“This is our community, the Guariba community; the first ones have already left, now the newcomers are here, who don’t fully understand the reality of previous events, especially the Guariba’s Mountain Range.” It was in this legendary, mysterious atmosphere that Oswaldo das Chagas, an indigenous elder of the Macuxi people, welcomed the group of humanitarian actors for four days of cultural and knowledge immersion in the community that makes up the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, in the municipality of Normandia, Roraima.
The Raposa do Sol Indigenous Land is located in Roraima and occupied parts of the cities of Normandia, Pacaraima, and Uiramutã. Geographically, it is located between the Tacutu, Maú, and Mirang rivers and the border with Venezuela.
The Guariba Project was a joint effort between the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), the Índio Marajó State Indigenous School, and the Guariba community. The partnership’s scope was educational development, environmental self-sustainability, emergency pedagogical training, and the appreciation of the traditional culture of the Macuxi people. The school serves 12 nearby communities.
Aajhmaná, a volunteer actor, explained that the idea for the Guariba Project came from Indigenous teacher Tatiana Peixoto, who has maintained a relationship with the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) since 2021.
Regarding this new front, an offshoot of the Roraima Humanitarian Mission, Juan Diego, also a volunteer worker with the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), explained, “Since we have been carrying out humanitarian service here for over 9 years, starting in 2016, Indigenous Brazilians, in addition to Venezuelans—the focus of the original scope—naturally began arriving, and they began attending the courses. And starting in 2024, the prospect of working with Indigenous Brazilian communities began to open up.”
Osvaldo explained that the Guariba community took its name from the Mountain Range’s first inhabitants, the howler monkeys. The mountain range became a sacred place, which could not be reached without permission and where, to climb, one had to pray. According to Oswaldo, many people were curious to see the rock, but he himself never felt this curiosity and always respected the place. He gave two examples of events that occurred when people climbed the site without permission:
The first is that people contracted illnesses, which is where the Guariba’s illness originated. The second is that, according to the legend told by his father, the Mountain Range’s peak contained three stones, one on top of the other, as if someone very powerful had placed them there. The stones arranged in this way represented the animal’s head and body. One day—a fact verified by the elder himself—the howler monkey’s head rolled, dislodging itself from the other stones.
Agroforestry in the Guariba Project
Aajhmaná explained: “We were able to implement this project, which involved agroforestry, on the school grounds, which will serve the community and students. We planted trees, a small garden bed with medicinal plants, and also vegetables: corn, beans, and cassava between the tree lines… We had about 60 students. The participating teachers and students were mostly Macuxi, but there were also Wapishana.”
Tatiana, an indigenous Macuxi teacher who served as a bridge between the school and the community in developing the project, explained that “the idea of establishing this connection with the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) came about because of the various dynamics, classes, and activities that could strengthen and enhance the knowledge of indigenous youth. (…) The practice of agroecology and agroforestry has only enriched our knowledge as an indigenous culture, as a cosmology, and as an ancestral connection to the land.”
Regarding the agroforestry experience, young Josiel Martins, a student at the school and a descendant of the Macuxi people, shared that he thoroughly enjoyed the course, saying it served “to give us a broad understanding of how to prepare the land for planting, how to ensure the plants are healthy, and how to harvest healthy fruit later.”
osiel explained that, for him, working the land has a deeper meaning, as it reminds him of ancient teachings he does not intend to forget. He shared that “…my grandparents already have a tradition, the custom of planting in the fields, cassava, corn, potatoes, and my family, my ancestors, my great-grandmother, worked a lot in the fields, and to this day we continue this custom of planting… I want to continue planting in the fields with better resources here in the Guariba community. It is great to work together with our families, passing that on to our children and the generation to come.”
She explained the leading role of Indigenous education: “Another activity we carried out was basic financial education or financial literacy for high school students, as well as training for teachers in practical emergency pedagogy, which they can incorporate into their daily classes.”
Regarding the experience with the teachers, Tatiana explained: “The practical teaching, a more experiential education, focused on the self, on self-knowledge, also brought reflection for us teachers. These classes, which were delivered together, bring sensitivity and also bring about a question of valuing oneself and others. So, I learned a little more about this. This environmental and ecological pedagogical approach is integrated into the environment, demonstrating the web in which we, as living beings, need each other.”
Daiza Laurentino, administrator of the Indio Marajó State Indigenous School, noted how enriching it was for the school to have professional staff conduct training with Indigenous students. She noted that “this training was extremely important; it was the first time the school had received it. I hope the students enjoyed the training as well. It was enriching, very important for them, and provides encouragement for the students.” Regarding the teaching experience in emergency pedagogy, the administrator noted that “this experience expanded the teachers’ knowledge.”
The desire to acquire new knowledge and develop themselves to contribute to the improvement of their home community often motivates Indigenous youth to embrace new challenges in pursuit of this goal.
Gisele, a young Macuxi student at the school and a beneficiary of the Guariba Project, shared that she has a dream to achieve outside the community, but that she seeks to use this achievement to benefit her people. She decided to do her part in the current cultural reality, to contribute in some way to strengthening Indigenous tradition. She expressed: “I intend to leave the community, study medicine, return to the community, and continue my culture, customs, and traditions that my people left behind, and which are gradually disappearing. If I succeed, I will be able to return, continue, and help my people as well, and show that Indigenous people are capable of performing various roles.”
Regarding her participation in the training and experiences within the Guariba Project, Gisele saw the moment as an opportunity for Indigenous tradition and for working with the land to continue in a more refined and self-sustainable way for her descendants. She reflected that “today we are here carrying out activities together with the people from the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), and we are passing this knowledge down from generation to generation. And we will continue these activities and will continue fighting so that new students who come can also continue what we started and finish what we began: working with biodegradable soil, without using chemicals, so that we can plant and not depend on chemicals.”
Experiencing Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Livelihoods
Indigenous elder Oswaldo spoke a little about his daily life in the Guariba community and the manual labor he has to do to put food on the table: in the fields, planting cassava, manioc, and corn, as well as the activities carried out in the community for the benefit of all. He spoke about the subsistence fishing he practices in the area and showed the house he built with the help of one of his sons.
Oswaldo demonstrated that he lives a fraternal life, that he usually welcomes visitors who come to his community with great hospitality and respect, and that he is pleased that the self-sustaining practices brought by the “white man” can also benefit the land from which they earn their living. He expressed spontaneously: “…I want our area to benefit the people who arrive, to benefit our land and us too… It is very good for people to talk, to learn about things…” He concluded with a greeting in Macuxi: “Morü ninkin imake bukanê,” which he translated as: “Fraternity yes, violence no.”
“…We were able to experience a great intercultural encounter at that moment, exchanging knowledge between what the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) team could offer and also everything they had to share with us in all these areas, thus concretizing this great interculturality.” This is how Aajhmaná concluded about the experience during the days dedicated to the project.
In a world where globalization and virtual connections guide current generations, the indigenous presence teaches us about a relationship with places and nature where reverence, respect, and silence can respond much better to our desires and real needs.
