging an introduction of his company.

"I'm a tree-hugger or should I say conservationist, Zyanya is an ecologist, and these two with us are José, and Eduardo, both Guajajára guardians. How about you?' Ayansh said pridefully.

"I came here to document and understand what's going on," Jane let out.

"And your friends?"

"They've volunteers like me."

"Well good we need all the help we can get," Zyanya remarked not understanding these volunteers were not on the same mission. Jane felt more at peace, after all, she did have the right intention, but she had no idea what she was getting into. It was a life and death matter as she would come to realize when the guardian on the floor gasps for air and blood pools from his abdomen.

His fellow guardian Eduardo no longer screamed for vengeance. Rather he remains calm yet solemn. Though Zyanya seemed helpless, she was alert as anything.

"Jane is it? It's time you use your camera," Zyanya says as she diverts Jane's attention to the window, "Quick." From the corner of her eye, Jane sees the majestic birds. Scarlet red and white-beaked. There it was, the elusive Scarlet Macaw. Now there was a connection forming between them, Jane thought as she shoots away at the Macaws flocking away from whereby nearby trees were being cut down.

"They've rarely been spotted in the wild in recent years. Only in conservatories can we see them now, at least back home in Belize," Zyanya resigned. Though the sight of the fleeting scarlet macaw gave some hope to Zyanya who before appeared strong-willed. She could no longer hold on as she broke down in tears at the sight of the tree falling behind them. Everything around them was crumbling.

The circumstances proved too traumatic, setting the volunteers on edge. So though Jane had come with the group of volunteers, she did not follow along when they asked to be dropped off in a nearby town. The remaining company continued passing through somewhere near the Tapajós River, with cascading views of fazendas, and then remnants of what was Fordlandia.

"A land without men for men without land.' Can you believe that shit?" Ayansh remarked. That simply summed it all up for Zyanya. It was no coincidence, the extractive nature of colonialism coincided with capitalist ventures to its extremes. They both grew out of the same desires; power, possession, and control. Passing by the remnant of Ford's failed project was not cause for celebration, it only stirred thoughtful reflection on the matter and demonstrated how quickly resources once considered a commodity and extracted became a thing of yesteryears, in favor of what was considered valuable in today's market. The unsustainable demand for Soybeans, which Jane had come to witness, would give this industrial remnant new life and with it another way for man to fall under the spell of the market economy while ignoring its subsequent effects especially at the epicenter of the harvest, where all the damage was swept under the carpet, literally. And so, the two strangers of differing paths both thought the same thing once again, the relationship between consumption and capitalism and the tendency for man to tame things on this earth just to maximize profit without batting an eye at the damage left behind.

The further distance they were away from the highway and its continuing developments brought some relief to Zyanya who felt sick to her stomach and was even more concerned for her friend, José.

"What were you guys doing back there?" Jane inquired.

"We tracked down an illegal logger and confronted him. That's when he brandished his gun," Ayansh explained.

The sounds of chainsaws nearby irked Eduardo but they had more urgent matters, finding care for his fallen guardian and so they pushed further through the forest. But it was already too late. All the bus driver could do was drop them off in their village. Then he made his way back after a long night on the road.

The young guardian would have been no more than twenty years old and his death marked such grievance for his friends and family in the village. No one was more upset than Eduardo, but he had a spirit of an elder as he looked over his younger cousin, though his tears flowed with devastation. Zyanya and Ayansh stood by the sidelines leaving the Guajajára to mourn, as they made their way back to Jane.

"Being killed for protecting their homes, tell me, Jane. Isn't that justified back in your country, you have a legal right to protect your home? Don't they call it self-defense?" Zyanya asks almost rhetorically. Jane just nodded, the only sensible reaction she could muster whilst they watched the fallen guardian being held by his family.

José's body still would have been warm by the time his fellow guardians set out on their next patrol, carrying arrows, clubs, and guns. Zyanya greets the elders, who seemingly from Jane's point of view, saw her as their own. By the campfire, Jane sits down alongside Ayansh and more questions follow for Jane appearing out of her element.

"How come you're not with the elders."

"I don't speak the language and it's best if I don't engage them when my face reminds them of all the unspeakable things our kind did to them."

"Our kind?"

"Do I have to spell it out to you?"

"You mean you have white guilt?"

