Brazil

Let's start with the soft expression “Once upon a time”, the great wall of China was built to protect Chinese states and empires from invasion. 

My name is Silmara. I am 26 years old and I live in Monge Belo quilombo. 

The quilombo (maroon community), located in the interior of the State of Maranhão, has 120 families, and with eight associated communities owns 7,228 hectares. With a good part of the territory flooded, we catch fish for community consumption and also to sell. 

With the arrival of a transmission line company, the community has been badly affected.

Here we are looking at our community, which like many other quilombos, lacks schools. 

Here, few know the value of being a quilombola. The value that our territory has which is the same as that which our ancestors had. 

Handcraft helps us to survive.

I am a young woman from the Paiter village of the Suruí people of the Kaban clan.

I am the daughter of Rolon Suruí. She is also my teacher, because ever since I was a little girl, she taught me handcrafts such as pottery.

And I try to learn more as I think about future generations.

We produce various types of ceramics made from clay.

Before discovering the non-indigenous culture, we, the Surui people lived peacefully and free from disease. That was in 1968. 

Nowadays diseases such as diabetes, fever and malaria are already beginning to affect us, after contacting non-indigenous people.  Concerned with this, a young man named Narayamat Surui thought of creating the Olawatawah Medicine Centre in 2015. 

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. 

In the past our food was healthy. It was derived from nature, things like yams, cassavas, peanuts, bananas, papayas, roasted fish, native birds, and others.

I'm going to talk a bit about the festivals and celebrations in my quilombo.

My name is Janne and I live in the quilombo Santa Rosa dos Pretos in Itapecuru Mirim, Maranhão.

Every year in my quilombo we hold the Centennial Celebrations (festejos Centenários), which date back more than 250 years. My family and I are very happy to participate in the traditional festivities by dancing, singing, and taking part in the preparations. 

Hi folks, I'm going to talk about agriculture in my quilombo (maroon community).

My name is Cleiton and I was born in the quilombo Santa Maria dos Pretos, which is located in the municipality of Itapecuru Mirim in the state of Maranhão, where I now live in the quilombo Santa Joana.