Dearest Daughter, from Dad in the Amazon –
This is my first international trip away from you since your birth eight months ago, and I already miss you tremendously. I fear by the time I return from Peru, you will be a completely different person and will have forgotten about me.
Parting is bittersweet; I want to explain to you the importance of this trip. Perhaps the defining characteristic of my work with Amazon Watch is our relationship with indigenous people who live in remote parts of the rainforest. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have the honor of visiting our friends of the Achuar people deep in the Peruvian Amazon, a place they have called home for many generations.
The Achuar are a courageous and inspirational people. When you get older, you will surely read many stories and see many movies of people who fight against the odds and prevail. That’s how I see the Achuar. The difference is, they aren’t a Hollywood movie. They are a real, courageous, beautiful people.
It has been five years since I have traveled to the Achuar homeland (the photo is from that last visit) and I am excited to return. In some ways, since then the situation has changed. At the time, an oil company from Canada named Talisman wanted to come into their home, without their permission. They saw how oil production destroyed nearby relatives’ homes. So we helped them as they said “No”, and eventually the company went away.
The Achuar are steadfast. Talisman was the fourth company they had to assertively say “No” to. And it won’t be the last. Here in Peru, news has recently emerged that a Peruvian company called Petroperu is now trying to go in. So in that regard, the situation hasn’t changed that much for our Achuar friends. But surely as they (peacefully) fought against the last four trespassers, they will fight against the next.
My traveling to their lands is a necessary part of our connection to them. Yes, we communicate with the Achuar regularly by e-mail and Skype and even satellite phone. But nothing replaces the face-to-face interaction that I’ll be able to have this week. I’ll be attending a community assembly, where the most important discussions are had and democratic group decisions are made.
In the coming days, I’ll write you more letters about my experiences here so far from home. I hope your mother will read them to you, and on some level you will hear my voice. I will also ask the Achuar to speak to you in their own way.
More soon, my dear. I’m a world away but you are with me wherever I go.
Love, Dad
