While surveying for a logging road, the crew came upon an encampment. As they approached, they saw a young child playing. Shortly after that, a young woman darted out from a ramshackle hut. She grabbed the child, and carrying it, climbed a ladder to another, larger and more well built, hut high the trees. Even carrying the child on her hip, she climbed the ladder swiftly, pulled up the ladder, and disappeared into the high retreat.

 

According to government law, lumbering was not allowed in indigenous territory. Surveying for the road immediately stopped and government officials were notified of the discovery. Within days, an anthropological team was formed and sent to the site. What the team found, was not just a woman and a child, but there was also a man who looked to be in his 50s. With much coaxing and offers of food and water after the trio had spent several days holed up in the tree, they finally climbed down. While the man and woman could communicate, their dialect was strangely different from the prevailing dialect in the area. The researchers concluded that this was because they were so isolated and speaking only to each other. Fortunately, with some study and by making video recordings, what the couple said could be understood better. The woman appeared to be about 17 years old and the child, a boy, about three. Immediately, there was some concern about the age of the woman, living with a man that old. They had to get to the bottom of it to see if some child abuse had taken place.

 

After a few days of getting acquainted and sharing food and a nightly campfire before the researchers retired to their camp, set up a safe distance away from the couple's encampment to retain its integrity, the couple agreed to tell their stories. Ultimately, the anthropologists expected that those stories would determine the fate of the couple and whether or not their encampment would become an indigenous free zone where no further intrusion by modern activity would be allowed. What follows is a transcript of the interviews:

 

Interviewer: "Please tell us about yourself. Tell us from the beginning."

 

The man sat cross-legged in the firelight, wearing only a leather thong to contain his privates. She was wearing less. Only a leather skirt with nothing underneath. She did not seem concerned about that, by now quite comfortable with the researchers.  Her child still suckled from time to time from her bare breasts that were quite normal for a woman of her age. It was warm so no other clothing was required. The researchers did not know if they had more covering for colder weather when the monsoons came.

 

Pong:  "My name is Pong. I hate man. They tormented me in my youth. Belittled me. Told me that I was worthless, not fit to live. But I have lived by leaving that world behind. I only go there to get provisions dried sea fish, rice, beans, coffee, salt, sugar, and other essentials. I trade fruit or the colorful red or green rocks [rubies and emeralds] I find embe dded in rocky outcroppings nearby. I chip them out and take them to market where the vendors' eyes light up when they see them and give me many things in return. But that is not important. That is necessary to live away from man like I do. What is important is that I like woman. I had no woman so I had to find one any way I could. With so many having so many children, perhaps they could let me have one. They would not miss one child, would they?"

 

Lia: "My name is Lia. I come from a large family in the village. I don't go there anymore. I don't want to. They treated me badly. We never had any food to eat, or nice things to wear. I don't need them here. My home here is much larger and much nicer than my family's home in the village. I remember we had to crowd together on cold nights just to stay warm because we had no fire and with aching bellies because we had nothing to eat. My mama had so many babies that she had to abandon us except for the very youngest. My father only came home when he was drunk and would mess with my mama or my older sisters. We would all have to leave the house then but could hear them scream sometimes. Afterward, they never told us what happened, but we knew it was something bad. They were never happy, always sad. I got my food in the streets every day. Sometimes stealing it from the market if no one would give me anything to eat. Sometimes I even ate what they threw out for the dogs. I had to fight other children for what food there was. They would spit on me and the older children would try to beat me or throw rocks and sticks at me. But I would run off rather than fight. Some days, though, I was so weak from lack of food that I hardly did anything at all."

 

Pong: "My father brought me here when I was a young child, tired of being ridiculed in the village. I don't remember ever having a mother. I longed for a woman, but my father forbade me even to try to talk to one, saying that they were evil and the source of his problems, forcing him to live in the jungle with me. I did not doubt my father because he showed me how to live here without anyone else or anything else. Together we gathered all we needed to live. But there were times when I longed for a woman and did not know why. He never told me what a woman was for, but I always knew that I needed one. Even though I almost forgot what a woman looked like after so long. Then one day, my father died. It was a surprise to me, for he went to sleep and didn't wake up. I tried to wake him up, but he didn't. After my father died, I really felt alone. I knew that he had forbidden me to go to the village, but I sensed that I knew where it was. I gathered up provisions and something that I felt I could trade in the village and made my way there… Three days walking, I think. Shorter now that I know the way.

