Projeto Pegadas Brasil 2007 English 2003 English | Portuguese 2002 English | Portuguese 2001 English | Portuguese 2000 English | Portuguese

Nutrindo as Raizes (Brasilian Mentor Program) 2006-2007 Circulo dos Saberes II 2005 English | Portuguese 2004 English | Portuguese

PROJETO PEGADAS BRASIL 2000
http://www.projetopegadasbrasil.org.br

The jaguar, patron saint of our work in Brasil with Projeto Pegadas

IN late October/November we returned to Brazil for our third year, once again following the tracks of the jaguar to the windswept beaches and vast interior spaces of the Southern Hemisphere. Traveling with a much smaller team than last year, our path took us first to the northeast coast near Fortaleza and then to the cerrado of the central region north of Brasília. Our message of environmental and cultural awareness has fallen on open ears among the youth in Brazil and our project there has made giant strides.

Once again, our visit was coordinated by members of our mentoring program—Bento Viana, Paola Silveira, Edison Luís Guedes Neves and Iara Silveira—who work together in Projeto Pegadas Brasil (PPB), an environmental group dedicated to spreading the teachings of tracking/natural awareness/sustainability among the youth of Brazil. This year, the entire staff of PPB traveled to New Mexico for further training with our project—Paola and Iara attended the mentor reunion; Bento, Edison Luís and friend Francisco Bonfim assisted with Hawkeye Training; and Paola, Iara and Christiana de Campos Aspesi assisted our Dreamtracking camp.

Teaching our Brasilian students fire by friction at Macacu (Photo by Bento Viana)

This led to the first series of boys' and girls' camps for Brazil, conducted by PPB:Rastreando o Lobo (Tracking the wolf) and Na Trilha dos Sonhos (On the Trail of Dreams). In addition, we were able to print the Portuguese translation (by Paola) of the Thanksgiving Address—Palavras de Agradecimento: Saudaçoes ao Mundo Natural—in time to take the books with us to the camps. Each participant at both of these camps was presented with their own copy of the Palavras book and many of the youth can already recite their own version of these words.

The team from New Mexico included: Able West, Solar Law (who worked with the staff of PPB to prepare the ground for our visit) and John Stokes, with assistance from Tai, Satara & Serena Bixby, and Ana & Cole Manzana. Funding for The Tracking Project visit was provided through the generosity of the Aurora Fund of the Tides Foundation.

Fortaleza

Last year's camp in the Fortaleza area was held in the mountains in a small patch of remaining Atlantic forest. This year, we traveled for several hours by bus/van to the small coastal town of Almofala. A steady wind from the east and northeast blew day and night. We set up camp in a small house on the beach, near the site of Projeto Tamar (a project to protect nesting seaturtles), the kids hanging their hammocks in the longhouse next door. With the young people, chaperones and staff, we numbered about 50.

For the next three days we shared our teachings, including the Thanksgiving Address, our morning workout of natural movement exercises, tracking skills, open hand martial arts, stickwork, firemaking with the hand drill, and the journey of the Great Peacemaker from Iroquois culture. At night we had stories and songs around a bonfire, with time to study the constellations and observe the stars without competition from the lights of any city. Many of the youth commented that the course was much better than the previous year. We laughed and noted that these skills have a life of their own—"the only thing better than hearing these teachings once is to hear them again." As we grow inside, they grow with us so that we are constantly finding new levels within each skill. This is part of the beauty of the Arts of Life.

At Macaco

On the second evening, a group of Tremenbes Indian children and parents visited our encampment. Painted and wearing their dance outfits, they danced several songs for us and then their leader explained a little about their situation as a tribe. Their language is nearly gone and they are fighting for a small piece of coastal land on which they can continue their culture. After their dance, we shared gifts—shell necklaces, Thanksgiving books, food—and some music on the yirdaki. We were happy to make this connection with the Tremenbés and to see the outreach from our group to the local Native people.

The last morning, we held our closing circle and placed in the center some of the water from the healing ceremony at the New Mexico mentor program. One of the local elders placed some of this water into the ocean and some into the well on the property. He also added some of his water to the bottle for us to carry to Brasília with us. Later that day we all returned to Fortaleza.

Brasília

Several days later, we flew to Brasília, landing in a pouring rain which continued for the entire week we were there. The young people were arriving from many different areas of Brazil—each year, the circle has grown larger. A big group had traveled from Cuiabá and one guy had traveled 30 hours by bus from the border near Paraguay/Uruguay. In the rain, we traveled in vans north of the city for several hours, then transferred to trucks and left the highway, bouncing down heavily eroded dirt roads through the cerrado to Macaco, the site of our first Brazilian camp in 1998. Hawks, small herons, caracaras, ducks, green parrots, toucans and many other wonderful birds flew around us as we entered the vastos espaços. The trees were bursting with vitality; numerous waterfalls cascaded down the mountainsides.

John Stokes in Brasil

For the next four days, we held a program similar to the one we held in Fortaleza. We reconnected with Vitor, Savera, Patricia and the others who live at Macaco, a small sustainable community in the bush. To the skills, we added some information on dreams, their importance to understanding ourselves, and some techniques on how to remember them more easily. Our morning dream circles were a tremendous success, with lots of dreams remembered, lots of depth and humor in the retelling of the dreams.

The deluge of rain was not enough to dampen the spirits of the young people, nor did it keep each group from successfully making their hand drill fires. And one of the highlights had to be the four hour session following the telling of the journey of the Peacemaker, when each person explained the importance of the story to themselves using the beads we had given them as imitation wampum. At the end of the camp, we once again placed the small bottle of water in the center of our closing circle and our friend Janaína took it to the river, adding our water to the flow and filling the bottle to be brought back to New Mexico.

Sometimes people will tell you as a teacher that "you are lucky if you reach one of the students." In Brazil we have been amazed by the response from the youth, who say "I understand what you are teaching us and I respect you for where you are coming from. I would like you to give me some homework so that I can improve myself while you are gone, so that I can be more ready for you when you come back next year."

Our work in Brazil continues, thanks to Projeto Pegadas Brasil, the Aurora Foundation and the many individuals who have given their time to this worthwhile project. The Tracking Project and PPB will be working together to present more gatherings in 2001, including camps in new areas as well as the first year of our Nurturing the Roots/Brasil. We are already looking forward to the next time we will return to reconnect with our family there and continue our programs of ecological/cultural awareness. We extend our aloha to our many Brazilian hosts for their kindness and hospitality.

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