The mambe is knowledge. It mambea to walk in the light, to dawn the word. It is the knot through which all the spirituality of this town passes: the territory, life, community, respect, connection with all living things through plants.
Coca helps to concentrate, “gives you lucidity”; “The ambil is a mirror that makes you see reality. You no longer live in imagination or fantasy, you look at yourself, you review yourself, you can correct yourself”. Humility is leading yourself with awareness and discernment, being in the truth. It implies a coherence of life, a commitment in the family, at work, always. Love and serenity. A marvel.
Fernando wanted me to meet the Murui, but not just for a visit or greeting, but a little inside, let me peek into his soul. For that, nothing better than going to a mambeaderoand there we headed, he carrying his backpack with all the implements and I with my eyes and heart wide open.
Ive has his maloka at his house in Leguízamo, and in it a place to mambear. There she receives friends, people who come to share coca, to talk, to listen. It is a space of tranquility, of calm, of prayer. Our Creator Father, whom the Murui call Mó, is very present. Coca and tobacco are the plants that allow us to connect with the spiritual world.
It was just the three of us. Ive, bare-chested, had the items laid out before him. We greeted each other and she began to speak. In the middle of his speech he would open the container of coke and take a spoonful; It is a green powder, made with the dried and crushed sacred leaf, mixed with the ash of another vegetable. He kept talking with his mouth full and after a while he put his finger in the jar of ambil, which is a dark cream made with pure tobacco and other ingredients, and sucked on it. He continued and lit a cigarette, smoked. After a while he tried another pate with tobacco in water, or drank a little kawana, made with yucca. And she kept talking.
You cannot interrupt the one who has the floor; they only nod with expressions in murui: “that’s right”, “okay”. Coca helps to concentrate, “gives you lucidity”Ive said. “To join the good spirit, and also to be clean, to heal from the bad spirit, from everything that makes us criticize, hurt the other. Also for that you have to diet; to cut the threads with the bad, with the inconvenient, with the illicit”.
The mambe is knowledge. It mambea to walk in the light, to dawn the word. It implies a coherence of life, a commitment in the family, at work, always. Love and serenity. So that what one says has force and authority. It is the knot through which all the spirituality of this town passes: the territory, life, community, respect, connection with all living things through plants.. Word dawn. A marvel.
We continue to listen to Ive very carefully. Fernando exchanged his coke with him, he smoked, he sucked ambil. He pronounced many truths, in a simple but forceful way, several stayed with me. “Do not carry more firewood than you can carry”. She stopped at modesty: “You shouldn’t talk about ‘I’, it’s the others who should say, ponder… You should rather say ‘we'”.
“The ambil is a mirror that makes you see reality. You no longer live in imagination or fantasy, you look at yourself, you review yourself, you can correct yourself”. Humility is leading yourself with awareness and discernment, being in the truth. I will not forget it. “Forgiveness is important. Respect, don’t judge. For harmony and peace to flow”. Mambear implies a responsibility. To dawn.
When Ive finished, it was Fernando’s turn, who is a missionary priest of the Consolata in the post of Soplín Vargas. He mainly thanked for participating in that space and valued everything it brings him. Being there with Fernando allowed me to get to know him better and understand much more what he lives and says. My admiration for this colleague, living embodiment of interculturality to which the Amazon Synod invites us.
And in the end, Ive invited me to drink kawana and share too. I tried to express that I felt shocked, but at the same time very calm and welcoming, not strange. It sounded a lot like Jesus to me, even with an Ignatian flavor, I noticed that everything is truly connected. I really thanked both of them and Mó for the opportunity to be there and learn so much (“You have to go slowly, mistress César”). The imprint of the experience of that night is planted in me as a blessing and a treasure. “Ama” means “brother”.