 

"When I arrived at the village I was scared of all the commotion. I stayed outside and watched, like I always did when I hunted animals. Finally, near dark, the village became quiet and I slipped in like I was entering the den of a wild animal. I carried some of the colorful stones that I had gathered and the people in the market, while quite concerned about how I looked, soon discovered my stones and were willing to trade things for them. I soon had too much to carry. I took some of it outside the village and hid it in the forest, but didn't know when I would be back to take it to my home. I had gathered some rice, beans and strange fruit and even some candy and found that I had too much of that. I saw many hungry children in the streets, so I offered some to them. At first, they stayed away, afraid of me. But they were very hungry and one or two would come up to me wild eyed and scared of my strange appearance, but gladly take the food I offered and run off with it. I could see the difference between the boy children and the girl children. They all were very skinny and big eyed, but the girls had finer features and seemed to be a lot shyer. They all were wonderful and I wanted to play with them, but dared not because I saw many older people staring at me with bad looks on their faces when I gave the children food. I thought that was strange, but then I remembered why I hated man so much. I like children though, and they like me, I think.

 

"I left the village after dark and slept in the forest near where I had hidden what I had traded. I could still hear the sounds of the village in the distance and smell their food cooking from the many fires burning there. In the morning, I gathered up all that I could carry and began to walk back to my home. All that I could think about on my long walk was the children. I wanted one. There were so many. Perhaps I could get one. A woman one… a girl."

 

Lia: "When I first saw him [Lia pointed toward Pong sitting next to her], Pong looked very scary and strange. He had very long hair and was wearing almost nothing, his brown skin so dark and his hair so matted that he looked like an animal. But Pong was carrying food, and a lot of it. Having trouble carrying the food, and other children had noticed that and, although they were scared like me, some approached him and tried to steal some fruit. Instead, I saw him give food to those who were brave enough to go up to him. I was very hungry that day, so I was one of the first to go up to him and ask for some rice and fruit. Pong looked at me with very kind eyes through that dirt streaked face and smiled. I'll never forget that smile. Pong seemed to me to be kindest of men. Most men in the village scowled at me and looked down at my large family as a nuisance, a scourge. He patted me on my head with his hand and gave me what I asked for without question or demanding money. I loved him right away for his kindness, but I was so shy that I grabbed the food and ran off with it to where I could hide and eat it without being disturbed by the other hungry children. From my hiding place, I gobbled that food down quickly and wanted more. When I got back to where that strange man was, he was nowhere in sight. I cried that night for not getting more food. The next day I was hungry again."

 

Pong:  "it was hard carrying a heavy load back to where I lived. I vowed not to carry so much the next time. After I had rested. I returned to gather what I had hidden near the village. But when I got there, it was gone. I hate man. He only wants to take and has no respect for anyone or anything. I was disheartened, but had a few of my stones left, so I went into the market again and gathered only what I could carry. As I left the village, the children thronged around me. I ended up giving them about half what I had gathered before I was able to leave them behind some meters from the village. In a way, I was grateful because it lightened my load and I was able to make my way home much easier than the time before.

 

"Sometime later, I ran out of coffee. By that time I had grown used to the sweet smell of making coffee in the morning, and began to crave coffee all the time. I also began to crave the children. Especially the woman children. They were so sweet and soft. I rubbed myself thinking about them [Pong demonstrated while Lia smiled, her eyes lit up by the flickering fire]. I had to go back to the village. I didn't want to, but I had to go back. This time, I picked a hiding place some distance from the village, far from where the dogs of the village could find where I stored my things. Once feeling more secure, I entered the village and bought the most valuable things, coffee first, some sugar, salt and beans… Just enough to carry, and walked quickly from the market. Still some children followed. I told them, smiling, that I had nothing for them right now but that I would return. That worked for the moment, but I was not sure if it would last.

