Hello there my name is Soawe and I belong to the Yanomami tribe.

Soawe from the Yanomami tribe. I live with my family and friends in Brazil in the Amazon rainforest. I don’t go to school but I learn all kinds of things from my Father and his friends. I know how to make houses and tools from the trees. This week I made this ladder for my Mum and this bracelet for my sister.

Soawe from the Yanomami tribe. Last week my Dad and I were out collecting m honey. We had gone a long way from home so we decided to climb high up on a hill to see where we were. This is what we saw.

Soawe from the Yanomami tribe. We believe that the forest is full of spirits, some good and some bad and that you have to treat the forest with care, love, fear and respect. Can you imagine how bad looking at the destruction made me feel? We only take what we need from the forest and we often move where our house is so that each area has time to recover. The forest can never recover from this destruction.

Soawe from the Yanomami tribe. We knew this was happening because we smelt the fires burning and other people told us about it. What will happen next? We need the forest for our home and our food but we think everyone needs the forest. The forest gives the world oxygen and a stable climate. It also gives us many other things which we need and which all the living creatures need.

Soawe from the Yanomami tribe. We think of the forest and the animals and plants as part of us. Everyone has a, sort of special link, with an animal – mine is with the jaguar. (If you had a special animal what would you want it to be?) I wonder who will protect me, the jaguars and all the animals of the forest.

Soawe from the Yanomami tribe. We know that some people around the world are trying to help the Yanomami and the rainforests so let us hope that it is not too late. I heard that one of the elders in our tribe is famous for saying: ‘They are taking the skin off the Earth, how will she breathe?’