Dear Jack,

William is too young to remember a time when his people, the Nukak, lived in peace. Refusing contact with outsiders, they thrived for generations in their ancestral forest in the Colombian Amazon. But in the 1980s, pressure on their ancestral land from colonizers, coca growers, armed groups and missionaries forced the Nukak out of the forest. In the few years after contact, more than half died of diseases like the flu. William was born into the devastation that followed.

Jack, your generosity enables Survival to support Indigenous people like William as they fight to return to their lands. Please donate towards our vital work now.

Today, many young Nukak people like William struggle with addiction. Disconnected from their forest and growing up in bleak resettlement camps with limited resources, makeshift shelters, and almost no access to basic healthcare, they’re often forced to work in coca plantations—operating on the very lands stolen from them—just to survive. Many are paid in alcohol and drugs, trapping them in a cycle of exploitation, addiction, and abuse. Jack, right now William is fighting to break this cycle, and he needs your support.

By making trips to his territory and building relationships with Nukak elders, William is healing from his addiction and reconnecting with his Nukak identity. Other young Nukak people are doing the same. Despite the many challenges stacked against them, they are determined to reclaim their forest—and their future. Survival is supporting their struggle for their land. Jack, there’s still time to support this fight.

We’re so grateful that so many of you rushed to donate towards this appeal in December. To Indigenous peoples, land is life, identity, the past and the future. Will you stand with them today?

Thank you,

Caroline Pearce
Director