Native+population+story

Telling my story, singing my song There’s no better place than this. Beautiful nature wherever you see, we’ve got everything we need here. My tribe has been living in this area for as long as I can remember, from the time when I was a little girl with a whole life to live. I’ve never got tired of the landscape, I could watch it for hours every single day. It’s always changing in different ways. New plants and animals, and sometimes I can still discover new things if I just look very closely. My name is Marinna by the way. My name means ”a song”, and people tell me that it fits me perfectly, because I have such an comfortable voice, and I am always singing, wherever I am and whatever I do. You may wonder who I really am, and I have no problem telling you. I am the wife of the great leader in my tribe, the Gandangara tribe. If you want me to, I can tell you a little bit about some of the people who lives in my tribe. These people are the ones closest to my heart. My husband, Matari, is a kind and proud man who takes care of everyone and leads our tribe with respect and equality for every single person. He is a wonderful man with a kind heart and a smart brain. He is a perfect leader, and a beautiful human being. Somehow he manages to always keep peace inside and outside the tribe, so there hasn’t been any big fights for many years now. We live in perfect harmony the most of the time, and when someone starts to make a fuzz about something, he’s always right there fixing the problem. I really love my husband. I could never have dreamt of getting a better man. He is my best friend, my lover and my life-companion through thick and thin. The wisest one in our tribe, my beloved grandmother Nara, has always told me that I have an old soul, and that’s the reason why I’m so attentive to what’s around me. ”You can see the good qualities inn everything” she always tells me. When we have gatherings for the whole tribe, she often tells stories about old times that everyone else has forgotten about. I love to hear her stories. She is the oldest in our tribe, and she is the best healer we have. She is respected by everyone, and I’m proud to be related to her. I hope that I can live up to her reputation, and help people the same way she does. I’ve been her apprentice for as long as I can remember. It started for many years ago, I think it was around my eleventh winter, the winter both of my parents died. It’s a long time ago, so I don’t really remember anything about it, all I know is that after that, Nara took care of me, and taught me to be a strong and righteous woman, and she always tells me that she’s proud of what I’ve turned out to be. I can’t describe how happy I am to have her to go to whenever I have a problem which I need help solving. She is always happy to help. I have two kids, Kala and Ganan. Ganan’s the oldest one. I never knew where he was when he was younger, because he was always at someone’s place helping them out with whatever they needed help doing. He’s now a young warrior, strong and wise, just like a warrior should be. He always walks around with a smile on his face, and be brightens up everyone’s day just by smiling at them. He has to be the happiest face in the tribe, and everyone loves him. He’s even got a little family on his own now, he and his wife Leewana has just gotten themselves a little boy. Ganan’s happier than ever. He’s so good with the kid. Always carrying his little son around telling him stories even though the little one can’t understand much yet. It’s weird to think of myself as a grandmother for this little boy, but I’ll try my best to guide him through life when he needs me to. I’m sure he will grow up to be a good man, just like his father. And now to my daughter, Kala. She’s such a beautiful girl, I bet you haven’t seen anything this beautiful anywhere else, and I doubt you’re going to see it somewhere else. And I know this isn’t just a mothers love-sayings about her daughter. Kala has had several proposals, but she has declined all of them. She’s waiting for someone special, she tells me. ”Just like you and father”. The first time she said that, I burst into tears of happiness. I don’t think you have a hard time understanding why I love this girl with all of my heart. She has always been the pride and joy in my life, and I know I couldn’t ever ask for better. Ever since she was little, she has been interested in food and cooking, so whenever she has the time, she always hangs out with the women who make food for the tribe. She has learned a lot from them, and she loves what she’s doing. I know she will grow up to something very special and important someday. The Gandangara tribe is a very small tribe, compared to our neighbors around us. We are living in a little valley with high mountains everywhere around us, and we live of what the nature gives us. We’ve invented our own medicines and all in all we’re a pretty awesome type of human, if you ask me.Though we’re kind of isolated from the rest of the country, people are always visiting us, and they’re always welcome. They tell us the latest news from the outside-world, and we give them food and shelter for as long as they like. Some of them never leave, they settle down with us, and make their own family in the tribe, and we mostly don’t have any problems with that. ”The more, the merrier” is a saying I like to believe in. I hope we can stay like this for a long time. My tribe and I are really lucky to be honored with such beautiful nature all around us, and so little to worry about. I wonder what the future will bring. Of course there will be bad things, but from the bottom of my heart I hope that we’ll get through whatever may come, and that this tribe will live on in many generations after my time. Maria Ljung