"We have not spoken clearly." "Our deep analysis... has repeatedly confirmed... the need for Alan to make a new film." "The Earth is a living body." "It has veins and blood." "Damaging certain places... is like cutting off a limb." "It damages the whole body." "This place... is called Sezhua." "It is an esuama." "It connects the mountains with the shore." "Younger Brother must listen... and stop causing damage... or nature herself will finish us off." "We must renew this message to our English brother so that he will explain it to the world." "We must renew this message to our English brother." "So that he will explain it to the world." "First they film and then they edit." "Then they show it to other Younger Brothers." "This is what they plan to do." "We'll have to explain everything point by point, from the shore to the mountain to show them very clearly." "We will travel to London to pick up a gold thread and bring it back." "We start here at Haba Shikaka." "We lay the gold thread... to show important sites." "When time began... the Mother laid a black thread... linking special sites." "The Black Line." "But now Younger Brother is destroying many of these sites." "We want to show the Black Line using the gold thread." "According to our ancestors... the universe is very large and we see very little of it." "This is Se, the darkness." "Se is the Mother... and Father of everything." "We were left... objects, like maps, that show us where to connect with the darkness." "These places, or nodes, are called esuamas." "The world of Se, the dark world we cannot see... is linked to the material world... in places which must not be damaged." "We know how to concentrate... to connect with... the darkness in Aluna." "In thought." "This star is called Sulabena." "We cannot see this star in the sky." "Its light is produced by a great fire." "We, the Mamas, know... that there are special sites and they are threaded together." "We're explaining this to our brothers across the sea." "We're explaining this to our brothers across the sea and showing the connection between places." "There was a big mangrove lagoon here." "We used to make payments to the Mother here." "That's not possible now." "This place is the origin of everything." "It's the start of the thread." "Tying the material world to Aluna." "It is Mother and Father to everything." "Shikaka is the Black Thread." "Important sites... along the Line on the coast are connected to esuamas in the mountain." "We collect materials here on the shore... to make payments in the mountains." "And we bring materials from the mountain, to make payments down here." "We gather shells here." "They are like seeds of knowledge." "We put them in the sugui." "We must always carry the sugui." "When we taste the shells... we connect with Aluna, with thought." "Our thoughts build up on top of the sugui." "Each man carries the book of his thoughts." "To be given the sugui means to listen." "Sugui means "to know everything"." "To listen." "That is why we have ears." "That is why we have ears." "To think is to listen." "Listen." "In the days of our ancestors... we made payments... at the special sites here." "But now... they are destroying these sites." "This lagoon was larger." "It is drying out bit by bit." "It must not be damaged further." "It must not be damaged further." "We have walked for a long time." "We stop here." " Now what do we do?" " We make a payment." "That is why we are walking along the line, making payments at all the sites." "Connecting with the mountain in Aluna." "They must see us do this." "We have always cared for this place." "But Younger Brother destroyed it." "He has been destroying everything." "The world is our mother." "If we destroy her, where will we live?" "It's almost the end of the world." "That's why we need to show you all this." "Yes." "Take the basin of the Guachaca river for instance." "It was completely deforested by cocaine producers and cattle farmers." "It was practically dead until they returned it to the indigenous people." "And that was only 20 years ago." "Today, the basin is utterly changed." "What was once a cattle ranch and a nearly dried up river...." "Now there are forests, many animals, the river is full again." "It's astonishing." "But these are not immediate results." "When... a baby is born..." "Is it an adult the next day?" "We're going to another site." "The Mamas will connect with the sites... at the top of the mountain." "Okay, I will tell them." "They will consult the water." "We must show you in action that we really have a connection with nature." "The Mother, through the water, is asking, "Are you going to help me or just take pictures?"" "Do you think we say these words for the sake of talking?" "We are speaking the truth." "We consult the water." "We read the bubbles and the Mother is telling us the whole world must take notice to see what's happening." "We can see this in the bubbles." "Like reading a book." "It's true!" "It's true!" "The Mother speaks through the bubbles." "It's the truth." "It's the truth." "You must straighten out what we said, to make sure it is understood." "We just found out that... there are guerrillas in the Sierra Nevada." "They know foreigners are coming." "Which makes it very dangerous for us." "Younger Brother doesn't understand." "They