AMAZON HOPE collective
Covid-19 CRisis in Amazonia
The Kuikuro Initiative
Thank you for all of your support!
Thank you all for supporting our campaign to bring critical medical and PPE supplies to the Kuikuro! As we were celebrating the success of our fundraising efforts, we received bad, but predictable, news. The first two cases of Covid-19 were confirmed yesterday in a small village called Sapezal. Now the task is to avoid as much as possible the spread of the disease to other villages. The Kuikuro are discussing a complete lockdown, and most chiefs are cancelling the intertribal rituals that happen during the dry season. We are all working hard to avoid the worst-case scenario.
Even before the Covid-19 crisis the indigenous people of the southern Amazon were facing unprecedented threats. Widespread deforestation, fires and a hostile government are decimating their tropical forest homes and have left them fighting for their very survival. Now they also face the coronavirus and the reality that a single infection, if spread, could destroy entire villages.
The Kuikuro indigenous community of the Upper Xingu region is responding. As part of a multi-cultural collaboration, the Amazon Hope Collective, the Kuikuro have banded together with other indigenous communities, scientists, public health experts and other key stakeholders to implement an immediate crisis response that will also lead to long term solutions.
Since early March the Kuikuro have been using modern geo-spatial tools (available in their village through separate recent activities of the Collective) to create precise information on health conditions as well as current dislocation, transportation of goods, and logistics in the area. This has allowed them to coordinate reparations and response planning for the emergency with the Brazilian health system to help them cope with the health emergency.
This model has been enormously successful in identifying what will be needed to protect the people of the Xingu. But now, we need your help meeting those needs.
The Kuikuro indigenous community of the Upper Xingu region is responding. As part of a multi-cultural collaboration, the Amazon Hope Collective, the Kuikuro have banded together with other indigenous communities, scientists, public health experts and other key stakeholders to implement an immediate crisis response that will also lead to long term solutions.
Since early March the Kuikuro have been using modern geo-spatial tools (available in their village through separate recent activities of the Collective) to create precise information on health conditions as well as current dislocation, transportation of goods, and logistics in the area. This has allowed them to coordinate reparations and response planning for the emergency with the Brazilian health system to help them cope with the health emergency.
This model has been enormously successful in identifying what will be needed to protect the people of the Xingu. But now, we need your help meeting those needs.
Screenshot of GIS mapping tool used to track the health of the Kuikuro village during the coronavirus pandemic.
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100% of your contribution will go to the Kuikuro Indigenous Association-AIKAX
Amazon Hope Collective: Covid-19 Monitoring and Response Team:
- Kuikuro Indigenous Association (AIKAX): Chief Afukaká Kuikuro, Yanamá Kuikuro (President, AIKAX), Amunegi Kuikuro (Vice President, AIKAX), Kumesi Waura, Uaté Kuikuro and Huke Kuikuro (Geo-spatial technicians), Kauti Kuikuro (health monitor) and Takumã Kuikuro (Coordinator Kuikuro Film Collective and Consultant, Peoples Palace Project Kuikuro Against Covid Campaign). CLICK HERE TO DONATE
- Scientific Consultants: Dr. Helena Lima (Museu Goeldi), Dr. Michael Heckenberger (U. Florida), Dr. Bruna Franchetto and Dr. Carlos Fausto (Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro), Dr. João Ricardo N. Vissoci (Duke U.), Dr. Morgan Schmidt PhD (MIT), Dr. Wetherbee Dorshow (Earth Analytic, Inc./Puente Institute) and Bruno Moraes (U. Pittsburgh)