Hakani, the real story of Infanticide Survivor....

The Suruwaha people live in the western Amazon region of Brazil. Over the past 100 years, this tiny group of people has had sporadic contact with the outside world. While some of these encounters have been positive, most of them have been devastating.

 

Several generations ago, outsiders massacred most of the Suruhawa's witchdoctors. The only one survived left a terrible legacy to his tribe. He said that a people without spiritual guidance had no hope except suicide. As soon as he said this, he ate a poisonous root and died a swift and painful death. From then on, suicide became the Suruhawa's most common method of dealing with anger and pain. Today, it is the leading cause of death within the tribe.

Human Rights violation is unacceptable

 

Despite such a brutal past... Beauty and strength are two of the most important aspects of Suruwaha life. These values are best demonstrated in the Tribe's Puberty Ceremony, through which young men learn the honor and respect they will receive if they can endure pain and lead their people. Such customs provide hope that one day the Suruhawa will regain the optimism and self-respect that were taken from them so many years ago.

A growing number of indigenous people are rising up to fight this practice but when they seek help from the government, they are told that their children are not protected by Brazilian or international law, and that preserving culture is more important than saving individual lives.

Infanticide is something written in the history of human kind. Infant or baby are killed because of some reason. Majorly because they are unwanted. Back to the olden day in China, most time when baby girls were born, they are to be killed because baby boys are much preferred. Please remember, if there's no girl there won't be boy too.

Now... Let me share the story of Hakani, the survivor of infanticide in the heart of Amazon

Hakani whose name means "smile" in Suruhawa language. She is one of the hundreds of children who are targeted for death each year amongst Brazil's 200 plus indigenous tribes. Physival or mental handicaps, being born a twin or triplet or being born out of wedlock: are all considered valid reason for taking a child's life. 

Buried alive because her tribe believed she had no soul, just because she couldn't talk or walk yet, at two years old. Plucked from the grave at the last moment. Shot with an arrow by her own grandfather. Then forced to live as a social outcast for three long years until sickness and negligent brought her once again to the doorway of death..

That was the reason she was to be killed

1995 was the year Hakani been born. She was a little girl full of bright smiles and laughter. Until the age of 2 unfortunately she has not develop the ability to speak or walk and this caused her tribe to put pressure on her parents to kill her. Hakani parents chose to escape the ordeal and killed themselves with poison leaving behind Hakani and her four other siblings. 

Since her parents are dead, the responsibility to kill Hakani now fell to her eldest brother. This is all by pressure from their tribe. He took his sister a short distance from the communal hut and buried her alive in a shallow grave. Hakani's muffled cries continued as she lay buried in the makeshift grave.

Many children who were buried alive cries continued for hours until a deep silence descends but for Hakani the deepest silence never come. This we know God wants her alive still. Someone heard her cries, saved her from the shallow grave and placed her into the hands of her grandfather, who then took her into his hammock. As the oldest member of the family, however he knew what the traditional practice demand him to do.

Hakani's grandfather too his bow and arrow and shot Hakani. His arrow missed her heart and pierced her shoulder. Immediately guilt overcome him and he ate the poison root in attempt to take his own life. The deep silence still does not greet Hakani yet that she had survived again this time.

This is Hakani when she was found

From that day on, at only two and a half years of age, Hakani lived as an outcast. For three years she survived on rain water, bark, leaves, insects and occasionally on food scrap one of her brothers smuggled for her. Along with this gross neglect she was physically and emotionally abused. Children burned her legs because she could not walk and they laughed when she cried. When other walked by, they shouted "Why are you still alive?" "You have no soul!" "Why don't you just die?" I guess the best answer to that is God give her a mission in this life.

Over time Hakani lost her bright smile and all other facial expression. Her situation grew increasingly worse and yet for Hakani the deep silence of death did not descend. Eventually her brother, Bibi rescued her. Carried her to the home of a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) missionary couple who had been working for over 20 years with the Suruwaha Indians in the Amazon Basin. This couple is Marcia and Edson Suzuki.

Marcia and Edson Suzuki with Hakani

The missionaries knew Hakani was weak and very ill. At five and a half years old, she was only weighted 15 pounds, that is 7kg and was only 27 inches in length. The couple began to care for her as their own child but it was hard. She responded to nothing, had no facial expressions, no emotion and would scream and cry when touched because she had gone for so long without any physical contact.

Edson and Marcia cared for Hakani in the Amazon Basin but they knew if they did not get medical treatment she would soon die. Fortunately, they received permission to take Hakani out of the jungle in time. Within six months of receiving love, care and medical attention, Hakani had begun to walk, started to talk and her bright smile returned to her face. After a year she was double her size. This year of 2013, Hakani is eighteen years of age with a bright laughing smile she dances and sings. A lover of art too. Her voice today is a voice for life.