 

"As I neared my hiding place, I became a wild animal. I made sure that my tracks were going in the wrong direction by walking backwards and, even in some places, moving through several trees off the ground, in case they tracked me with dogs. Once assured that I wasn't being followed, I approached my hiding place and placed what I had there. The sun was high when I reached the village again. This time I got fruit and some candy that I liked along with more rice and beans that I knew I wanted to share with the children. My load was so heavy that I had barely left the market [children were discouraged from entering the market by men with switches] when children surrounded me, all grabbing at me at once. I dropped my load to the dirty street and the children were all grabbing and fighting to steal what I had. They were weak and I was able to push some of them away, but in the end, they took nearly everything. Somehow, I saw her [Lia's eyes began to gleam brighter than the firelight], standing off nearby, not being rough or greedy like the other children. I felt sorry for her, but found her to be beautiful, so I wished that I could give her some candy and food like the others were taking. I managed to hold onto my bag with the stones and a small amount of candy until the children all ran away fighting with each other over what they had taken. But she was still standing there, crying. I took what little I had left, and gave it to her. I went back to the market where the men laughed at me but not at my stones and gathered up a small amount of fruits, vegetables, more rice and candy that I had the vendor disguise in a cloth bag and snuck out of the village as quickly as I could, happy that no children seemed to be around to bother me anymore. Like before, I was very careful going back to my hiding place, making all kinds of bad trails for anyone following me to get lost.

 

"By the time that I had finished stashing my load, the sun was getting low in the afternoon. I arrived back at the village at dusk with only one thing on my mind. But I was careful not to enter the village directly. Instead, I circled around to where I had last seen the girl. I did not see her there, so I began to circle the outer village looking for children playing in the evening hours. There weren't many. Perhaps they had returned home to various houses for an evening meal because the smell of food cooking was everywhere in the air. When I was about to give up looking, I saw some children by a house and approached carefully. I saw her sitting under a tree weaving something with her hands. I thought that was nice because she could do something useful and that was important to me. And then… she saw me. Even in the darkness, I could see her eyes light up. She looked around at the other children, and then back at me. Lia put what she was weaving down and carefully got up, walking off in another direction from the other children, who didn't seem to care or notice that she had left her work under the tree. I continued walking around the edge of the village, keeping an eye on her as she walked further and further from the others until she was alone near the edge of the village. I walked toward her and started trembling I was so excited. Lia came up to me and held out her hand. I took hold of her small hand in mine, and she looked up and me with the stars in her eyes. I couldn't believe it! I led her away from the village and she followed. [Tears started running down his cheeks as Pong spoke. Lia kept smiling, but a tear also formed in her bright eyes]

 

"I soon realized that we were making two tracks. So I gestured, and Lia climbed on my back. She felt so warm, so soft, and so light. I was amazed at how she felt on my bare back and how I felt carrying her. I could smell her breath over my shoulder as she clung to me. It was the smell of the candy and fruit that I had given her earlier. I was so proud that she had had something to eat. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day. I was getting tired, but found her to be easy to carry. It soon became very dark and I could not see where I was going anymore. I could not find my way back to where I had left my food, so I found a nice place under a tree and gathered some palm fronds to make it more comfortable for us to lie down. I didn't sleep much, worried that they would be coming after me with dogs and torches in the night, but Lia seemed very comfortable crawling up under me, keeping us both warm. I couldn't believe my good fortune. Later that night, the moon came out enough so that I could see to continue our journey. It wasn't safe where we were, so I picked her up, half-asleep and walked on through the night using the moon and stars to direct me toward where I knew my home was. The night was filled with sounds of animals and birds out hunting, but I knew every call and we were not in any danger or being stalked, so I continued to walk on, so thirsty and hungry.

 

"Near morning we came upon a small stream and we both drank our fill. Nearby, I saw a banana tree and we ate as many bananas as we could and carried some more for later. I was still very tired, but refreshed by the food and water provided by the gods of the forest and I was happy. The whole time we had not said anything to each other. We didn't need to. There was some kind of understanding between us because we needed each other, and that wasn't enough. There was plenty of time for talking later. By afternoon, it got very hot and Lia became a burden to carry. I put her down and she walked. But her feet were not as tough as mine and before long I could see that she was having trouble with their feet, walking in the heavy brush for so long. Lia also was scratched from all of the branches and thorns. My skin was much tougher and did not bear the same wounds. My bare feet were heavily protected from the roughness of the terrain. I carried her again until I was too tired. We stopped for the night by another stream where we drank water and ate the remaining bananas and some mangoes that we found. I thought about the rice and beans because I was hungry. But I also thought about the girl in my care. I was so happy and wanted to take very good care of her.

