ASHANINKA FOR THE FOREST PEOPLES

The kits provide food, equipment, and essential tools for the forest dwellers both for daily consumption and for strengthening their local production, such as planting tools and fishing materials. With this action, besides increasing the food security of the population, we will be preventing families from having to travel, during the peak of contagion, to the headquarters of Marechal Thaumaturgo. The municipality already has more than 670 confirmed cases, only one doctor and no adequate hospital structure. We will purchase the kits, primarily in local businesses, to support the region's economy, which has also been severely affected.

Marechal Thaumaturgo is a municipality in the state of Acre located in the middle of the forest on the Brazil - Peru border. Approximately 18,000 people live there. The indigenous peoples who live within the municipality of Marechal Thaumaturgo are the Kuntanawa, Huni Kuin (also known as Kashinawa), Jaminawa, Ashaninka, and the Apolima-Arara. In addition to the five indigenous lands, the municipality is also home to the Upper Juruá Sustainable Use Protected Area, and part of the Serra do Divisor National Park. Distant from bigger cities, the population lives mostly from what they produce in the forest and is, at this moment, threatened by the COVID-19 virus. The better-equipped hospital is located hours away, in the capital Rio Branco, and is already operating at its maximum capacity. To help the population of Marechal Thaumaturgo to combat the spreading of the virus and strengthen their self-support, the Ashaninka from the Apiwtxa Association decided to create this campaign with the support of several partners.

The Ashaninka Association of the Amônia River – Apiwtxa was created in 1993 as a strategy to strengthen our community. It functions as an operational arm of the community so that we can manage our projects and articulate ourselves from a social and political point of view. It is through the Apiwtxa Association that we, Ashaninka of the Amônia River, carry out our projects. They aim at the well-being of our people, and surrounding communities – as is the case with this campaign. Besides developing our projects, we also work together with partners from various national and international governmental and non-governmental institutions. Along with these partners, we analyze and develop strategies for the rescue of degraded areas, the protection of biodiversity, the spread of sustainable agroforestry techniques, and cultural dissemination.