Brazil

Before discovering the non-indigenous culture, the Surui people lived peacefully and free from disease. That was in 1968. Our goal is to build a hospital here in our own village in the future. We are young indigenous people; warriors and we are going to make a better standard of living for our people.

We, Paiter Suruí women, face so many challenges after making contact with non-indigenous people. We learned a language that is not ours, to communicate, to leave the village, the place in which we grew up, in order to study.

There are multinational companies eyeing our territory with the intention of occupying it to plant soybeans. That is a great injustice, because it was only with a lot of struggle on our part that we gained our land.Our struggle never ends.

In the past, our food was healthy. The more we made contact with non-indigenous people, the greater was the change in our diet, bringing new diseases. We also suffer from the invasion of our land and deforestation. But contact has also brought some good things, like football and technology. In the end, we cannot escape from our culture, custom and tradition, because it is our identity.

Our community is located in the interior of the Brazilian State of Maranhão. A large portion of it is flooded. That is where we catch fish for our own consumption and also to sell. With the arrival of a transmission line company, the community has been badly affected.

Handcraft helps us to survive. Our work is difficult but we love what we do.

The Suruí people perform a rite of passage from girlhood into adulthood, which occurs at the first menstruation. It is carried out according to rules that comply with the traditional customs of the people.

Producing good flour is a very delicate process. One of the biggest obstacles we face is the lack of necessary equipment for the production process.

I'm going to talk a bit about the festivals and celebrations in my quilombo (maroon community). My family and I are very happy to take part in tradition.

Our mission is to create an educational practice with a focus of a critical reading of reality. Generating changes in in viewing the world and changes in attitude, defending life through solidarity.