 

"By the end of the next day we had arrived here at my home. I was so happy! I started a fire before it got dark and we danced around it like the child I felt like I was. I brought out food that I had gathered and we ate by the fire. After that, we curled up in my home. I never slept better. I slept into the next day. When I finally awoke, Lia was not there. Frightened, I burst from my home only to find her by the fire where she had come after exploring my encampment. Once again I was happy. I had not lost her."

 

Lia: "I was so upset when I saw the other children taking the food from that handsome, near naked, man, I almost cried. But then, Pong came over to me and gave me so much that I could not eat it all. I took what was left back to my brothers and sisters who, thankfully, were not among that unruly crowd, some of whom had plenty of food at home, but were just greedy and mean. I shared what I had left with my older sisters and they began fighting because it wasn't enough for them all. My mama came out of our shack and asked why they were quarreling, and they all pointed to me, telling her that I had brought food and candy from that 'wild man' that had come into the village. My mama got a very stern look on her face and went inside to get her switch. I knew what was coming. My mama came out of the house, angrier than before with the switch in her hand. She took me away from the others, over by the outhouse where she sat down on the bench and then, placed me over her knees. She pulled up my shift and pulled down my dirty worn panties the welfare people handed out for all the children, and began whipping my bare bottom with the switch, punctuating her action by yelling at me, 'Never go by that dirty old man ever again! Do you hear me! Do you hear me!'

 

"I responded with what my mama wanted, 'Yes, mama… Yes mama…' and she finally stopped. As a punishment… as if the beating was not enough, she gave me some weaving to do. My bottom was sore, but I was used to beatings, so I found a place away from the others under a tree and began doing my chores. It was sometime later, when I looked up and saw him in the shadows looking at me. I was very angry at my mama and my greedy and uncaring brothers and sisters, so I thought I would teach them a lesson. Letting the man know that I saw him, I dropped what I was doing and carefully walked off in a direction I knew he would follow. For some reason my heart started beating faster. I watched and saw that all the others didn't notice that I was leaving. I was often all by myself anyway, so it was nothing new for me to do that. Especially after a beating. When I got near the edge of the village where no one was around, Pong came out of the shadows and I was very happy to reach for his hand. It was so strong and hard and I was so happy. I followed him easily as we walked away from the village. At some point he stopped and signaled for me to climb on his back. I had climbed on the back of my brothers before, but they were skinny and weak compared with this man. Pong was warm, too, as the night grew colder. I was glad not to be walking because my bottom still hurt from the switch. And then, he put me down under a tree on some palm fronds. I got cold and crawled up under him. He was warm and he smelled of the sweat of the day. But I didn't mind. Pong was mine. My man. And he was nothing like sleeping with my brothers and sisters. Sometimes I woke up and just looked at him breathing. I liked my man. I liked him very much. [Pong's eyes brightened listening to what she had to say.]

 

"Just when I thought we were never going to get there, we came upon his home. It was very nice. Pong ‘s house was much bigger than our whole family's. He seemed to be very rich. When we first arrived, he brought out very good food. Some of the food I had never eaten before. After we ate, we danced around the fire. Not like the men in the village, but more like the children when we were happy. We then went to his house and slept. Pong‘s bed was comfortable and warm. At some point I was tired of sleeping so I got up and walked around the entire place. I liked it. There were no other children or scoffing old men and women. It was just the two of us. It made me very happy. [Pong's eyes lit up again.]

 

Pong: "I recovered my strength quickly and soon thought that all of the game and food in the area had been gathered and hunted. With the girl in my possession, I thought it good to move on to another place that I had seen shortly after my father died where there was water, a cave that we could use during the rainy season when everything became unbearably wet and it was hard to keep a fire going, and tall trees for me to make another tree house to protect us at night from wild creatures on the ground. I also thought they may be trying to find her, and I didn't want them to. I wanted to keep her for my own.

 

"She helped me carry things and we moved all my tools to the new location. First, I set about making a shelter in the trees that we used for sleeping and escaping any dangerous animals. It didn't take me very long with her help to build the framework of a shelter and put down mats that Lia wove for us to lie on. After some time, I had gathered enough food and created enough shelter for her. Then, I told her [They had started talking to each other] that I would have to go back to the village to get the food that I had stored there or it would be no good. Lia understood, but was frightened and wanted to go along with me. It was the hardest thing I had to do to tell her to stay alone without me, but I could not carry her all that way and carry the food, too. Lia cried. I told her what to do and how to keep the fire going. She cried some more, this time pleading me to let her go along. I held her close, and said, 'No.' It was the hardest thing not to cry as I ran from where I left her and ran for some time trying to get back to the village as quickly as possible.

