We Will Not Be Saved: A memoir of hope and resistance in the Amazon rainforest

“When we die, we become jaguars…We will live in the forest, tracking peccary and woolly monkeys. But we are not like any old jaguar. We are spirit jaguars. The souls of our ancestors roam in these woods. They remember everything. They carry sadness, anger, revenge, songs, healing powers…People’s stories are what keep the rainforest alive…if the Waorani people lose their stories, then the forest will fall to the oil companies.” “I am a Waorani woman from the forest. I have traveled very far to tell the companies we do not want them in our lands!...Oil kills everything: our forest, our rivers, the uncontacted peoples!..How are the Waorani people supposed to survive if we don’t have our forest?...How are our relatives…supposed to survive if there are no animals to hunt?...My ancestors were sneaky and courageous too. They hid in trees. They crossed rivers unseen. They imitated birdcalls. That’s how they ambushed the cowori. I would do the same, but in the city…We women are the voices of the forest…If we don't speak for our mother, no one will…I will speak like a jaguar…I will make the companies tremble.” “What the jaguar had taught me that night was to unbury my stories, to find the courage to laugh at them with others. I opened my mouth wide now…What did I want to achieve by telling him these stories? Just to be at peace with them.” “Ancestors. Memories. Spears. Planes. Deceit. Money. Oil. Forest. Home. Life.” This book is Nemonte Nenqoimo’s story. “She shaped the words, the narrative, breathed life into the people, into her feelings, her experiences, her forest…like the forest and her people, it deserves respect. It deserves to live…you will recognize your breath and heartbeats in these pages,” and it will transform the way you walk this trail that we call life.