do not know these sites are special." "If they continue destroying these sites... no-one will survive." "The hill of Hukulwa... stood guard at the ocean." "He has authority over many things." "Over wind, fish and animals." "He was the highest authority." "The leader." "This is an official map of the area." "The site they call Hukulwa is 12 kilometres to the west of here." "There are no indigenous sites here." "It's you who doesn't know!" "This is our own place and we are telling you." "Not just today, but for 500 years!" "What are you doing here?" "I wish we could speak Spanish... so we could explain to the state and others... that this destruction would cause fierce storms and landslides." "We've come as far as Hukulwe." "They say we are not allowed in." "They keep saying there is no site in here." "Why are we here?" "You can see the scars on the mountain." "These landslides happen... because of the damage at Hukulwa." "The water cycle is changing." "The rain now pours, day after day." "There used to be seasons." "Not anymore." "If you block a person's vein... their blood would not flow." "It is the same for this site." "That's what they've done by destroying Hukulwa." "This is the estuary of the Guachaca river." "This place... is connected." "It is one of the sites on the Black Line." "They should not have built here." "That is why their buildings have died." "I'm a biologist, and I've studied fresh water fish my whole life." "A river is a system." "A system that moves in only one direction." "The effects are clear from top to bottom, but less clear the other way." "Why?" "Because nothing ever moves upwards." "The downward flow has obvious effects." "Erosion and deforestation higher up affect the coastal areas below." "The other way around is not at all evident." "You say he is learned." "I don't believe it." "We have studied the Mother well." "She shows what must be protected." "This man..." "He has learned nothing at all." "You don't teach each other not to damage the Mother." "You dig." "You exploit the Earth." "If you knew she can feel, you'd stop." "But you plunder her." "All the estuaries are like this." "You block the lagoons." "How would you feel if someone stuck a cork up your ass?" "But he hasn't explained how." "The connection top to bottom is obvious." "The water flows down and carries things." "But what takes things back?" "If we explain this step by step, they still won't understand." "How can we put this?" "The rain that falls in the highlands, has its home down here." "You just see the water coming down the mountain... but first it has to ascend from here." "The home of the rain that falls up there is down here." "The lagoons down here... supply lakes up there." "Imagine going for a walk and returning to find your home knocked down." "You wouldn't feel too good about it." "They think we're wrong." "We have to prove the connection to the top." "Because we do not have writing, and are not educated in their schools," "Younger Brother may not believe what we say." "This is Sezhua." "They connect with the sea... and establish..." "how things are." "There was a small lake here... called Haba Nisenumwe." "It was the Mother of the hanoi tree." "When they built a power station at the lagoon this river feeds, and damaged Hukulwa," "it sucked the water from the top of the Sierra." "A number of large landslides... occurred here in the mountains," "and changed the course of the river." "Destroying the site of the Mother of hanoi." "Alan." "You don't believe me?" "Look at this." "When the Mother was washed away... it killed this tree." "This is the ancestral tree of hanoi." "Only one remains." "This one is dead." "If the other dies, all hanoi here will die, as well as other plants in the area." "With this plant we become adults." "It is essential to us." "You shake hands." "We exchange special food, leaves of hanoi." "We concentrate our thought by chewing hanoi." "We, the Mamas, are taught how to know things." "We are taught... how to shape this house." "The first ring represents the beach." "Then another ring, and another... until the top of the mountain." "If we destroy a single ring, the whole building weakens." "So why is this place an esuama?" "This is a place where we can connect." "From here we can concentrate and understand where payments are needed..." "All along the coast." "We are told where work is required." "When it is not possible to go down... we concentrate here... to make the payment from here." "Because it is connected." "I was trained as a Mama closed in the dark." "In the darkness there are no distractions." "Thought is concentrated." "I was taught to stare at my feet... to concentrate and connect with Aluna" "I was not allowed to look around, or I would lose the thread." "I was only allowed to eat certain food throughout my training." "I was only allowed to bathe at midnight." "I was kept in the darkness from the age of seven months." "I stayed inside until I became a man." "I stayed inside until I became a man." "I stayed inside until I became a man." "That is where I learned to work as a Mama." "To make payments for all the crops and other things too." "When I came out of the darkness, the whole world was white." "I stood there, staring at nature." "I saw everything." "The sun, the trees, the creatures." "It all