 

"This time, I found all of the provisions were still there. Some bugs had gotten into some of them, but I was easily able to brush those away. I couldn't carry everything, so I left the rest to the wild animals and bugs, and turned back toward our new home. I moved quickly and did not try to cover my tracks. It was a long way and I didn't think they would ever find us. Still, I was very worried about Lia and almost ran all the way back in spite of the load. When I arrived, exhausted, I was quite happy to see her sitting by the fire. She had cooked some food for me. It was not to my taste, but I ate it gladly. After storing the food I brought carefully to keep it from spoiling and animals, I climbed to our partially built tree house and with her warmth, slept soundly. Dreaming of the smell of coffee in the morning. [Lia beamed.]

 

Lia: "I was scared, especially at night, when all the night creatures howling and hunting. I was so glad that I had our tree house to sleep in or I would have perished on the ground. Like Pong told me, I made sure that I left no food where the animals could smell or get it, because they would come into our home even in the daylight and I would be defenseless against them. So I covered up with mats that I wove from palm fronds. It didn't rain [it wasn't the rainy season] and I was warm, but I still lost sleep worrying about Pong and animals prowling about. After a few days, I started cooking in the evening hoping Pong would smell my food. When I saw him come into the camp, I was so happy I cried. Because he had come back to the village for me, I knew that he would always come back to me, unlike my family who often promised something and then didn't do it. I was happy to be with him and happy to have him back. [Lia beamed again.]

 

"I have seen his bougie many times since then. I had not seen one from a grown man in the village, although the young boys all ran naked in the streets and all the women regularly checked them to see if those boys would turn into good men. Right away, I wanted to do that, but I was afraid that Pong  would get angry, so I didn't. But at night, when he lay behind me to keep me warm, I could feel it against me and wanted to touch his bougie all the more. Still, fear kept me from doing it. I did not want to anger or hurt him. That night Pong  came back I could smell his sweat from running to me strongly and I could feel his bougie pressing it against me quite hard. In the morning, as was customary, we went to the pool beneath the waterfall to wash off. I found it very refreshing, unlike the village where water was in such short supply we waited for the rain to come to wash off the filth that built up in the dusty, dirty streets. And then when it rained, there was mud everywhere and you had to watch where you step because of all the animal droppings everywhere. By the waterfall everything was clean and peaceful. When he came out of the water his bougie was quite large. That's when I asked him if I could touch it. Pong  smiled and took my hand and I touched it for the very first time. It was strange and beautiful at the same time. It made me feel like I was a woman in the village checking out a young boy's bougie. But this was a man, a very kind and generous man, giving me the food and shelter I did not have in the village. Pong  asked if he could touch me and I told him it was okay. When he touched me, it tickled. It tingled unlike when I touched myself sometimes. That was it. After that, we touched each other often. Sometimes I would go to sleep holding him. I felt very warm and protected in his arms."

 

Pong:  "At first, I was very worried that they would come, so we moved more often than I had before. Thankfully, they did not come. But the rainy season came and went and I taught her how to plant sweet potatoes, bananas, beans, peanuts, peppers, spices and plantain and how to tend to them. Also how to keep animals from eating our crops. At every camp I made pits to catch wild hogs and that kept our crops safe from them and provided us with much food to eat. I also fished and hunted but never took more than we could eat or dry in the hot sun. This land is bountiful, but my father taught me to move often so that the animals could reproduce and good hunting would continue at each new home.

 

"The time passed quickly and Lia grew much stronger than when she came. Lia   was no longer weak and sickly and could walk with me for days if we had to, carrying a large load. I was quite proud of my woman and what she was becoming. I was no longer alone and I felt very good with her with me. In time, it was as though we knew what each other was thinking. And then one day, in the morning before we went to bathe, I saw that Lia was bleeding. It was a sign that she was now a woman. Fuzzy hair had also started to grow on her mound, but it was soft and silky to the touch and I enjoyed touching that part of her very much. I could also see that Lia enjoyed me touching her. That morning, though, she seemed a bit upset and wouldn't let me touch her."

