The collective arrived with traditional communities and farmers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and today collaborates with the autonomy of each one of them

By: Eduarda Nunes – Lupa do Bem / Favela em Pauta

Credit: Disclosure

During the pandemic, many people joined in emergency assistance projects across the country and it was no different in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas. Back then, in 2020, Puxirum do Bem Viver emerged as an alternative path between those who wanted to donate and those who needed to receive food, hygiene materials and personal protective equipment.

“We started working here in Manaus together with a group of people from other places, as a collective focused on agroecology and food delivery. We didn’t even know each other very well, we got to know each other through actions”, says Yago Santos, an environmental engineer who has been with the collective since the beginning.

The group is made up of volunteers who contribute from different parts of the country, but most of the team lives in the North Region.

In this scenario, the project collected donations in cash, food, hygiene and personal protection items and intended for indigenous communities that, during the pandemic, had their health even more neglected.

According to data from the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil – APIB, in Brazil, there were 75,487 cases of indigenous people infected with COVID-19. The number represents 162 communities affected by the disease, which fatally killed 1,324 indigenous people.

Amazonas was one of the states that registered indigenous victims of COVID-19 and initiatives such as the Unidade de Apoio Indígena – UAPI, a field hospital created and managed by the indigenous people themselves, were some of the solutions found to care for the population.

The incidence practice of Puxirum

With financial donations, Puxirum guaranteed the cultivation of farmers from Rede Maniva, who had no space to sell their organic products due to the suspension of local markets and the strong changes in sales. The objective was to collaborate with the livelihood and sales of these farmers, in order to pass on food to indigenous communities.

However, during the pandemic, there was a significant and accelerated increase in hunger and food insecurity. According to a survey by the Rede Brasileira de Pesquisa em Soberania e Segurança Alimentar – Rede PENSSAN, in 2022 more than 125 million brazilians lived with food insecurity to some degree and 33.1 million faced hunger.

The quality and quantity of food decreased and social groups that were already vulnerable became even more vulnerable. In addition, the oxygen supply crisis that hit the Manaus health network was decisive for the group to intensify the work that was carried out.

In this way, relations were strengthened with new organizations. The Parque das Tribos, the Associação de Mulheres Indígenas Sateré Mawé and the Apurinã people joined the Rede Maniva in this articulation. Around 70 families began to benefit from the partnership that was solidified with Puxirum.

Future perspectives

At first, the group acted on an emergency basis and today, after the most critical moments of the pandemic, the collective works with the beneficiary communities, helping them to gain their own autonomy.

“The bond helps us to understand what demand is, what is needed in the territories and to understand this process of all of them being vulnerable because they have been made vulnerable”, says the photographer and also a volunteer for the group, Beto Oliveira.

In this sense, the group can now help build community gardens, reorganize spaces where indigenous people produce and also articulate other collectives to address climate issues.

For Yago, an engineer and member of Puxirum, climate and sustainable issues are “a present scenario, completely affecting people’s quality of life and which need guidelines for changes”.

In the end, the main expectation of the collective is to be part of the construction of a journey towards great living, a way of life in which the community is the key to preventing violence and other social ills, but respecting the functioning of each one of the parts that make up life in society.

To tag along and also find out how to provide financial or voluntary support, just follow the group’s profile on Instagram: @puxirummanaus.