Seeking water, Brazil indigenous group finds new home

Seeking water, Brazil indigenous group finds new home

Vanderlei Weraxunu, a Guarani indigenous leader, is preparing to move with his community to a new home where they will at last have access to water
Vanderlei Weraxunu, a Guarani indigenous leader, is preparing to move with his community to a new home where they will at last have access to water. Photo: Andre BORGES / AFP
Source: AFP

New feature: Check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block and enjoy!

Clutching a machete and a cell phone, indigenous leader Vanderlei Weraxunu tours his community's future home, a swathe of tropical forest land north of Rio de Janeiro where his people will finally have water.

Weraxunu is one of around 50 members of the Mbya Guarani people who will soon establish a new home in the middle of what will be Brazil's first municipal nature reserve, where they plan to live according to their ancestral lifestyle.

The project promises to transform the lives of community members, who have been living in a settlement with no access to potable water in Marica county, in Rio de Janeiro state.

Hailing from different regions of Brazil, the community of Mbya Guarani moved there a decade ago and founded a village, Ceu Azul (Blue Sky) on a plot of land donated by a businessman.

Read also

On Lampedusa, migrant worries leave locals behind

But the land, a former coffee plantation, is too degraded to farm crops, and the village has to have water trucked in by the municipal government.

South America is home to an estimated 280,000 Guarani, divided into several subgroups including the Mbya
South America is home to an estimated 280,000 Guarani, divided into several subgroups including the Mbya. Photo: Andre BORGES / AFP
Source: AFP

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app!

"A river ran through it 150 years ago. But then the former owner turned it into a coffee plantation and it was devastated," says the youthful, chiseled Weraxunu, sporting a beaded armband, traditional face paint and long black hair.

"They cut down the forest and that caused the river to dry up," he adds, as a black- and bronze-furred monkey playfully performs acrobatics on his arms and shoulders.

South America is home to an estimated 280,000 Guarani, divided into several subgroups including the Mbya.

They have a long history of conflicts with non-native farmers, who had often forced them from their ancestral land.

'Guardians of nature'

Read also

Craft distillers fear mezcal will become victim of own success

Guarani chief Maria Helena Jaxuka says she is eager to move her people to their new home, Brazil's first municipal nature reserve.
Guarani chief Maria Helena Jaxuka says she is eager to move her people to their new home, Brazil's first municipal nature reserve.. Photo: Andre BORGES / AFP
Source: AFP

After years of negotiations with the government, Weraxunu's community is now set to move in the coming months to a 50-hectare (125-acre) plot of public land about 35 kilometers (20 miles) away, donated by the municipality.

"We'll have more resources, we'll be able to plant (manioc and sweet potato) and gather medicinal herbs," says Weraxunu.

They also plan to bring back native crops such as Guarani maize, which they hold sacred, as well as bamboo for the handcrafts that are an important source of the community's income.

"Until now, we've had to bring in bamboo from other places" to make traditional baskets, says Maria Helena Jaxuka, a Guarani cacique, or chief.

The local government has pledged to provide houses, a school, health care and a cultural center for the new village -- plus official ownership of the land.

"It will allow us to preserve nature, as well as our culture and way of life," says Weraxunu.

Read also

Togo battles to save forests as poverty threatens reserves

"The Guarani and all indigenous peoples are the guardians of nature, which gives us life."

New feature: Check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find "Recommended for you" block and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.