In Amazon, Indigenous Women Bring Tiny Tribe Back From Brink of Extinction

Juma Indigenous sisters Mandei Juma, from left, Mayta Juma and Borea Juma pose for a picture at their community, near Canutama, Amazonas state, Brazil, July 9, 2023. Mandei Juma splashes her face as she rides a boat on the Assua River in the Juman Indigenous community, in Canutama, Amazonas state, Brazil, July 8, 2023. Juma Indigenous women prepare the day’s catch in their community, near Canutama, Amazonas state, Brazil, July 8, 2023. Trees surround Juma Indigenous land, where three sisters lead and manage the territory after the death of their father, near Canutama, Amazonas state, Brazil, July 8, 2023. Pure Juma, son of Borea Juma, carries a basket filled with cassava on a jungle path in the Juma Indigenous community. "I kind of broke the anthropology rules and followed my mother's lineage," he said. "If I don't identify myself as Juma, who else will?" Juma Indigenous women prepare the day’s catch in their community, near Canutama, Amazonas state, Brazil, July 8, 2023.

At night, in this village near the Assua River in Brazil, the rainforest reverberates. The sound of generators at times competes with the forest, a sign that there are people here. Until recently, the Juma people seemed destined to disappear like countless other Amazon tribes decimated by the European invasion.