2012 - 1ère rencontre avec le Cacique Raoni

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The big day has arrived, the chief Raoni came to Paris to the Comptoir for a conference. I would like to make him a small welcome gift... I arrive late and missed his arrival. Everyone has already entered. On the other side of the street there is a closed store... when Raoni merges maybe he will see the gift ... I installed it in front of the steel roll-up store door, then I get in.

The room is at its height and everyone wants to speak. Sitting on the side I patiently wait for my turn. The questions follow one after the other, the main subject being the demarcation of the Kayapo territory. Everyone raises their hand. Suddenly, with his piercing look, the Cacique points his finger at me. He has certainly noticed my Kayapo necklace ..., I'm going to be able to ask his opinion about the Belo Monte dam, which was not once mentioned during almost an hour of conference. Just  as if a pole had been stretched out to a drowning man, he was finally able to speak. It is if as he had been forbidden to talk about it ... he must meet the French President later to ask for help, support he will never see….

Being part of the Portuguese-speaking people, I was allowed one minute alone with the Cacique.

Kneeling at his feet, I promise him my support ... the hands of the chief fill me with human warm without comparison. Very special moment  ... he is a shaman, a "Pajet" in Kayapo.  I leave him my Navaro cover, he will need it for the cold nights on the banks of the Xingu River.

A man by his shoulder looks at me, I feel a very bad vibe by his smirk... It is only much later that his face will remind me of Jean Pierre Dutilleux ... Amazonialeanks.org

It is  time to leave, a lady interrupts me to ask me questions to which I answer with pleasure.

In a few seconds, the room is emptied... I run out, but too late ...he left.

Disappointed I cross the street to retrieve the gift. A person who remained intercepts me: “does this poster belong to you?”

-Yes!

-You should have seen it, Raoni crossed the street and admired it while he got mobbed by  photographers.

-Damned! I missed it.

 

I leave with the poster under my arm.  So frustrated I even forget it in the train on my way back to Brittany :(

Two years have passed when I take my first trip to the Amazonia with Gert Peter Bruch the President of Planet Amazon. To my surprise I see on the wall of the Instituto Raoni this picture  ...I just can’t believe it…

Raoni until today still does not know that I was the author ...

Everything happens for a reason, we had to meet ...TANEA!