***KAYASHI’S STORY***

I first met a little orphaned Achuar Indian boy named Kayashi during the summer of 1993 while conducting anthropological research in an Ecuadorian Amazon village named Alto Corrientes.

Kayashi was very shy at first but gradually, he started frequenting my hut and we soon became friends. He would often volunteer to help me get my fire going in the morning and he would always make sure that I had plenty of firewood and water on hand. I really appreciated Kayashi’s help so, I gave him a few nice gifts such as a pocket knife, a few fish hooks and some fishing line.

Indians would often stop by my hut because as an outsider in the Amazon, I serve as constant source of amazement to the people in the village. The villagers are very curious and want to inspect all my field gear and they are especially interested in looking at my trade items. So, it was not unusual for people to hang around my hut just to see what sort of strange things I was up to. People would pay me visits throughout the day to engage in small talk with me but, they would eventually go about their business after a while. Kayashi was a different story all together.

I soon noticed that often times, Kayashi would spend the entire day at my hut. When I would go visit other households in order to conduct interviews, Kayashi would accompany me on these visits and would even volunteer to carry my daypack for me. If had forgotten to bring some item along with me, he would volunteer to run back to my hut and quickly bring it to me. When hunters would return from the forest, Kayashi would come running to find me wherever I was at that moment. He would then inform of the men’s’ return so that I could go to photograph and weigh the game. Since I study Achuar hunting patterns, this sort of information is essential to my research.

Kayashi quickly became a tremendous help to me in my fieldwork. Not only did he help me get through time consuming chores such as gathering firewood and water but, he would also keep me informed on village gossip. Children can be wonderful sources of information in an Amazonian village because they will often tell you things that their parent’s would rather you not know!

As Kayashi and I spent more time together I got to know a little more about him. First of all, I found out that he was an orphan. His father (named Chiriap) was killed about ten years ago by raiders from an enemy village who came armed with shotguns. They ambushed him as he was walking along a jungle trail. His mother (named Anasat) was said to have died after coughing up blood. Her death had occurred much more recently and was thought by the villagers to have been caused by witchcraft.

Currently, Kayashi was living with his sister Mercedes who was married to a man named Charapa. However, I soon began to sense that Charapa did not care much for Kayashi. For example, on several mornings, Kayashi would show up to my hut with bloodstains on his shirt or with a bloody rag wrapped around a finger or toe. When I asked what had happened to him, he would quite non-chalantly, show me the wounds left from the bites of vampire bats which had fed on him on that previous night! I saw numerous bat bite scars all over his body and realized that he had been suffering attacks from vampire bats for a long time. Many of the scars and open wounds which I saw were located on his forehead and on his extremities. One particularly disconcerting incident occurred when Kayashi showed up one morning to my hut so I could bandage a fresh vampire bat bite located on his nose!

It is not uncommon for villagers to suffer from bat bites and so occasionally, people would complain to me about having being bitten by one. However, I soon began to notice that Kayashi was being bitten by bats at a disproportionately higher and very alarming rate. At one point during my fieldwork, Kayashi was showing up to my hut almost every morning for me to bandage his fresh vampire bat bites. Thanks to the topical anti-biotics which Direct Relief International donated to my fieldwork expedition, I was able to treat Kayashi’s and many other people’s wounds.

Much later, I would find out that the reason behind Kayashi’s high incidence of bat bites was due to the fact that Charapa did not allow him to sleep inside the enclosure of the hut at night. Kayashi was forced to sleep outside the enclosure on the hut’s platform floor where he would be continuously exposed to vampire bats every night! I strongly suspect that one of the reasons why Charapa did to not allow Kayashi to sleep inside the enclosure, was because Charapa wanted to have privacy in order to have sex with his wife. They had only recently gotten married.

After several weeks, Kayashi and I became almost inseparable. He increasingly began to be a major asset for me in conducting fieldwork. He would help me photograph and weigh the wild game brought into the village and helped me as I struggled to learn the Achuar language. Kayashi helped me tremendously by taking me to and helping me map all the villagers’ gardens. This was an especially difficult task because some gardens are located along hard to follow trails at distances of several kilometers away from the village. I could have never have found much less mapped these gardens by myself.

Since I was so grateful for this little boy’s wonderful help, I began to give him special treatment. For example, I began giving him highly valued items to show him how appreciative I was for all his help. I gave him gifts such as my own Swiss Army knife, my key chain and I gave him (what was by Amazonian standards) unbelievable amounts of fish hooks and fishing line, all of which he deeply appreciated.

