Prettiest Girl Among Aboriginal Indian Tribe Emberas

Along the Chagres River lives the Emberas, the aboriginal Indian tribe who wear a piece of cloth on their waists and expose the red skins on top. Yaritzel Caisamo, with complicated patterns on the chin and both sides of her face, which is the mark for unmarried girls according to Embera's tradition, is the prettiest girl among Emberas.

There are 108 people and 24 families in Embera tribe. The thatched houses of each family jointed together by bridges. There is no electricity, running water or communication with the outside world in the tribe.

As the fifth child of her family, the 14 years old Yaritzel Caisamo has 4 sisters and one brother. Her uncle is the cacique of the tribe. "In our tribe we build thatched houses and canoes; we fish and we grow herbal medicine. With all these skills we could live a good life. "

Yaritzel Caisamo is a middle school student, but to attend school is a difficult thing for her. She has to take 40-minute canoe and 3-hour long-distance bus with many transfers in between to get to school, so she attends school once a week. Because of lack of money, she is always afraid of that she may loss the opportunity to go to school. "My dream is to go to university and to be an accountant," She said. "I know to go to university may by very hard for me, but I love math. I always know the answers of math questions. I think that to go to school is the only way to improve the life of our tribe."

At the clearing, Emberas built a classroom where Yaritzel Caisamo taught math to younger kids.

In the evening, Yaritzel Caisamo used to play football with other kids. Although the football is worn-out, they all treat it as a treasure. But now the only football was lent to another tribe, Embera kids have no football to play with. "I only want an old football," said Yaritzel Caisamo.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2009)