User:Nmmuller/sandbox

Jan Muller (Little) (27 November 1929 - 10 February 2018) was a deaf/blind writer, naturalist and jungle homesteader. In 1980, after losing her husband and daughter to a mysterious jungle virus, Muller survived for months alone deep in the interior of the Amazon rainforest, days travelling from civilization.



Early life and family

Jan Muller was born in Sacramento to Willem Muller, a Dutch mariner who emigrated to the United States, and Jessie Muller (nee Boyd) of Sacramento. After graduation from high school she moved to San Francisco to attend college.

Her daughter, Rebecca was born April 25th, 1955 in San Francisco. The father, with whom Muller had a brief romance and short marriage, died several years later.

Medical condition

Jan Muller was diagnosed with Usher syndrome Type II in her late teens, a genetic condition characterized by partial or total hearing loss and vision loss that worsens over time. The hearing loss is classified as sensorineural, which means that it is caused by abnormalities of the inner ear. The loss of vision is caused by an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which affects the layer of light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (the retina). Vision loss occurs as the light-sensing cells of the retina gradually deteriorate. Night vision loss begins first, followed by blind spots that develop in the side (peripheral) vision. Over time, these blind spots enlarge and merge to produce tunnel vision. In some cases, vision is further impaired by clouding of the lens of the eye (cataracts).

Life in Mexico

Because of her profound disability, Muller struggled living within the societal construct of the United States. Seeking to live as a naturalist, in 1957 she relocated with daughter Rebecca to San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Chiapas region of Mexico. She ran a cooperative which housed scientists and researchers from a joint venture with The University of Chicago and Harvard, among them, archeologist Robert McCormick Adams, who would later serve as the ninth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. from 1984 to 1994. San Cristobal de las Casas was starting to become a hotbed of expats, intellectuals and artists. Muller formed close friendships with famed archeologist Frans Blom and his wife, photographer Gertrude Blom, as well as photographer Marcey Jacobson.

In San Cristobal Muller also met jungle explorer Harry Little, who was homesteading part-time in the nearby Selva Lacandona. The two married September 29th, 1958 and began homesteading full-time. Harry Little's book "Rima the Monkey's Child" describes their life in Mexico through the lens of the adoption of Rima, an orphaned spider monkey.

Though Muller’s illness continued to progress, leaving her blind and deaf unless assisted by a hearing aid, she played a vital role in homesteading life. In an effort to introduce tropical food sources to the depleted region due to slash and burn agriculture, Muller made connections with botanists and researchers worldwide and received seeds and cuttings by mail. She grew pineapple, sweet potatoes, nine varieties of bananas and found success with her many experimental plantings including coconut palm, breadfruit, cacao, and coffee varieties. The abundance of the homestead crops eased the hunger for many in the neighboring village during seasons of maize crop failure, saving dozens of native families from certain starvation.

Life in Amazonas

The Little family relocated to Amazonas in 1973, desiring to find a more secluded homestead location. Native guides carried the family down the Rio Negro and deep into the Amazon rainforest before finding a suitable homestead location three days journey from the nearest village. The family settled along a tiny tributary of the Rio Dimiti, a section of the Rio Negro impassible during much of the year.

Previously unaware of the depleted Amazonian soil, the Little family had to work much harder for very little yield. Most of the family’s crops failed and the family was dependent on the cargo men to bring supplies three times a year.

Survival

During the final days of December 1979 the family became ill with a mysterious virus. Rebecca died in early January 1980. Harry died six weeks later. Weakened from the unknown virus and multiple bouts of malaria, Jan Muller managed to survive alone for three months on the isolated hillside with nearly no provisions. Heavy rains made the Rio Dimití impassible, and she was not discovered until May 31, 1980 when the cargo men arrived with supplies, a full month later than scheduled. Refusing to return with the men, Muller accepted enough supplies for several more months alone. The cargo men returned two weeks later with a female chaperone to escort Muller back to the nearest village.

In the weeks and months which followed the extraordinary details of Muller’s survival began to emerge. News of the deaf/blind American woman known as "Jan Little" spread throughout the region. Soon, an American couple, Howard and Kate Clark, researchers with The Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) based in San Carlos, Venezuela, took Muller to their home in San Carlos to where she would have access to fresh food and medical care. The Clarks escorted Muller back to her family home in Sacramento in October of 1980, where she would live the remainder of her life.

Muller's story was picked up by the U.K. based writer John Man whilst he was working in the Amazon region. Muller collaborated 50/50 with him on a book about her survival, called "The Survival of Jan Little", later also published under the title "Survive!" . The book was published multiple times in English and was translated into Spanish and Italian.

The Washington Post's review of the book highlights that only a quarter of the book is about Muller's extraordinary survival after the death of her daughter and husband, but that most of the book is about how she endured 20 years of mental torture by Harry Little.

Though the book became a bestseller the writer never paid Jan her share of the proceeds. She lived on a small stipend provided for her in a trust established by her mother. This ran out in 2016.

On June 8, 1986 Muller's story featured in the episode Amazon Odyssey of the BBC documentary series The World About Us, compiled by David Attenborough. In it she travels to her last homestead, "...a courageous pilgrimage back to the place where she buried - with her own hands - her daughter and husband five years earlier."

On July 29, 1987 Muller was on Terry Wogan's BBC talk show.

Writing

While living in The Selva Lacandona, Muller submitted an essay to the Christian Science Monitor. They accepted the submission and paid her $50. Her first essay, The White Hawk, printed in April of 1965 was well received and soon she became a regular contributor to the publication’s The Home Forum page, under her married name Jan Little. Her essays featuring stories of life on the jungle homestead became a staple for the publication and provided a much needed income to the Little family for years to come.

In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, with Section 508 requiring Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities. Because of this amendment, Muller was among the millions of Americans with disabilities to have an adaptive device provided to them. Muller received a computer for the deaf/blind and taught herself to use email, and Microsoft Accessibility vision and hearing-adaptive tools. As Muller neared her 80’s she decided to write her own account of the trauma of her survival. The stress of going through her memories brought out a painful bout of shingles in her, but she finished writing her story by summer 2017. Jan Muller died from side effects from the flu on February 10, 2018.