"We should all feel guilty. Imagine living in harmony with nature for thousands of years, then being conquered by strange men bringing disease and destruction. They've endured just about everything and just when you think it's over, leaders of the government that occupy their space don't even recognize their rights and declare it open season on their homes."

"How did you come to be here?" Jane wonderers of Ayansh.

" Zyanya came here tracking Scarlet Macaws, it was a mission she brought from back home. They're on the verge of extinction along with other thousands of species here in the Amazon, alone. Let's not forget, it's estimated that there are fewer than three hundred Awá left."

"I heard they're the most isolated group in the world."

"The most endangered too. FUNAI figures issued them a red alert. It's critical, yet you won't hear it on the news. Everyone handed their money when Australia was on fire, especially when they saw those poor Koalas. The Amazon has been on fire for more than four decades straight. They're not just losing their homes here, they're losing their lives, their tribes, and their history, and all they really want are to be left alone." Jane only listens in appreciation of the severity of it all. She wished desperately to have known about this before finding herself right in the middle of it. As Ayansh continued,

"You know when species of tigers and rhinos reach those numbers there is an outcry from everyone but you won't hear any of it for the tribes here. Because they're not visible. No one speaks for them." Jane had wondered why on her sleepless nights wondering if she was never to see a tiger again did she not think somewhere in this world, tribes such as the Awá were not in her thoughts. So, she wrote this all down and took more pictures of the people and the forests. It was the least she could do. Ayansh follows Jane along, almost guiding her, picking up on her intrigue.

"So Zyanya tracks Macaws, and you…?"

"I came here too to study the catastrophe unfolding before us and knowing what I know now, I cannot go back to the life I had. It's like with the Buddha, you can't just ignore or be sheltered away from a world, where there is suffering. That's a truth," Jane agreed as Ayansh continued,

"When we saw what was happening, we couldn't sit idly by and let it happen, so we joined their fight, helping however we can."

"How does Zyanya track the Macaws"? Zyanaya returns to hear Jane.

"The destruction of their homes means they are constantly on the move. Sometimes we track down poachers to locate them." It all made more sense for Jane as she pondered poaching. She felt passionate about that as a lover of animals. Just as well when Zyanya hands her some food. Jane looks on hesitantly at her plate.

"What's the problem?" Zyanya wondered.

"I'm a vegan," Jane reiterated.

"No problem, here are some beans and some rice." Jane felt a great sense of accommodation from Zyanaya and the Guajajára village. But she had no idea how she wound up in the heart of the Amazon, watching a tribe grieve their own, all because an illegal logger shot someone for protecting their home. At this moment, she felt little deserving of their hospitality.

"Jane doesn't eat meat, so when the time comes she will not kill," Ayansh teases. Was it true, twenty-four hours ago Jane was back home, with her whole life ahead of her. Where was this mission going to lead her?

"Don't mock her. It's not easy to fight our instinct for violence," Zyanya interrupts, then looks to Jane, "Macaws occasionally eat insects too. Are they wrong, Jane?"

"No. Look, I just need to follow through."

"But you know that most of the world could not practice your ways. So, you wouldn't expect tribes like this to stop eating meat, would you?" Zyanya wondered.

"Well if we can find another way. Then maybe someday it could be possible."

"No offense but you haven't even perfected lab-grown meat back in your world. Let alone enough to share with the rest of the world. Let me guess, are you anti-GM as well?" Jane does not answer, feeling like she walked into a trap. Had her way of thinking offended those living outside her periphery?

"Yeah you wouldn't stop the macaw from eating the worms," Ayansh remarked.

"Well no. They're animals," Jane answered in defense.

"And so are we. Let's not pretend by not eating meat we are pure." Zyanya however did appear sympathetic to the unsuspecting Jane.

"Don't you think the planet would fare better if we cut out meat? The amount of cattle pastures here is beyond us."

"Why stop at that, how about the wood. Should we ban wooden chairs, furniture? And soy too?"

"If only people cared about the immediacy of people's livelihoods as they do with arbitrary standards," Ayansh said. He was not budging.

"But what are we if we don't stick to our principles. Greta Thunberg follows through, she doesn't fly planes. People take notice of that," Jane pushed on adamant she had a thoughtful rationalization.

"We all admire her but she does not have to live here. If she can help spread the message and get your people to do the right thing, I have much respect for that." Jane dwelled on her stance. Did it not have real-world applications beyond the classroom or her comfortable world? Was there a grey area when it came to consumption, she thought.

