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Arrows and smartphones: Daily life of Amazon Tembe tribe

In this Sept. 2, 2019 photo, seven-year-old Emilia Tembe pulls back on her hand-crafted toy bow and arrow made of sticks and leaves as she stands on a fallen tree, in the Ka 'a kyr village, Para state, Brazil. "This part used to be a native forest. This was primary jungle. But the fire arrived and it cleared the land," said Emidio Tembe, Emilia's grandfather and the Ka' a kyr chieftain who named the village. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this Sept. 2, 2019 photo, seven-year-old Emilia Tembe pulls back on her hand-crafted toy bow and arrow made of sticks and leaves as she stands on a fallen tree, in the Ka 'a kyr village, Para state, Brazil. "This part used to be a native forest. This was primary jungle. But the fire arrived and it cleared the land," said Emidio Tembe, Emilia's grandfather and the Ka' a kyr chieftain who named the village. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) In this Sept. 2, 2019 photo, seven-year-old Emilia Tembe pulls back on her hand-crafted toy bow and arrow made of sticks and leaves as she stands on a fallen tree, in the Ka 'a kyr village, Para state, Brazil. "This part used to be a native forest. This was primary jungle. But the fire arrived and it cleared the land," said Emidio Tembe, Emilia's grandfather and the Ka' a kyr chieftain who named the village. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

By Associated Press 5 min read

ALTO RIO GUAMA INDIGENOUS RESERVE, Brazil (AP) – They hunt with bows and arrows, fish for piranhas and gather wild plants, while some watch soap operas on TV or check the internet on phones inside thatch-roof huts.

They paint their faces with dyes from seeds to prepare for battle and also use video technology to fight illegal loggers and other threats.

Daily life in the remote Tembe indigenous villages in the Amazon jungle of Brazil mixes tradition and modernity.

They bathe in muddy brown rivers in the mornings, and play soccer in sandy fields wearing jerseys from European teams like Chelsea in the afternoons.

In a Brazilian state ravaged by deforestation and thousands of fires, the Tembe shoot photos and video to document the cutting of trees in their land by loggers and share them on social media. They also recently met with a non-governmental group that offered the tribe drones and GPS devices to track the encroachers in exchange for harvesting wood sustainably. And like their ancestors, they plant trees to teach their children the value of preserving the world’s largest rainforest, which is a critical bulwark against global warming.