Kuna Yala

I just got back from a week filming with children in Kuna Yala, the semi-autonomous state where the Kuna Indians have preserved their culture amazingly well for the last century.  The kids made some extraordinary films, from documentaries about shamanism and Kuna history to a well acted interpretation of one of the Kunas' favorite myths, a kind of "Just-so story" about why the heron always calls out "ga, ga, ga" as it takes off.  Watching one boy walk through the water on the beach immittating a heron was simply priceless.

It's going to take me months to digest what I learned on the islands, but here, at least, I can post a couple of photos, take by Agata Surma, the woman who has been essential in organizing the new work with art for Kuna kids in the city and on the islands.

Prometheus is a lizard

Many cultures have a Prometheus myth, trying to answer the question of how humans came to possess fire.  Among the Kunas, the story is rather less tragic, and much more fun for kids.  Yesterday, we helped a group of kids in Koskuna to make a short movie where they interpreted the story: it goes something like this:

Many years ago, when there wasn't as much of a difference between human beings and animals, and they could talk to one another, the humans were cold and hungry.  The only being who had fire was the jaguar, who lived on the other side of the river and who would never give the warmth to anyone else.  In the midst of the shivering people, a young woman had an idea: "The iskar can help us," she said, and ran to seek his help.  [The English translation of iskar is the "Jesus Christ Lizard," because it can run over the surface of the water, but I'm calling it by its Kuna name so avoid the theological connotations of the "Jesus Christ Lizard].

The iskar didn't want to help: "I'm small and the jaguar is big," it said.

"But you are smarter," said the young woman.

"It will catch me."

"But you are so fast."

Finally and fearfully, the iskar decided to go; he went to the river and tried to cross, but it was too wide; he caught a branch and rode it across the water, and the snuck slowly to where the jaguar was sleeping, by the side of the fire.  The fire was too strong to get close, so the iskar urinated on it to make it weaker... but the lack of heat woke the jaguar.

"Who messed with my fire?" it roared, and lunged for the iskar.

"It's the rain, sir, the rain.  But I can help you to make it strong again."  And the iskar taught the jaguar how to blow on the fire to make it strong again.  The jaguar blew and blew, and when the fire was strong again, he slept by its side again.

The iskar grabbed one of the brands from the fire, put it on his tail, and ran to escape the jaguar.  It was so frightened that it ran and ran it wasn't even aware that it was running over the water.  It threw the fire on the place where the humans had prepared, and they thanked him with applause.  So the humans had food and warmth, and they always cheer when they see the iskar run across the water.

Panamá

Though the Kuna Indians have dealt with modernity better than most indigenous groups in Latin America, maintiaing their language and culture, and even creating a semi-sovereign country for themselves, there are now more than 40,000 Kunas living in Panamá City, facing poverty, discrimination, and the loss of their culture.  Over the last several years, we have been working with a Kuna artist in Panamá City, José Colman, to develop an arts program for children from the slum of Koskuna, north of the city on what used to be the US Air Force base.  Day before yesterday, I got to Panamá to help them make some movies about their lives.

It was amazing to walk through Koskuna yesterday, comparing it to the stories and photos I'd seen from two years ago, when the project started.  The place is poor, as one might expect, but very clean and well cared for; men were even cleaning out the open sewers that the city government refuses to fix.  There are murals all over, mixing graffiti with Kuna art.  (You can see some of the art here)  The leader of the community congress is an excited young man, and as we walked through the neighborhood, he saw issue after issue to fix, to work on, to change.

Rey, the community leader, told me that much of the change had to do with José and the young international volunteers he brought in.  "We see that we can do things to change this place.  We have more hope that we did before."  He probably overstated the case: it's also important that young men now have lots of work in the booming construction industry, that there is now direct transport from Koskuna to the city... but it still makes me proud.

More posts on the project coming up...

Cartography of the Favela

Shine a Light has completed the book that resulted for our research for Cartography of the Favela: Community Resources to resist violence in Recife and Olinda.  It is free for download here, in a book-quality .pdf.  Please be aware that it is a big file, and will take some time to download.