At one point, I started sharing my evening meals with him. Every late afternoon, Kayashi would get the fire going and boil some water so that we could cook rice. I would then open a can of tuna and mix it in with the rice. We then both would sit down to eat rice and tuna out of the same large pot. For Kayashi, this sort of meal was an especially wonderful treat. Rice is a luxury food for the Achuar and he told me that he had never seen (much less eaten) canned tuna before in his entire life. Kayashi also had his first taste of bread during my stay. “You are a good person,” he would say to me. “So are you,” I would reply.

I brought down a few cassette tapes of various kinds of Spanish language music with me into the field and Kayashi would often listen to them along side me while I wrote up my field notes at night. There were a couple of songs which he was particularly fond of and so, I transcribed the words to a few of his favorites. He quickly learned the words to the songs and we would often sing them together in my hut at night or sometimes we would sing them as we walked along in the village together.

...One night while returning from Kaisar’s hut, I was accompanied by three young Indian boys....Kayashi, Apito and Hauso. All three boys were roughly the same age (Kayashi was ~ 13 yrs. old at the time). We all were walking down the village airstrip together and we were all singing songs in Spanish while we walked back to my hut. At one point along the walk back home, Kayashi puts his arm around mine and turns to his good friend Apito, smiles and says to him, “I now have a father!” It is difficult to describe just exactly what I felt at that moment. It definitely pulled at my heartstrings. I realized Kayashi never really ever had a chance to ever get to know his father because his father Chiriap died when Kayashi was still very young. To make matters even worse, Kayashi would later confide in me by telling me that when his mother Anasat was still alive, she would sometimes beat him.

Kayashi then began to spend the night in my hut. However, I did not allow him to sleep inside my tent (which I set up inside the hut). One if the reasons why I did not allow him to sleep inside my tent was that I was concerned about contracting scabies. A few of the villagers suffer from this very contagious malady. Nevertheless, I did allow him to sleep inside my hut’s enclosure thereby, freeing him from the incessant bites from vampire bats. From this point on during my fieldwork, Kayashi never again suffered any more vampire bat bites.

I could tell that Kayashi was very pleased at his new living arrangements because he even brought a lot of his belongings with him from Charapa’s house....His bedding, his school notebooks, and all sorts of personal items. He in a very real sense, had moved in with me.

As the months past, we grew even closer. Soon everyone in the village started to refer to me as Kayashi’s father! Villagers who wanted to know my whereabouts would ask Kayashi, “Where is your father?” Likewise, villagers who inquired about where Kayashi was to be found would say to me, “Where is your son?”

Inevitably, the time came for me to leave. So, I needed to make the necessary arrangements with the men of the village for my flight out. Upon hearing the discussion of my rapidly approaching departure, Kayashi took off and hid in my hut. When I walked in and asked him what was wrong he did not answer me. He just sat there, silent and motionless but most of all, he looked very sad. So, I sat down next to him, placed my arm around him and told him not to be sad. I assured him that I would return next year and that I would bring him even more presents than I had given him this time around. I then looked at Kayashi (who by now was crying) and said, “Don’t cry, I promise you I will never forget you. I will be back next year.” I then gave him a big hug and after a few minutes, he had composed himself.

Soon afterwards, I left the village bidding everyone a warm good-bye and also promising all of them that I would return next year to continue my research. I left the village of Alto Corrientes in August of 1993.

ONE YEAR LATER...

On July 18, 1994 I returned to Alto Corrientes to continue my fieldwork and everyone in the village was delighted to see me (especially Kayashi). Kayashi later would tell me that that when my airplane was spotted flying towards the village, people turned to him and said, “Here comes your father!”

Keeping true to my word, I showered Kayashi with presents. Some of the gifts which I gave to Kayashi were graciously donated by some of my University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) colleagues who had heard of Kayashi’s plight through some of my Anthropology Department presentations. One such colleague named Dr. Peggy La Cerra, took a keen interest in Kayashi and donated a pair of sandals and even a UCSB ‘t’ shirt for him. Needles to say, Kayashi was overjoyed by all these wonderful presents and I might add, he was the envy of all the other children of the village.

