Author: ALLARD, MARIANNE

What would happen?

Many awful things would happen if the Chevron oil companies got onto the Wauroni’s land. Firstly, the oil company would be removing the Wauroni tribe from its land. They would be kicked off the ancient land that they have lived on for thousands of years. Also, the rainforests would be changed form the mining of oil and any spilling could cause serious damage to the plants and animals living in the environment. Finally the relationship that the Wauroni tribe is building with the rest of the world would be crushed. This is not something we want to happen.

This comic relates to how the native Americans were on this land first. The European explorers came in and took over land that was theirs first. This is exactly what is happening with the Wauroni Tribes.

Cargill - 8th grade
Social Studies
Studio 21

BY: Marianne Allard, Victoria Lam, Jasmine Deng, Caleb Reutuner

Wauroni Tribes V.S. Chevron Oil Company

What in the WORLD is going on?

Have you ever read an apocalyptic book? Read all day about the world that has fallen into pieces so small it can never fit back together again, then dreamt all night about it? Imagine those nightmares coming alive. Your home land being bombarded by strange men demanding you leave. Taking away everything you have ever known. If you have ever experienced that you might have gotten a little taste of what the Wauroni tribes of Ecuador are feeling right now.
Currently, across the world, Chevron oil companies are trespassing on Wauroni tribal lands located in the rainforest in Ecuador to mine for oil. In order to mine they would be kicking the tribes off of lands that they have been on for thousands of years. The companies would be destroying the land, and it would not be fit for them to live on once the companies leave. They have depended on and lived from those forests since the beginning of their time, and have never had any contact with western civilization. If the oil companies came they would be taking advantage of the land that the Wauroni people live on, they would also trek in hundreds of unknown diseases potentially killing parts of the tribe just like what happened to the Native Americans that lived long ago in Georgia. How would you feel if these oil companies cam and tried to take over your home?

HISTORY of the SITUATION

The history of the Wauroni people is a key factor to understanding what is happening in the present day.
In the past, the tribes have limited to no contact with the outside world and are usually afraid of visitors. Given what has happened, they have good reason to be, but all recent outside contact has usually ended with violence. The first contact with the Wauroni people was filled with violence. Around the seventeenth century, hundreds of soldiers explored the Amazon for the first time and trespassed on the tribe’s land. When they encountered the Wauroni tribes, they were hostile and violent. The white men ransacked villages and enslaved Indian men to do manual labor. Also the men brought with them many unknown diseases to the forests. The Indians did not have the right immune systems to fight off these sicknesses and it killed a lot of their population. It doesn’t come as a shock that the Wauroni people haven’t been friendly to more foreign visitors.
However, there have been some breakthroughs in contact with the Wauroni people. In one incident, two Wauroni girls (Dayuma and Ome ) had run away from the rainforest and into a nearby city. A man named Don Carlos found them but instead of helping them, he took them in as laboring slaves. Luckily, while under Carlos’ custody they met a woman named Rachel Saint. Saint befriended them learned their native language in order to speak to them. This was the first language oriented communication that the tribal people had with other people. A few years later, Nate Saint, a pilot, delivered gifts to some children in the tribe from his plane (in order to not scare them and to not endanger himself.) His first gift was given on October 6, 1955, and the gifts continued weekly. On November 12th the Wauroni Tribe returned the pilot’s kindness by giving him a gift of their own: a headband encrusted with many feathers. These two cases of interactions are proof that the tribes weren’t blood thirsty killers, just misunderstood humans.
The Wauroni Indians have finally overcome a very difficult time of not being able to trust us. Examples of contact like the ones stated before prove that we can and are building up a trusting relationship. What do you think would happen to the relationship if we allowed the Chevron oil companies to intruded and destroy their land?

How does this tie into Georgia?

You may have noticed instances where history seems to repeat itself. This is an excellent example of that. Hundreds of years ago European explorers found undiscovered territory in North America that was already inhabited by natives. The explorers thought they had gold so they tried to impede on the native’s land. This is what the Chevron companies want to do, except they believe the Wauroni tribes have black gold, also known as oil.
Did you know that in less than 75 years after Columbus landed in North America that 90% of all native Indians had disappeared? Do we want that kind of history to repeat?