Boat Trip to Quilombo People of the Amazon

A quilombo (from the Kimbundu word kilombo) is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by Quilombolas, or Maroons and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese, Brazilian aboriginals, Jews and Arabs, and/or other non-black, non-slave Brazilians that faced oppression during colonization. Quilombos was in fact a group of African fugitive slaves and their descendents.
The Brazilian 1988 constitution granted the remaining quilombos the collective ownership of the lands they have occupied since colonial times, thus recognizing their distinct identity at the same level of the Indians.

A riverboat, equipped as a medical clinic, monthly makes a five day trip, staffed by Fundacao Esperanca, a public health medical clinic organization in Santarem (which helps fund the university IESPES, my sponsor). This project is subsidized by a bauxite mining company, Mineracao do Rio Norte. This boat reaches the remote Quilombo communities along the Rio Trompetras, a tributary of the Amazon, where the bauxite mining exists. The boat is filled with medical records, supplies and public health personnel.

Amazonas Medical River Boat

I had the unique opportunity and privilege to be part of the incredible humanitarian medical team this month, participating and sharing with the Quilombo communities their strengths and problems. I just got back, exhausted yet exhilarated! What a life moving experience for me! I will not editorialize in this blog but merely share my Amazon experiences about the Quilombo people. Often native people are the forgotten ones when issues arise for political or economic reasons. Today the Amazon is a point of interest to the world at large – important for resources, for consequences of the environment, of global warming, etc. But here is some information I will share with you about the people, the most valuable resource, no?
No body can tell me for sure but I believe that the origin of the Quilombo people of the Rio Trompetas is that hey were escaped slaves from Santarem and Manaus in the late 1800’s during the cane sugar, rubber and/or gold rush times. They got as far away as possible. Indeed it took us a 24 hour riverboat ride from Santarem to reach these communities.

The Quilombo People

My pictures are of the boat we took, the medical team, and the local people. The boat would dock at each of the three communities visited and with the help of local volunteers, medical records and supplies were taken from the boat in nearby centers. My participation (since I have no public health nor medical expertise) was to help from simply passing out numbers for the sign up consultation to accompanying a young male nurse tech on home visits made by motor taxi. These visits are so necessary as many cannot make it by boat to the community centers every month. The nurse tech checks elderly people for blood pressure and locates young children who have not been identified in the data collection. These home visits were the most moving for me. At one of the river homes where we stopped, after the nurse tech took blood pressure of two elders, and weighing three new babies, a young mom was pointed out to me having a problem. The people wanted me to check her for lumps in her breasts since she was having some pains. I told them that I was not a nurse nor a doctor but had a special interest and would check her. The young 29 year old deaf woman was extremely fearful, as older members of the family who had died were thought to have died from cancer.. I did not find anything I thought to be concerned about but advised her to get consultation next month. She is so much in my thoughts since I have come back…..

Quilombo people - Life on the River

Life on the River
Making the home visits I came to know so well that the river is “everything” for these people: what they drink, where they get their food, where they bath, where their excretion flows to, their only means of transportation (there are not roads), and where they get contact with outside world. I even saw a boat with a loud speaker on it, as well as a church boat. Some larger boats take people to the “big” city nearby – 6 hours away.

These two 12 year old girls I met attend a high school in the larger city, otherwise they would be stuck with no education beyond 4th grade level and nothing to do except get pregnant. Some of the fotos I took are of handicapped people. Families take care of their handicapped - a brother or sister has the every day job of caring for a child born with birth defects as in the foto here or an elder, victim of a stroke. So the families share the responsibility in a matter of course. Some young mothers who I suppose, seeing their fate, escaped, catching a boat to the outside world one night, leaving their very young with 9 or 10 year daughters or sons who are left to care for their young siblings. Amazingly these young care takers were so very loving with the babies, though I did see them not hesitate to kick the family dogs around.

The Staff: and Activities.
There were 17 Public Health staff members on the particular boat journey I went on; there was a boat crew of four, including a captain and a cook. The process for the local people was very well organized and thorough: education, diagnoses and prescriptions. Most would start through the maternal child care kiosk set up where babies were weighed, and checked for length. Education was presented on personal hygiene, how to breast feed and general information. If there was lab work they needed, they proceeded to the lab tech who did tests and shots right there. Some public health staff were busy finding records (brought on the boat) and updating records; others fulfilled prescriptions Two nurses provided medical consultations and wrote up prescriptions.