Kayashi and I soon began where we had left off. He once again proved himself to be a tremendous help to me in the field (i.e. fetching firewood and water for me as well as keeping me informed on the latest gossip!). He almost immediately moved in with me and he even volunteered to wake up extra early in order to prepare my morning cup of coffee for me! I in turn, gave Kayashi food items which must have been for him up until then, never before imagined treats. He enjoyed eating my peanut butter and jelly on crackers. He was also particularly fond of eating my chocolates. These were all novel foods for Kayashi and he found them absolutely delicious. We of course, would share an evening meal of rice and canned tuna together for the entire duration of my fieldwork.

Largely as the result of my participation on numerous hunts, the men of the village felt very much at ease around me. What marked a real turning point in my fieldwork was when the men decided that I should be given an Achuar name. A man named Kaisar reasoned that since I had a face which was both white and very hairy (bearded), I should be named after a particular type of Capuchin monkey which shares these very same attributes. So, I was given the name of ‘TSERE’ (the Achuar term for Capuchin Monkey). I was both pleased and touched by the great honor of having received an Indian name.

Kayashi on the other hand, came up with a different name for me. He began calling me ‘apa’ which means father in Achuar. While everyone else in the village refers to me as ‘Tsere’, Kayashi calls me ‘apa.’

I felt very touched by Kayashi calling me by this term. In reality, it made perfect sense for him to do so because in fact, I had been treating him much like a son for some time now (i.e. sharing my food and hut with him as well as giving him all other sorts of preferential treatment). Soon after he began calling me ‘apa,’ I began referring to him as ‘uchiro’ which means son.

Since the focus of my research among the Achuar is to study their hunting patterns, I often accompanied men on blowgun hunts into the forest for the entire day. These hunts average 8 hours in duration and could often times be very exhausting. One of the things which Kayashi would do for me was to start cooking our rice dinner late in the afternoon, right before I would return from hunting with the other men. Because of Kayashi’s wonderful help, after a long and tiresome hunting trip, I could look forward to coming home to a hot meal made especially for me.

It is difficult to express the gratitude that I felt to Kayashi for cooking these meals for me. All I can say is that hunting trips can often be excruciatingly hard work. So when one returns from a hunt, the last thing one wants to do is to go out, spend time and energy fetching firewood and water and to try to get the fire going in order to begin cooking a meal! It was so wonderful to have all that work done for you upon one’s return to the village.

I also appreciated Kayashi for more than just lightening the load of my domestic chores. He could often be a tremendous source of amusement for me. For example, late one night, Kayashi was lying under his covers in my hut while I was quietly writing up my field notes in my tent. I decided to play some music on my cassette recorder and so, I placed a tape with some contemporary Jazz recorded on it without saying anything to Kayashi. I simply turned my tape recorder on, and out from my tent came the loud sound of an alto saxophone. Well, as soon as Kayashi heard the saxophone music, he cried out in terror...”Ivianch!, Ivianch!” Kayashi had never heard Jazz before in his life (much less an alto sax). So, when he heard the loud sound of a saxophone, he thought it was an evil spirit! “Ivianch” is the Achuar word for spirit or soul.

In order to calm Kayashi down, I had to show him that those terribly dreadful ‘noises’ coming from inside my tent were not from any “Ivianch” but rather, that they had come out of my cassette recorder. I then tried to explain to him what an alto saxophone was. However, I don’t think I fully reached him because right after I gave him a full explanation about saxophones, he said to me, “So tell me then, what sort of animal makes that noise?”

Having a ‘son’ in an Achuar village has proven to be an incredible boon to my fieldwork on many fronts.

First of all from a practical level, having a ‘son’ frees me from having to do some of the many necessary but time consuming chores of everyday village life. Kayashi was especially helpful when it came to getting my fire going quickly in the often cold and very wet mornings. Time in the field is a very limited resource, therefore, every minute in the village is precious. Kayashi has become such a tremendous help to me that I now can hardly think of doing fieldwork among the Achuar without his assistance!

From an anthropological perspective, my relationship with Kayashi allowed me to ‘fit in’ better with the community. I now play a role in their world which villagers can readily understand and relate to. As a matter of fact, a few times when Kayashi was thought by some members of the community to be misbehaving, they actually came to me to complain about his behavior. They were treating me as if I was Kayashi’s real father who therefore, would be responsible for his behavior! Villagers would sometimes even go so far as to encourage me to discipline Kayashi!

Many of the villagers also noticed the care that I was giving Kayashi and several of them voiced their appreciation for my efforts to help him. The Achuar are well aware of the fact that life for an orphan in the jungle can be extremely difficult. Some even suggested that I take Kayashi with me when I leave.

