The Onge, Little Andeman Islands

Why must we study them
Why should we be
Wanting to preach to them
Yes culturally
They lived as they always lived
And they should be
Allowed to live on like that
Honest and free

We encroach on their space
We change what they do
We have to know more
That we call true
Our brainwashed scientists
Delve into their minds
A vanishing people
Who pull down their blinds

We call them a window out in the past
They live in thatched lean too’s
That leave us aghast
We provide them with cottages
That they don’t need
And we wonder why they
They As a people succeed

They do not want handouts
They want what they find
They do not have animals
Its under lined
They do not farm as we do
All that they want
Is to forage for wild food
And fish for thats true

A dugout they make
Using wind using tools
Working with nature
With all of their rules
Not ours their rules
They make them they know the score
Its macrobiotics cooked yes and raw

Time is running out for us all
Everyone
Not least these bold people
Who live in the sun
Who fight for survival
From us in a way
We are logging the forests
And causing dismay

We waste everything
That was given so we
Can make western threats
A great tragedy
We cant see the value of trees
That all grow
And harbour much beauty
And share the great flow

The Onge have wisdom
Great wisdom and they
Use it to live the full lives
Everyday
They don’t want our help
Why would they they know
The diet they use
Helps them to grow

Dugong and fish the odd turtle
Appears
Tubers from the forests
Counter our fears
They choose not to wear clothes
Nothing at all
Naturists actually
Never on call

In many ways India
Plays the card well
The Andeman Islands
Becomes a hard sell
And the Onge people
Exists as they do
Without western influence
Which is askew

Our diseases affect them
We are virulent fools
We don’t live our own lives
Protected by rules
Not of our making
No heritage there
We are but prisoners
Trapped in despair

100 left
Please leave them alone
We haven’t hurt you
That you haven’t known
Us
Is a godsend for we are apart
We are real people
We have real heart

We don’t want to know you
we really don’t care
How white your skin is
And how blonde your hair
We are the night skins
We are at one
With the sun and the moon
And the sky all homespun