Quilombo continued

Hope
The Quilombo people’s medical problems have been greatly reduced or under control in the eight years this boat project has been in existence. One thing I would greatly like to help out with is a preventative measure - to provide water filters for local families so that they at least get clean drinking water. So many get dysentery and related health problems from drinking the river water directly. I see a lot of hope in the local community volunteers who can be spokespersons for the local health and education needs. Also I saw that the government is giving each home owner (at least in one community) bricks to build a permanent home and I am assuming they are also getting the rights to the land. The ability to persevere, to treat others with dignity and love, to have a sense of humor, to accept things as they are - are all incredible traits I saw and felt from these people. Our so called “civilized” world has a lot to learn. I am honored to have been present in time and space with such people.

More Quilombo

Side Trips North East Brazil and Brasilia

Brasilia

Always so good for me to visit my “roots” in Brasilia – my Brasilian extended family who took care of me during Peace Corps days. I was last here four years ago.The statue of the two black figures symbolizes the “candanglos” – people who came to help build the new capital, of which I also claim to be part of, since the city was in its infancy and PC was to help the candanglos with health and education. Wonderful visit – my family here is doing so well and is loving and accepting. Gisele who is pictured with me eating sushi (who would have thought?) was a guest in our home in Alameda 10+ years ago. My Brazilian mom is 90 years young with a great sense of humor. So nostalgic for them to have my favorite foods! Very upsetting occurrence took place for us at the American Embassy where I was not allowed in nor could I take pictures. I did work here for the state department, after all, and created the good relationship we have with Brazil! My Brazilian family could not believe it – how I was mis-treated by my own government!

Salvador de Bahia - fotos

Side Trip Salvador de Bahia

Salvador de Bahia -the birthplace of Brazil. Here slaves were brought over and put to work on large plantations (here for sugar cane and tobacco) such as what took place in the US in the south. However in Brazil, the various African religious gods, food and dance the slaves brought with them were allowed to continue and got passed down through generations. Condoble religion is symbolized by the lacey voluminous white dress of local Bahian women and capoira by the dance somewhat like Asian Tai-kon-do

Fernando de Naronha - side trip

Fernando de Naronha is an island ( a main one with various small ones) 400 miles off the NE coast. It is a well preserved federal government national park. Only a limited number of people can come to the island at one time. Residents work in the restaurants and posadas (like B&Bs). My friend Tish and I had various adventures touring on 4 wheel drive vehicles (only these vehicles are allowed on the island), climbing down metal ladders with terrential tourain to pristine beaches in the rain. Tish, with her efferevescent personality, found some local beach boys who showed her the best snorkling sites, caught fish and cooked it for us on the beach. How good it that?

Side trip - NorthEast Brazil - Fortaleza

The Northeast of Brazil used to be the poorest areas – 80% of the population migrated to the Amazon or Brasilia in search of a better life between 1955 and 1990. Now the incredible beaches and folklore have been discovered and local people are prospering from tourists from southern prosperous regions of Brazil and foreign countries.
These three fotos symbolize Fortaleza for me - the jangadas cast against a skyline of modern buildings, fishermen team work, and a dad and his son who arrived on the beach by bicycle for a morning of play. They parked the bike in the sand, took off on a barefoot run on the beach, found toys that were "gifts" of the sea, played in the sand, swam and delighted in one another – very simple. No automated toys or fancy vehicles, just a wonderful loving relationship!

Amazon River - Monte Alegre cave drawings

The Amazon and its tributaries this time of year is very high (40 feet from its low). The homes along the way are built on stilts. 12 hours by boat from Santarem is the town of Monte Alegre where cave drawings indicate people living here more than 8 centuries - one of the oldest findings on either North or South America. To reach the famous drawings, Tish and I, with a local family, go on a very precarious adventuresome ride on this 4-wheel drive vehicle made into a pick-up truck. You can see what the rode looks like!