PROJECT FOR STRENGTHENING AND SPREADING TRADITIONAL RIO SILVEIRA VILLAGE MBYÁ-GUARANI KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES DURING PANDEMIC TIMES

The second half of 2020 saw Instituto Maracá roll out the Project for Strengthening and Spreading Traditional Rio Silveira Village Mbyá-Guarani Knowledge and Practices During Pandemic Times, with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office’s International Relief Fund, the Goethe Institut and other partners: www.goethe.de/hilfsfonds.

The project created the conditions for us to keep working through the lockdowns by building a house to hold meetings in, a plant nursery, office facilities and a restroom. These spaces were necessary so we could work remotely amid the lockdowns and to carry out actions, activities and projects with the Rio Silveira Village community.

The facilities were built by members of the community using traditional Guarani-Mbya building techniques. Conventional building materials were used, as well as raw materials sourced from the Atlantic Forest. The building process was an important knowledge-sharing occasion for community members, allowing younger people to learn about Guarani techniques and other bits of knowledge regarding homebuilding, homes, their meaning and importance, among other subjects. 

Through this project we were also able to equip the Rio Silveira Village workspace with a computer, an internet connection, an external hard drive and smartphones. 

This infrastructure enabled us to do research and activities designed to spread Guarani knowledge regarding agriculture, health care, housing, memory and history, while striving to apply that knowledge to the creation of collective, culturally appropriate strategies for keeping the community safe from Covid-19.

The newly built facilities will host meetings and ceremonies as well as multiple community actions and activities within the village, under the coordination of the Mbya Arandu Porã Culture Spot. (Hiperlink para projeto do Ponto de Cultura)

The project enabled digitization and editing of audiovisual material recorded in 2000 and 2009 featuring teachings from Guarani spiritual leaders about the way of life and Guarani approaches to health care. 

The audio and audiovisual recordings of leaders speaking bring invaluable teachings to the Mbyá-Guarani, relayed by elders and wisemen no longer among us. Therefore, the digitization of this material is an important effort that will help empower and keep alive the knowledge and practices of traditional medicine, especially among younger generations. It will also allow copies to be provided to the families of those featured in the recordings.

The project also enabled the creation of a network of young Mbyás to act as “Tembiguai.” The “Tembiguai” are a community support group, under the guidance of Carlos Papá and Cristine Takuá, who joined functions at the prayer house (opy) and on day-to-day activities including herb planting and picking, maintenance at the opy and caring for collective wellbeing. 

Cultivation activities during the project revolved around a small crop of cassava, corn, pumpkin and sweet potato, as well as medicinal herbs.