I'm not sure who or what to believe, but the news story I read today says that "[a] 29-year-old dubbed the 'jungle woman' after emerging from the Cambodian wilderness three years ago naked and unable to speak has now fled back into the wild after struggling to adapt to society." Wow. Seems like this Cambodian Brown Girl (pictured above) emerged from the [Cambodian] jungle in January of 2007 and has had quite a time adjusting to life outside of the jungle. Ya think?
Of course I have no idea if she suffers from mental illness or if she's a real feral child, but I wonder: Is it humanitarian to try to get someone to adapt to our way of life? Or is it more humanitarian to let her live the way she was accustomed to living (provided she is safe and doesn't harm others, of course)? Maybe I'm just sensitive to people (and animals) away from their natural habitat. Like Sabine Kuegler, who from 7 years old to 17 years old lived with her German linguist parents in the Papuan (New Guinea) jungle living with the Fayu, a Stone Age tribe of naked people with bones through their noses. She talks about readjusting to life away from the Fayu in her book Child of the Jungle: The True Story of a Girl Caught Between Two Worlds
. I don't know about you, but I think this is some wild stuff worthy of a little thought. (In fact, here's a Discovery Channel video about a reporter's experience with the Fayu.)
. I don't know about you, but I think this is some wild stuff worthy of a little thought. (In fact, here's a Discovery Channel video about a reporter's experience with the Fayu.)
