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Tony arrives at Ludovico
Photo: Daniel Berinson/Oxfam |
Tony's Story:
"After nine hours in a rickety old World War II Toyota, we
pulled up at the soap factory in Ludovico in northern Brazil and
were ushered inside. We tied up our hammocks -- pretty efficiently
I thought -- and savoured the aroma. It was like Boots toiletry
department!
The next day, Joanna, who lives in Ludovico, and her husband, Osmar,
invited us to their house for lunch with their six children (who
all have nicknames like something out of 'The Beano' -- Big Foot,
Corn on the Cob, Fatso, etc.).
Over rice and beans they told us how their lives had changed over
the last ten years. In 1985, powerful local landowners tried to
stop people collecting babassu nuts from the palm trees growing on
common land. They didn’t succeed. The people tore down the
barbed-wire fences which had been slung up to deny them access,
and continued to harvest the nuts in defiance of the landowners’
threats.
Eventually, following violent clashes and the assassination by
hired gunmen of 150 people, including women, priests, and children,
the landowners gave in, granting the community their right to harvest
the nuts again.
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