Brazil: Fair opportunities for indigenous people

Indigenous Mission Council material for Indigenous Peoples' Week

"The greatest success was to be able to develop the material in a respectful way with the Jamamadi Deni people and to obtain their consent to the material," writes Renate Gierus, head of the Indigenous Mission Council (COMIN) of the Brazilian ELM partner church until 2020. 30,000 copies of a material booklet for the "Indigenous Peoples' Week" will be distributed to church groups and schools, among others.

The booklet was developed together with the Jamamadi Deni. A team visited families, accompanied them to the fields to grind manioc flour and played football together. In the evening there was a traditional feast of game meat, fish and seasonal forest fruits.

The small people are often ignored. Now they were allowed to show their culture and how they use the land and invited to learn to appreciate their values. Letting a people speak about themselves and their territory and allowing them to emphasise their concern for nature goes against the Brazilian government's desire to "occupy" and "develop" the Amazon region. Visuhara Maukuvideni (pictured) says: "It is very important to teach our children and grandchildren everything so that they always remember and do it, to eat what the earth gives us and also to take care of the earth".

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