THE YAWANAWA
PEOPLE
We live in Brazil in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. Our village is only accessible by an eight hour boat ride up the Gregorio River. New Hope Village, Aldeia Nova Esperenca.
THE YAWANAWA PEOPLE
We live in Brazil in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. Our village is only accessible by an eight hour boat ride up the Gregorio River. New Hope Village, Aldeia Nova Esperenca.
CULTURAL GENOCIDE
The European invasion at the turn of last century brought slavery and cultural genocide.
We endured almost a century of forced labor and occupation of our land. Mass death from illness and infant mortality nearly wiped out the entire population.
In the 1960s there were less than 60 yawanawa alive in our entire population. Our culture and people were on the brink of extinction.
Missionaries brought medications for disease and helped restore some population growth, but brutally forbade yawanawa cultural traditions and outlawed the language. We were forced to speak only in Portuguese, resulting in the almost complete loss of the Yawanawa language.
CULTURAL GENOCIDE
The European invasion at the turn of last century brought slavery and cultural genocide.
We endured almost a century of forced labor and occupation of our land. Mass death from illness and infant mortality nearly wiped out the entire population.
In the 1960s there were less than 60 yawanawa alive in our entire population. Our culture and people were on the brink of extinction.
Missionaries brought medications for disease and helped restore some population growth, but brutally forbade yawanawa cultural traditions and outlawed the language. We were forced to speak only in Portuguese, resulting in the almost complete loss of the Yawanawa language.
CULTURAL
GENOCIDE
The European invasion at the turn of last century brought slavery and cultural genocide.
We endured almost a century of forced labor and occupation of our land. Mass death from illness and infant mortality nearly wiped out the entire population.
In the 1960s there were less than 60 yawanawa alive in our entire population. Our culture and people were on the brink of extinction.
Missionaries brought medications for disease and helped restore some population growth, but brutally forbade yawanawa cultural traditions and outlawed the language. We were forced to speak only in Portuguese, resulting in the almost complete loss of the Yawanawa language.
OUR REBIRTH
BEGAN
In the 1980’s the Indigenous Land Rights Movement surged and inspired Amazonian peoples to demarcate indigenous reserves and revive culture and tradition.
Chief Nixiwaka Yawanawa, father of Isku Kua, led the charge to demarcate our land and rescue the Yawanawa from extinction. In 1984, we gained official rights to our land. The Indigenous Reserve of Rio Gregorio was born. By 1992, all missionaries and occupiers of our land were gone.
We are now in a time of cultural reclamation, celebration, and allyship with the outside world.
But, the Yawanawa language is still in critical danger of extinction. Less than 3% of the population speak the language. This inspired Chief Isku Kua to create:
ISKU VAKEHUHU
Traditional Yawanawa School
NEW HOPE
Yawanawa youth are now more than ever. We make up two thirds of our entire population. In our school we learn the ways of our culture and how to care for the rainforest.
Language is the heart of our culture. The world of medicinal plants and spirituality are coded into our language in direct communication. We cannot simply translate the knowledge. We must learn our own langage so we can understand and care for the biodiversity and mysteries of the rainforest.
We nurture over 500,000 acres of the Amazon, the "Lungs of our planet" We steward the land, water, and biodiversity as our ancestors have done for thousands of years.
NEW HOPE
Yawanawa youth are now more than ever. We make up two thirds of our entire population. In our school we learn the ways of our culture and how to care for the rainforest.
Language is the heart of our culture. The world of medicinal plants and spirituality are coded into our language in direct communication. We cannot simply translate the knowledge. We must learn our own langage so we can understand and care for the biodiversity and mysteries of the rainforest.
We nurture over 500,000 acres of the Amazon, the "Lungs of our planet" We steward the land, water, and biodiversity as our ancestors have done for thousands of years.
Become a Guardian of New Hope
More than a school, ISKU VAKEHUHU is a symbol of hope in the heart of the Amazon.
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