 

 

Below are the photos of Hakani through the years.

 

  

 

This is cute.. Hakani wanted to send a message to Justin Bieber:

 



 

The Displaced People...

Such a long time since I last posted something here. My apology to all. This time I would share about the Displaced Peoples.. Test your knowledge and see if you can figure out who they are. These are some of the facts of their lives in their own country.
 
1) This people have been described as “among the world’s least wanted”
2) They are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
3) They have been denied their citizenship since a 1982 citizenship law was enacted in their  country.
4) They are not allowed to travel without official permission
5) They are banned from owning land 
6) They are required to sign a commitment to have not more than two children
 
Have you gotten it yet? Ok.. Now let me share. The people I am talking about here is the Rohingyas people. They are from the state of Rakhine in the West Coast of Myanmar. Sounds familiar yet? Their miserable lives comes to our attention last year through International medias in 2012 Rakhine State Riots. This makes me wonder, must we see blood first before we could take action or at least care.

Rohingyas are stateless, displaced, unwanted, oppressed people and they have nowhere to call homes. The statistics according to UNHCR draws my attention because it is something related to Malaysia. As of January 2010, there are some 79,284 refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia. Of these 73,287 are from Myanmar, comprising some 17,712 Rohingyas from the Northern Rakhine State.

When the country you were born in decides to take your citizenship from you and confines you to your state only, restricts your freedom to travel. When your children are no longer allowed to study, all your books are taken away from you and you are not permitted to publish any writings in your language. When you are forces to pay tax for petrol, rice, clothes, milk and every other thing you buy, eat or use. When you are forced to leave the country of your birth, the country that once called you its own children and you refuse to go. When you say no to the powers and they fall upon you with force. When your women are raped merciless, your brothers executed before your eyes, when your neighbours are burned alive.. Then you know what it's like to be a Rohingyas.

 

 

 

 

The Rohingya people are Muslims. They practice Sunni Islam with elements of Sufi worship. Since the government restricts educational opportunities for them, many pursue fundamental Islamic studies as their only educational option. Mosques and religious schools are present in most villages. Traditionally, men pray in congregations and women pray at home.

In 2009, a senior Burmese envoy, (the country's Consul General) Ye Myint Aung wrote to heads of foreign missions in Hong Kong and local newspapers insisting the Muslim tribe should not be described as being from Myanmar branded the Rohingya "ugly as ogres" and a people that are alien to Myanmar. "In reality, Rohingya are neither Myanmar people nor Myanmar's ethnic group," he also said. By the way who give him the right to describe people as ugly. Below is the photo of Ye Myint Aung. You judge.. Is he too good looking that he called others as ugly.

Ye Myint Aung


The 2012 Rakhine State riots are a series of ongoing conflicts between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. The riots came after weeks of sectarian disputes and have been condemned by most people on both sides of the conflict. The immediate cause of the riots is unclear, with many commentators citing the killing of ten Burmese Muslims by ethnic Rakhine after the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman as the main cause. Whole villages have been "decimated". Over three hundred houses and a number of public buildings have been razed.

According to Tun Khin, the President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), as of 28 June 650 Rohingyas have been killed, 1200 are missing, and more than 80,000 have been displaced. While according to the Myanmar authorities, the violence, between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, left 78 people dead, 87 injured, and thousands of homes destroyed. It also displaced more than 52,000 people. Who knows which is the truth?

When you are forced to flee your own country because it is no longer safe for you and your kin, there waiting for night to comes, set your improper equipped small boats and sail to sea, saying prayers to God that you will live. When you finally arrived at another men's country without proper identification documents with no even a buck to your name. When they arrest you and you stand before a Magistrate at court, as he asked for your passport and you have nothing to say because you don't even understand a single word he say.. You are GUILTY is just the decent ending. Stripped off clothes, arms and legs spread, hands and feet then tied and whipped with cane that your soul feel the pain. When you are thrown to detention center, deported from the country, sold to traffickers who extort you. When they use their fists to knock out the teeth off your mouth, cut and bruise your flesh until you find a way to pay the money the demand of you... Then you know how it's like to be a refugee.

The Slum  where Rohingyas live in

 

Rohingyas Refugee Camps in Bangladesh

Refugee Camps

 

 

Aung San Suu Kyi with the Muslim Rohingyas

 

Maybe there is nothing much we can do about this situation but sharing this story of Rohingyas people will let more people to aware of their existence and suffering in this world.

 

 

 

Thanks to:

Disappointed by Hope, Migrants and Refugees in Search of a Better Life

 Excerpt some from Wikipedia and UNHCR