#kayapo

Members of the Kayapo tribe in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Photographed by Martin Schoeller.

Brasília, Brazil: An Indigenous woman from the Kayapo tribe surveys the Terra Livre protest camp, which aims to defend Indigenous land and cultural rights threatened by the rightwing government of Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil’s Kayapo people rejected money from dam-building companies. “We have decided that we do not want a single penny of your dirty money… Our river does not have a price, our fish that we eat does not have a price, and the happiness of our grandchildren does not have a price.”  

This fundraising campaign is the product of the collaboration with the organizational face of the Kayapó indigenous community in Brazil, The Raoni Institute (RI).

The RI is an autonomous indigenous organization that represents 18 villages located in the south-eastern border of the Amazon rainforest. It brings together the efforts of five different indigenous communities; Kayapó, Trumai, Juruna, Panará, and Tapayuna ethnicities.

The RI calls for financial support to help relief and prevent the threat that the COVID-19 pandemic represents for the community. This effort ensures the continuation of the protection of the Amazon rainforest and the survival of the Kayapó people.

According to the Articulation of Indigenous People’s of Brazil (APIB), 9.1% of indigenous COVID-19 cases are fatal. This is nearly double the 5.2% rate of the general Brazilian population. 

Food security and hygiene can allow the community to adapt their normally collaborative community way of living and prevent the further spread of the virus.

Economic resources will be utilised to help buy basic food items and hygiene products to enable more accessible self-isolation circumstances during the ongoing spread of the virus. And prevent further contagion and stop the movement outside of the village.

The systemic racism that indigenous people face, prevents them from accurate medical equipment. About 21,000 indigenous people have contracted COVID-19 in brazil, and 618 have now lost their lives (Note: this number was in August 2020, and likely has climbed).