looked strange." "The sun and everything else looked strange." "When I was a child... all the peaks were covered in snow." "Everything was white." "Look at it." "Just look at it." "The lakes up here are drying out, as the lagoons below are drying out." "The water has been sucked away and now the rivers become dry." "Seven rivers that feed the coast are born in this place." "In this lake." "On this peak." "It's the source of all those rivers." "Last time we were here there was more water." "It's drying because these plants don't belong here." "There used to be much more water before, and the water is already dry on the other side." "You must understand... that these trees should not be here." "They have been brought here." "The native plants are dying." "Any damage done up here, has an effect all the way down the river, and just as they're saying:" "damage below also affects the top." "The vegetation is changing around this lake." "The government has planted trees from other countries." "Eucalyptus, cypresses around the lagoon." "These trees take away the water and compete with the local vegetation." "Normally, dense clouds up here cool the water, and the condensation runs down the tree trunks and accumulates in the rocks." "These rocks act like sponges, holding the water, releasing it farther down the mountain." "Rivers are living systems." "They constantly communicate with plants and birds." "They are vital to the spreading of seeds, from top to bottom and bottom to top." "New studies explain why some species turn up unexpectedly in mountain peaks." "For example, some fish from the lagoons are associated with migrating birds which carry fish eggs in their wings." "Many countries, Spain for instance, are putting this knowledge into practice by removing canals from rivers on the coast to improve water flow at the top of the mountains." "This site... is the origin... of blood." "Of all the blood, of all the things that exist." "Plants, animals and fish." "These were once very big lagoons, but then they built the power station." "We can see how it is drying out this lagoon." "It is almost dead." "We know how important this site is." "It protects everything we consume." "Here, the Mamas are saying that all the water is being sucked down and it is drying out." "This is happening in many places." "The rivers feed the ocean." "When we interrupt that, how will we live?" "We will not be able to breathe well nor live well." "We agree with him." "I came here, before there was a power station." "There was very little black sand then." "The sand is dirty." "It has been since they built it." "Look how they're trying to clean it up for the camera." "It was not like this before Younger Brother arrived." "This is how we find treasure." "We dig out the pot..." "We take off the earth." "These objects were left... in special places." "They are like people." "They are part of the thread... for us to connect with." "They must not be moved." "They are buried." "Finding a piece like this takes four, five, six months of work." "That's if you're lucky." "Most of the time you dig and all you find is bits of pottery." "But this means a lot to them... because it's from their ancestors." "They are the real owners of these pieces." "Not the people who buy them." "But as with everything in life, this is part of our struggle to survive." "Did your ancestors make this?" "Selling this is like selling a person." "Stop doing this!" "It's like selling a child to another person." "Like selling a child to another person." "Tell the Mama we're sorry." "It is a macaw." "It was found in the place of the macaw." "It is a macaw." "It was found in the place of the macaw." "There used to be many macaws." "But because of the looting..." "But because of the looting, there are almost no macaws now." "There are almost no macaws now." "The birds are disappearing." "I think the macaws are gone because of deforestation." "They have nowhere left to live." "There's no forest left for food and shelter." "I think that's the reason." "Not the looting." "Greetings my little brother." "I want to talk to you... about... the Fathers of species." "Each species has... a special site... at its root, which people must protect." "That is correct." "That is correct." "Here on the coast there are many special sites which are the origin:" "the parents of each species." "Little Brother has destroyed so many, the species have gone." "When sites are looted the animals leave." "Then they can no longer survive." "The Mother was alive here." "When they built this road, they blocked the flow between the lagoon and the sea." "The start of the thread was the origin of the world." "This was once a lagoon." "Now it is dead." "We have arrived at the end." "Our message is not only for people here, but people all over the world." "You don't have to abandon your lives, but you must protect the rivers." "When a baby is born, the Mother is rejuvenated." "A daughter is like the Mother." "She is the guardian of the Mother." "The Mother is the owner of everything." "All the rivers, all the mountains." "Without women, daughters, who would guard all of this?" "When a baby is born you must have good thoughts." "Teach the example of others who have lived well." "This baby will teach the next generation." "She will carry on the thread."