Quilombo people - Life on the River

Life on the River
Making the home visits I came to know so well that the river is “everything” for these people: what they drink, where they get their food, where they bath, where their excretion flows to, their only means of transportation (there are not roads), and where they get contact with outside world. I even saw a boat with a loud speaker on it, as well as a church boat. Some larger boats take people to the “big” city nearby – 6 hours away.

These two 12 year old girls I met attend a high school in the larger city, otherwise they would be stuck with no education beyond 4th grade level and nothing to do except get pregnant. Some of the fotos I took are of handicapped people. Families take care of their handicapped - a brother or sister has the every day job of caring for a child born with birth defects as in the foto here or an elder, victim of a stroke. So the families share the responsibility in a matter of course. Some young mothers who I suppose, seeing their fate, escaped, catching a boat to the outside world one night, leaving their very young with 9 or 10 year daughters or sons who are left to care for their young siblings. Amazingly these young care takers were so very loving with the babies, though I did see them not hesitate to kick the family dogs around.