 

Lia: "That morning that I woke up and saw that I was bleeding, I got scared… But then, I remembered that my older sisters had had the same problem and it didn't seem to bother them except that they often went off by themselves away from the village, and, if they couldn't, clean themselves down there often until the blood stopped flowing. I also remember that it happened often, like when the moon changed. All of my sisters seemed to have it happen at the same time like they were linked to the moon or something. So I cleaned myself thoroughly in the pool as often as blood started running down my leg and felt all right with it because I knew that it was going to stop soon. It did.

 

"About that time, my breasts began to swell and hurt, but that went away, too, except they were very tender to the touch and whenever Pong  touched them, I got a tingle down there that I like but I didn't understand. I wanted him to touch me there, too. In time, I wanted him to touch me often. Like when we lay together in bed and in the morning when we washed together in the pool."

 

Pong : "Gradually, Lia began to like my touch so much that she wanted me to put my finger in her flower. [Pong illustrated by making a loop with his index finger and pushing his other index finger in and out]. Lia liked that very much and sometimes would make small cries like a baby animal. I would stop – if she was hurting—and she would say, 'No,' and ask me to do it some more. Sometimes, Lia went into a trance and told me later that she liked it so much when that happened. After that, she just wanted to hold me tight and go to sleep. I was so glad to have this woman in my bed.

 

"My bougie began to hurt so bad from these encounters. And then, I would often dream about them at night and white cream would come out of my bougie to my relief. We both tasted it and it was not cream, but it tasted good. Sometimes, she would lick it from my body and bougie, making my bougie become very large and hurt again. It was all very strange, but wonderful. At some point while she was licking it and playing with it, she brought it close to her and rubbed it against her silky hair on her mound. Lia’s  eyes rolled back in her head from the feel of it and I got the desire to put it in her like I did with my finger. But her flower was too small and my bougie was too big. I did not want to hurt her, so I stopped. Lia   cried when I couldn't do it, so I used my finger again and she swooned and slept well after that."

 

Lia: "After I began to bleed, my desire for him became much greater. We played every night when we went to bed and slept warm and comfortable in each other's arms even when it rained and we had no fire. We also played in the morning, sometimes in the water and sometimes out of the water where we could wash off after our exertion. I wanted so much for his bougie inside me. It took a while, but one day, the large head slipped inside of me and I felt a rush of emotion I could not describe. That was the first day the hot cream came inside me like it had sometimes in my mouth. Oh, how I loved that cream and the way it tasted. This time I didn't taste it, but it felt so good I wanted him to do it again and again. Before very long he was putting nearly half of it inside me until it reached a spot where it hurt so much that I didn't want him to go that far. Now, he can go in all the way… [Pong and Lia smiled broadly at each other at their accomplishment.]

 

"Sometime later, I noticed that my belly was getting larger. I thought that I had been eating too much, but then, I began to feel movement inside me and remembered that my sisters and even my mother, had had bulging bellies like that before giving birth to children. I was still a child myself, so I wondered about what I would do with a child without having my mama around to teach me. I started to get scared of the thought and it wouldn't go away no matter how hard I tried, except when I was playing with him and then all thoughts, good and bad, went away except for the pleasure we both sought in each other."

 

Pong : "When I saw her belly growing I did not know what to think of it, because I never saw that except maybe some women in the village who seemed to have the same problem with their bellies. I did not know what to do to stop it. We were both eating the same things and my belly was not getting any larger, I didn't know what to make of it. Since we slept close together every night I always put my arms around her and around her belly. One night, I felt a thumping in her belly and was so surprised to feel it. Lia said that it was, 'Something kicking in there.' I was surprised to hear that because I didn't know what it was that was inside her and she seemed to know. Eventually, since I had seen animals giving birth around us in the forest, I began to think that it was a baby about to be born. I got scared. I wanted a baby but I didn't want the baby to come out bad. I had to trust the gods that the baby would come out all right like I saw most babies in the forest. I had also seen babies die when I killed the mother animal to eat. After that, I tried not to kill mother animals even if I was hungry. I knew they were the source of my food and I did not want to kill babies just for food."