On a more personal level, getting so close to someone like Kayashi has been an incredibly rewarding experience. It is something which I will cherish for the rest of my life. It is precisely these type of interpersonal relationships that anthropologists often times, can only dream about having with the people that they work with. Most of all, I feel deeply privileged and honored by this little boy who has allowed me to become part of his world...to become his ‘apa.’

Shortly before I would leave the village, Kayashi and I went for a short walk along the village airstrip. It was a particularly spectacular night due to the brilliant display of stars in the night sky. There is nothing that can aptly describe a clear star-filled night in the Amazon rain forest.

While we were gazing at the many star constellations of the southern hemisphere, Kayashi turned to me and said, “I will miss you when you leave.” I told him that I too would miss him but also, that I promised that I would never forget him.

I then pointed to some of the constellations that were in the sky that night. I carefully pointed out to him the constellations of Orion, Pleides, Scorpio, Pegasus, Cygnus, Aquila, Lyre etc. I then told him that these very same stars were visible in the very same night sky in the place where I lived. So I told Kayashi that whenever he looks up into the sky at night and gazes at these stars, he should know that I too was also looking at those very same stars in that very same night sky and that I would be thinking of him.

Before I left the village of Alto Corrientes on the last day of September 1994, I gave Kayashi my warm jacket and blanket so that he could keep warm while sleeping out on the platform floor of Charapa’s hut.

When I last saw Kayashi on the day of my departure, he was crying in one of the huts, hoping no one had seen him.

I plan on returning to continue fieldwork among the Achuar of Alto Corrientes in the summer of 1996.

KAYASHI UPDATE 1996

Kayashi was the very first Achuar Indian which I saw upon my return to the Achuar village of Alto Corrientes in 1996. I was amazed to see just how much he had grown in the two years that I had been away. He was no longer a little boy...Kayashi had become a young man.

Not knowing what kind of response I would receive, I greeted Kayashi and was delighted to see his charming smile once again. He immediately helped me unload my equipment off the plane and we quickly went to work setting up my residence in the village.

I was greeted warmly by the people of the village because they have known me for sometime now. Within minutes after having arrived, we began joking about events of the past which we had all experienced together....Events such as how once while out hunting, I made the foolish mistake of standing underneath a large Howler monkey (which had sought refuge in a tree) while the men pelted it with blowgun darts. I learned very quickly that this is something one should never do. As soon as the monkey was struck by a poisoned dart, it relieved itself of all the contents stored in its lower intestines with much of this material landing on me! Needless to say, the Achuar found this incident cause for great hilarity. This event took place back in 1993 and yet it was still the topic of lively discussion in the village when I returned in 1996. At all large social gatherings, I am invariably asked to retell the tale of how the Howler monkey relieved itself on me. My audience never fails to react to the story with uproarious laughter.

I was surprised to see how Kayashi moved back in with me in my hut right away and immediately began to help me in every conceivable way. Not only did he once again begin to fetch water, gather firewood and to tend my fire but he also gave me information on all the major events which had occurred in the village during my two year absence.

Kayashi once again proved to be an invaluable asset to my research....helping me to map the ever shifting gardens, updating my census or by keeping me up to date with the latest village gossip. Kayashi also proved to be a great help in the recording and translation of myths. He continued to call me apa and I called him uchiro.

Kayashi (while still quite young) is currently trying stake out his position as an adult male in his society (This is not an easy task for any male in any society!). One of the clear signals of this awkward stage for single males is the fact that Kayashi regularly steals off into the night (with his close friend and Apito) to have sex with single girls in the village at prearranged rendezvous sites. He would frequently return to my hut in the early morning hours with many stories to tell of his exploits. I have obtained valuable ethnographic information on Achuar courtship and sexual practices in this manner. On one occasion before setting off for a late night tryst, Kayashi turned towards me and said, “Apa, if anyone asks where I was tonight, say that I was with you the entire night.” I assured him that if anyone asked me about his whereabouts, I would say that he had spent the entire evening with me in my hut. He smiled, thanked me and quickly took off to visit his sweetheart.

Perhaps one of the most touching incidents I have ever experienced happened when I showed Kayashi pictures of my fiancee named Yamilette. He asked me to bring him pictures of our upcoming wedding when I returned on my next visit and I agreed that I would do so. He then asked, “When you marry Yamillette, can she be my mother?”

I plan on returning to live among and to learn from the Achuar people for the rest of my life.