Maloca is working with the Kamaiura to enable them to build a new village. The existing Kamaiurávillage that counts almost 300 people will split and a few families will move a new village as a measure to reduce the stress on the environment around the current Kamaiurá village, thus ensuring maintenance of livelihoods for all Kamaiurá people.
Extreme deforestation in Mato Grosso state produced changes in the Xingu’s micro climate in the past few years: the raining season changed; rains come very late or do not come at all, affecting manioc crops, water levels (fish numbers decrease) and drying the forest (which create fierce wild fires). Manioc crops that the Kamaiura planted died three times this year leaving the Kamaiurá people on the verge of famine, with little more than water to eat for days at a time. Because of extreme dryness of the air and vegetation, wild fires burned out of control this year, engulfing swaths of forest and savannah, killing animals, destroying their habitat for years to come and reducing even more the chance of future rains. All these factors put enormous stress on the environment where the Kamaiura live and are placing at risk the Kamaiura livelihoods.
The Kamaiurá solution
The chief of the Kamaiurá, Kotok, is very concerned about the future of his people and he decided to act: he will split his Kamaiurá village in two and open a new village where he and a few families will move. The new village will be still on Kamaiurá territory, where his ancestors used to live a few generations ago.
The proceeds of the fundraiser will help but tools that the Kamaiurá have asked for in order to speed up the process of building their village and ease the hard physical work they need to put. The new village will be built according to traditional Kamaiurá architecture.
Fundraiser link (also see attached photos):
Thank you,
Luminita