 

Lia: "I was sick sometimes, so sick I couldn't carry out my daily duties, but other times I was all right. We had to move to a new home when I was getting very big and that was very hard because I was carrying so much weight and the walk was long. When we finally got everything there, making two trips, I got very sick and water came out all at once. I knew what it was and called for him, but Pong  did not come because he was out hunting for something for us to eat. I lay on my mat and called out for him in great pain, but he did not come. Finally, after a long time in a lot of pain, the baby came out, all bloody and still. I brushed the blood out of his eyes, mouth and face with my hand and put his little body over my shoulder like I had seen my sisters do and gave him a pat on the back. He coughed and started to cry. I was suddenly so happy to hear him cry like that. I saw there was a cord coming out of what had come out of me and it was attached to the baby at his belly. I chewed the cord off and tied it so that things in his belly would not come out. I didn't know if I did the right thing or not by doing that, but it was all that I could think of at the time. Very soon, he found my breast with his eyes closed and started sucking. My breasts had become quite sore and his sucking quickly took the soreness away." [With the naked boy in her lap, he proudly pointed to her breasts. The boy, looking to be about four years Old, started suckling again. Lia did nothing to stop him.]

 

Pong : "When I arrived back to our new home that evening, I expected to smell food cooking. I did not. Instead I found her sleeping with a bloody baby on her breast. I was shocked at the sight and quickly ran down to the water to get some to wash her off. When I began to wash the baby, he came alive--he was not dead--and started to cry. Lia also woke up and started to use the water I brought to clean both of them off. I moved them both to a clean mat and went back to the fire that was almost out to make food for us before dark. I knew the smell of blood would bring wild animals in the night, so with a basket, we carefully carried the baby to the makeshift tree house that I was building for our stay. We slept very happy that night except the baby cried and wanted to have milk from his mama all the time."

 

Lia: "Doing my work with a small child was difficult, and I cried for my mama who took care of so many, like me. I needed her to tell me what to do. She wasn't there to help me but Pong was and did, and we somehow raised a fine boy. [Lia patted the boy on the head with one hand and played with his bougie as if the show the researchers exactly how fine he was. The boy stopped nursing and smiled a shy smile, hiding his head in his mother's armpit.]

 

With the video interview concluded, the researchers left some gifts for the couple and took their findings back to the capital city where they reviewed all of the information they had gathered. Since the girl was clearly underage, government officials were eager to prosecute for kidnapping and child abuse. The researchers were interested in finding the girl's family so that they could determine if the family wanted to press charges against Pong  for taking their child. Unfortunately, that village was on the coast where fishing was part of its livelihood. The tsunami had completely wiped the village of the map and there were very few survivors--spread all over the country. Still, the researchers spent a couple of months trying to locate any family members. They even went back to visit Pong  and Lia again to try to get some information from Lia that would help determine her family. They took some DNA samples to help find them, but there was no match among what the government had of its people. DNA testing was not required except for some diseases and most of the country's citizens had never been to a clinic or hospital where they did DNA testing.

 

After much discussion and persuasion, primarily of the kind of a threat to cutting off aid and other financial sanctions, the government finally agreed to what the anthropologists suggested. The family of three would be declared a new indigenous people. As indigenous, the government was required provide a 60 square mile tract of land surrounding each of the four seasonal camps established by the couple. The entire 240 square miles with corridors between amounted to a triangular shaped tract of land that was also adjacent to protected government land and land purchased by the World Wildlife Fund for the preservation of endangered animals, plants, insects and biodiversity. In short, Pong and Lia would be able to live out their lives undisturbed in the land that they loved. Since Lia was so much younger than Pong, there was some concern what would happen after Pong died. Also, what would happen when the boy reached maturity and had the same concerns as his father had had. But there was no guarantee that he would reach maturity or that his mother would outlive his father in the primitive survival conditions in which they lived. It was decided that they would check on the family once a year or so and make those decisions as time took its course. One idea was that at the time that the boy might wish to have a mate, he might be brought to an orphanage where teenage girls were about to be left to fend for themselves because they had reached an age where they no longer could be cared for by the government. That was only one idea and there may be other ways that another woman could've been brought into the small family. A physical examination found that the birth of the boy at about the age of fourteen had made it impossible for Lia to have another child. So that was not a problem. Introducing another woman could be. The researchers concluded that those questions would be addressed when the time came.

 

So Pong  and Lia lived happily ever after in a paradise of their own making. Or did they? The world is an ever-changing place… only time would tell.

 

Copyright 2014 © Ronald W. Hull

 

8/12/14