Visiting an indigenous community

By Emily Manzo

On Friday March 23, 2023, our class drove to Tekoa ka’aguy Ovy Pora, in Inoā, Marica -RJ Brasil, which was roughly an hour away from Rio. The school and town was away from the big city and away from any major busy streets. The school and the village is home of the Guarani people. Once we arrived, we were greeted by one of the Chiefs from the community. He welcomed us and gave us a brief history of his people and their town. He told us that they have been in that area since 2013. The children at school are offered different sport activities and arts and crafts. While we were waiting to be introduced to the kids, they were getting face paint on them. The Chief let us know that it is oil paint that comes from fruit and they mainly use the colors red and black. Then we were greeted by some of the children. The children then performed a traditional welcome song and dance for us. Afterwards, the children welcomed us to dance with them, which was a very special moment.

After the dance, we were taken to their school. We were told that their schooling only goes up to a certain grade and once they are older they get transported to a different school outside of their village. Their school buildings are traditional clay and bamboo buildings. The children learn math and reading but also they learn about their culture. As we kept walking around the village, we were brought to the Chief’s house where we also met his daughter. While we were there taught more about them and more of what they do. 

They preserve the nature culture in Brasil and even got the government to help preserve nature communities. We were also told that there have been about 2,000 native killed over the land. The Chief also told us that goes to Brasilsa a lot to demand more help from the government. He also visited high ranking officials for land back and land rights. His daughter also talked about what she does. She goes into the cities and sells the beaded art from her community. She talked about how important it was to go and show and sell the art that is being made in their community because that money goes back into their community.

After we talked for a while, we then had lunch. We had a traditional lunch that included rice, beans and chicken. When I finished my food I noticed some kids hanging around and decided to hang out with them for a little bit. While hanging out with the children, I was able to reflect on what we learned and experienced. The whole day for myself was extremely surreal. As someone who is Native American (Apache), it was interesting to see the parallels between two different indigenous communities. Even though we were visiting their school, it was also their village. It was such a beautiful place and experience and I’ll forever be grateful for the experience. Aguyjevete ndéve. 

You can see more about the village here: https://www.instagram.com/aldeiamataverdeb/?hl=en

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