Tribal people across the world suffer from the trauma of forced
relocation and settlement. They find themselves in an environment
they are not used to, where there is nothing useful to do, and
where they are treated with racist disdain by their new neighbours.

Their children may be taken to boarding schools which separate
them from their communities and often forbid or ridicule their
language and traditions.

Alienated and without hope, many take to drugs and alcohol.
Domestic violence and sexual abuse soar. Many resort to suicide.
In Canada, Indian groups who have lost their connection to their
land have suicide rates up to ten times the national average;
those with strong links often see no suicides at all.

The Guarani are committing
suicide because we have no
land. We don’t have space
any more. In the old days,
we were free, now we are
no longer free. So our young
people look around them and
think there is nothing left and
wonder how they can live.
They sit down and think,
they forget, they lose
themselves and then
commit suicide.’
Rosalino Ortiz, Guarani
Ñandeva, Brazil, 1996

Progress doesn’t have to kill. You can do something practical to help the Guarani by simply writing a letter. It really works. Write a letter now using Survival’s online letter-writing tool »