"Sorry if that's an inconvenient truth," Ayansh quipped as someone who lived in the grey area himself.

"You see Ayansh is a fan of Bill Gates. He believes people like him have the power and influence to save. But you see people with power never follow through. All that power is built on consumption," Zyanya stated. Jane was starting to see welfare as Zyanya's primary concern. As she continued,

"I have seen it firsthand. I am a product of it. My people are just like the Guajajára, endangered and enduring such hardship. Only to be told how to live and what to abide by. We certainly will not be controlled. We just want to be free. Not captured like pets enforced standards by those who have destroyed the world." Jane was speechless as Zyanya had more thoughts,

"You see you can campaign all you want but at the end of the day they have to fight for their homes and no one speaks for them or cares. When this is over, you can go home and be at peace. This is life or death for them, like earth and sky. Standing behind Zyanya was a Guajajára elder who caught the attention of Jane.

"She's right, we fight or we die. Your people have destroyed this planet,' Kwahu says.

"My people?" Jane asked taking it literally.

"My apologies, a habit. You're not all bad. But for the most part, invasores have wreaked destruction upon us for as long as we can remember," he continued, catching the sight of Jane's camera

"You're here to share this with the world, are you not?” Jane nodded politely because it was there and then she decided this was what she wanted to do. For, there was nothing direr than what she was witnessing here.

"Perhaps you can learn of our ways, we do not have to justify our existence. Perhaps you can to show the world, we don't have much time," Kwahu finished as he makes his way to the grieving members of his tribe.

"Their greatest urgency is their livelihoods and their homes. Just like the macaws. It's all interrelated." Zyanya reiterated.

"That's why you're here?" Jane inquired.

"Their government doesn't care about them, no one does or for the Macaws or any other living thing that depends on the Amazon to survive. We're all in this together. You see, macaws are not so different to us humans, they're monogamous and both parents rear their children, perhaps you can say they're better than us in that aspect and just like us they need plenty of sun and shelter. These trees give them homes, it gives them shade, a place to flourish. And the world needs this place just as much as they do but we neglect that. You can say that under the shade, we truly will flourish." Zyanya's impassioned speech and mentions of the motto of Belize's coat of arms prompted more intrigue from Jane, of Zyanya's home.

"What about your country?"

" I've done all I can at home. It's in the hands of the people and government. What is it you're saving, Jane?" Jane hesitated but was well aware.

"Before this, I was in Borneo. It's not so different from here. There are trees everywhere or were. Just like here, it was unprotected and so were the people. There was no care for preservation. It was all about palm oil and extracting without any regard for the destruction of the homes of the beautiful and intelligent orangutans or for history or of the sites. Even the cave paintings... As if nothing was sacred, almost as if it was already too late to change things," Jane pondered.

"It's never too late. You've still got a voice and a home. You can consider yourself lucky," Zyanya assured.

Jane pondered further realizing, she could just go home and continue on ignoring what else was out there. But she was here to stay.

"It would appear on the surface you and I have nothing in common. But our mission brings us together. And this, what we're doing can only be done together." Jane agreed re-establishing her sense of purpose.

"We do have one thing in common, our people fought the British?" Zyanya said light-heartedly, "Three hours of dumping tea over taxes. You people, do understand protest. But the difference is your people are them, the same, and your wars were temporary. Everyone else still suffers," Zyanya said drilling the point home. The topic of colonialism was on her mind again as was thoughts of her home,

"You see with Belize, they struck gold with mahogany and logwood and drag us into their commonwealth. Such irony don't you think? Two places they conquered with the two largest coral reefs in the world including ours are being destroyed as we speak. They colonize and deem its subject to be under a commonwealth. Where's the commonness in wealth? And here, this whole continent and yours was based on invasion. What is Brazil to them, nothing? If it were not obvious enough, this country was named after what it was colonized for Paulbrasillia. You see Jane, it's all about appetite and greed, that's our problem." There was nothing stopping Zyanya, least of all Jane who wanted to hear more and was all ears but then screams began echoing throughout the village. As a portion of the patrol report back.

"What's going on?" Jane asked as Zyanya listens in on the commotion.

"A tip-off. They've just captured a fellow Guajajára. He said he had no choice to cooperate with the Madeireiros. His family was starving."

