Health that comes from the forest: Yawanawá People open the doors of Aldeia Sete Estrelas to teach about medicinal plants

The Yawanawás are known for practicing a very intense healing process, where they use several ancient medicines from the forest, passed down from generation to generation and includes healing the physical part of the body, spiritual and emotional.

They live in a territory, already demarcated some years ago, within the Amazon Forest. This territory is composed of more than 10 communities, where everyone is of the same ethnicity, that is, of the same family and each of these villages has a Cacique responsible, man or woman. One of them is the Aldeia Sete Estrelas.

Some time ago the community decided to open its doors to receive people from Brazil and abroad who want to know what it is like to live in a village in the Amazon Forest. On these occasions visitors learn about herbs and medicinal plants from the forest, learn how to make their own medicines and develop their own healing process.

The idea is that this is spread because the more people know what the Amazon is, the longer it will stay alive. They also do a lot of so-called Community-Based Tourism, where the preservation of the space is maintained.

This practice allows people to get to know and feel part of it and thus preserves the space and the native peoples because those who fight for the Amazon must also fight for the native peoples because they are the guardians and also help to disseminate the culture that are the medicines, the songs, the paintings, the handicrafts and others.

Tio Luiz’s dream

Aldeia Sete Estrelas was created by Cacique Nixiwaká Yawanawá, registered in Portuguese as Tio Luiz, considered a great wise man of the forest and many people from the village and also people from the surrounding area sought healing through him, his knowledge and his spirituality, which in turn they received from his father.

Tio Luis had two big dreams: to receive more and more people to be healed and to open the first Indigenous Medicine Center in Aldeia Sete Estrelas. But the Cacique passed away in 2021, without being able to fulfill his dreams, so the current Cacique, Mew Yawanawá and Xinú Yawanawá, both sons of Tio Luis, decided to fulfill this dream and the space is already being created.

NI UITI experience: immersion in the community

And, with the intention of making the endeavor financially viable, they will carry out the Vivência NI UITI – Coração da Floresta (‘NI UITI Experience – Heart of the Forest’), which will consist of an immersion of the participants for five days in Aldeia Sete Estrelas, in Acre, within the Amazon Forest.

During this experience the participants will be able to know how the daily life of the community is and will be able to feel part of it, through activities such as mud bath, typical games, storytelling and they will also be able to know the medicines of the forest, in short, it is a great diversity of actions that will be offered.

The purpose of creating the Medicine Center of Aldeia Sete Estrelas is to welcome people for the healing process of emotional, physical and spiritual issues. They even work with medicines that have been scientifically proven to help fight depression and anxiety. Another objective is to study the medicines to know their properties and what they are used for. The center will also make a living library of what is available in the Amazon.

Sharlene Melanie, a cabocla* descendant of indigenous peoples and organizer of the experiences and project coordinator of the community says that, in addition to the construction of the Medicine Center, depending on the amount raised in the Vivência NI UITI (NI UITI Experience), the idea is that other projects will benefit. The amount raised will not only go to the Medicine Center, but will also be used as income, because the entire Yawanawá community needs it, she says.

The NI UITI Experience will take place from September 18 to 22, 2023.  Everyone is invited. Part of the amounts raised will be used to build the Centro de Medicina Indígena (‘Indigenous Medicine Center’) of Aldeia Sete Estrelas.

How to help Aldeia Sete Estrelas:

Contacts for information: +55 (21) 99534-4264/ +55 (48) 99821-5620

Email: yawa7estrela@gmail.com

Follow Aldeia Sete Estrelas on Instagram and Facebook.

If you can make a donation, the Aldeia would appreciate it.

Chave Pix: CNPJ: 48901155/0001-25 (Inst. Centro de Medicina MANA)

* “Cabocla” is a Brazilian-Portuguese word used to describe an individual of mixed ancestry, usually indigenous and European, found in certain regions of Brazil.