Written by Menno and Barbara Kroeker

"All my family was dead. In the huts, around the now cold fires, were dead bodies. I did not have the energy to bury anyone. I did not have the energy to grieve. I alone was left. I thought I would die too." The old Nambikuara lady wiped tears from her face as she told how it had happened.

"As the sun began to disappear from the sky, I crawled to the stream and let the cool water soothe my burning face and refresh my dry mouth. Deep inside I felt an urgency. I must warn my other relatives about the evil that has happened here, I thought. I rested in the cool night and long before the sun appeared I began my journey. Too weak to walk, I crawled. For how long, I do not know. At last I came to the stream bordering a neighboring village. My heart filled with hope. Here I would find help, encouragement and the shaman's healing powers. But where was the smoke of the fires? Dragging my weary body, now with bleeding hands and knees, I saw the same horrible scene. All were dead. No, I heard a faint sound, an indistinguishable noise. I found them barely alive, my uncle and his daughter. Somehow we survived and after our strength returned, we walked to the next village. Only a few remained alive. We all joined together and walked on to all the villages looking for other survivors. The burning curse with the red spots destroyed us. It consumed our people. Only a few remained."

Measles. It brought the once strong nation of over 10,000 to a struggling remnant of about 600 people. That small group of nambikuara survivors hid and watched. What was the cause of such an evil thing back in 1945?

A few years before, soldiers and explorers had penetrated the Amazon Basin to construct a telegraph net. Such advances had opened the door for sickness hitherto unknown. Progress brought devastation. A telegraph station with a few huts was built near some of the villages. The Nambikuaras eventually made friendly contacts with those living at the station, but the language difference was a barrier to communication. Then the burning curse returned. One day a group of Nambikuaras brought a very sick child to the telegraph station. The only hope was to give one of the few injections available at the station. But it was too late. The Indian child died. A few days later the Nambikuaras massacred several people at the telegraph station. Did they think that the injection was poison? Did they feel that they were cursed? Did the child's death need to be avenged? No one knew.

Some time later in 1959 a team from SIL entered the Nambikuara area. Linguists Ivan Lowe and Menno Kroeker were able to analyze the complex grammar structure and develop an orthography for the distinctive phonological aspects, including tone. Their ability to communicate in the language helped to reduce suspicion and tensions between the Nambikuaras and others. When Menno walked two hours daily to care for a sick woman in another village, the people became aware of his dedication to helping them. Then when she was well enough, the woman's husband carried her to the village where Menno lived so he could continue the treatments. The people began to trust this man who was now speaking their language fluently.

When Menno married, he and his wife Barbara lived with the Nambikuara and began a literacy program to teach them to read and write their own language. They taught numbers and math also. The couple found the people eager to learn. Correspondence began traveling between the villages. Barbara trained people from various villages to be instructors and continue with literacy classes when the Kroekers were not present.

Now education has given the Nambikuara opportunity to contribute to their own culture and the world around them. An integral part of the literacy program has been the preservation of myths and legends. When the people lived only in thatched huts in a village circle, a storyteller would speak loudly enough so that each person lying in the sand around the fire in his hut could hear. As wood houses replaced the thatched ones, the storytelling could not be heard by the entire village. Menno and Barbara recorded stories and transcribed them, making them into booklets, enabling the tradition to continue as these could then be read. They encouraged the people to become authors and illustrators. Publication of a bilingual dictionary brought pride to the people as they saw their language along side the Portuguese.

A census (text in Portuguese) of most of the major villages completed by the Kroekers and published in 1995 shows that the current population has recovered from the devastation of the measles epidemic, as they now number 1000 and are increasing. The people enjoy the kinship and factual information the census book provides. This information has been helpful to them as they now need certain documents, such as national identification cards.

The Brazilian government has built clinics and trained health care workers. It has built schools, encouraged the literacy effort and a system of bilingual education, and is working toward contracting native teachers. These factors have contributed to giving the Nambikuara nation a sense of pride and purpose.