"The jais are taking our children away,"
"Before Yadira killed herself, people in our community didn't think much about that."
"Yadira tells me she's doing O.K., but she never lets me see her face,"
The Emberá people live in remote villages along Colombia's west coast, facing acute poverty and armed-group violence over drug routes. The community often interprets youth suicides as the work of jais, malign spirits believed to possess victims, frequently appearing at night. A sixteen-year-old, Yadira Birry, hanged herself at school using a paruma, triggering additional attempts; ten more villagers attempted suicide using parumas in a community of 141 people. Survivors describe dreams of the dead beckoning them. Families seek help from jaibanás who use smoke and prayers to ward off jais. The events show a pattern of contagion and cultural framing of suicide.
Read at The New Yorker
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