"They're going out again?"

"Yes, and we're joining them. Strength in numbers." Jane appeared to have reservations, as Zyanya ran to Ayansh and the guardians in preparation.

Jane finds herself with Zyanya and Ayansh, trailing behind the patrol group with precaution. Zyanya turns her attention to Jane. As they brush up along the paths, "You see trees are part of a greater network, they nurture and coexist with other organisms and house other species. This symbiosis occurs everywhere. Macaws, their droppings propagate life in the rainforests. Diversity is essential to ecosystems."

Paulo who walks beside them signals them to quiet. Zyanya catches Jane's curiosity,

"He's former IBAMA, when the Ruralistas slashed their budget, it forced his hand. This is his way of making a difference now."

"We reached a tipping point long ago and no one bats an eye," Paulo overhears and laments.

"Why don't you join the U.N?" Jane naively suggested.

"Take my problems to United Nations? Miss, do you know what the true etymology of economics is? It's the management of the home. They have enough trouble distinguishing that already."

Up ahead, Eduardo leads the patrol and despite his caution, he mirrored a brave warrior. He was never going to stop until his people were free and until their homes were protected. It was almost unheard of the lengths they undertook, as Jane witnessed only beginning to comprehend the gravity of the situation. As intense as the patrol was, Jane grew distracted by the emerging sunset. The way it hit through the canopy and illuminated the path was a sight to behold. A shot worth capturing, she thought and just as Zyanya walks off the path looking for signs of Macaws, they traded looks.

"After all, at the end of the day, we all see the same sunset"

"Mayan proverb?"

"The Outsiders, S.E Hinton... It’s funny how your people are moved in different ways, such great art and works but you take it all for granted. 'Give me shelter, or I'm going to fade away', is literal but all you guys do is sing and dance along or dare ask how can we be asleep while beds are burning? I'll tell you what, they will all continue to sleep fine. I guess the victors need not concern themselves, am I right?" In this moment of passion, Jane wanted to capture a shot of Zyanya at her best. And so, she raised her camera up. But as she did, a figure of a man in the distance raised his arms at the same time in the direction of Zyanya and before Jane could even react, a gunfight broke out and Zyanya fell to the forest floor, lying motionless.

Desperate to meet with Zyanya, she was beyond Jane's reach. Just earlier Jane was committed to helping the cause and to protect those around her but as Zyanya reached for help, Jane was helpless. All she could do was not take the photo of the person who inspired her but a photo in an effort to capture the face of the logger who shot Zyanya.

With casualties from both sides, gunfire became less frequent. But smoke lingered in the air, perhaps the guardians burning out the Madeireiros' camp. As the logger and guardians retreated, all Zyanya could muster was,

"Xibalba," she shouted from the distance.

As Jane tried to make sense of it, wanting Zyanya to be saved, she looked around and saw Eduardo, mourning once again, by the body of another fellow guardian. And as Jane traded glances with Eduardo, she sought no sympathy for her own devastation. She only wanted to come to Zyanya's aid and hold her. So, she crawled along finally meeting Zyanya who was glad to feel her touch.

"We're the hero twins up against the lords of the underworld," Zyanya said. None of this made sense to Jane who only wished for more time. All around her, people she would come to care for were dying as Zyanya had something on her mind.

"Let them bury me here so that I can give back," Zyanya pleaded, for which Jane was unable to comprehend as she watched Ayansh's lifeless body being pulled away by Paulo.

"My ashes will sprout life here. I'll do this and you use your voice to share this all to the world as long as you breathe. Deal?" Zyanya continued. Jane gripped Zyanya tight, wishing it just to be a bad dream only to be reminded that here in the Amazon, there was no waking from this nightmare. Amidst all the violence. Zyanya weakened as she whispered into Jane's ear. Nearby as if from the ashes, the Scarlett Macaw arises but not like a phoenix but rather its last grasp as the violence sends them flocking away once again.

As the rainforests blanketed with fire, all Jane could think about was Zyanya as her eyes followed the Macaws in her final moments. At that moment Jane saw that everything was truly crumbling and all Jane could do for Zyanya was to let her go, back into the earth to fulfill her final act. As Jane promised, she moved forward with every intention of surviving, so that she could use her voice to shine a light, and to unite everything under the sun as one, and promising to never forget the reminder in Zyanya's final words,

"Under the shade, we flourish."