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 2002
http://www.projetopegadasbrasil.org.br

No one said a word. We stood on the footbridge over the water looking down on a remarkable scenario. An anaconda (sucurí) lay in wait for a small cayman (jacaré) who stood mesmerized and wide-eyed on the mud bank. Only a fold of the large snake showed above the surface of the water. On the other side of the snake a second jacaré looked on, alert with open mouth. Almost forty of us watched, breathlessly waiting to see what would happen next.

onça pintada, the painted jaguar.

Benedito, a local guide who was taking part in the class, slipped off his shoes, rolled up his pants and waded into the water. In one smooth and continuous motion, he grabbed the tail of the sucurí and dragged it up the bank, dropping the tail by my feet. The little jacarés took this opportunity to escape. Inside the snake we could clearly see the outline of a three foot jacaré it had already eaten. Following Benedito's lead, I took the tail of the snake for a time, admiring the markings on its fourteen or so foot body. When Bento took the tail from me, the sucurí gave a pull and we knew she was ready to go back into the water.

This scene took place at the Pousada Piuval, a ranch offering ecological tours in the Pantanal region south of Cuiabá. This region serves as a transition zone for three huge systems—the Amazon, the Cerrado and the Pantanal—and the diversity of wildlife is incredible. In the short time we visited, we saw cranes, storks, herons, ibises, kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, hawks, kites, emas, macaws, parakeets, anaconda, cayman, coati, monkeys, bats, frogs, crabs ... and we followed tracks of jaguar (onça), armadillo, jaguar-chirica, capybara, tapir ....

In May and again in October we returned to Brasil, following the roar of the howler monkeys and the tracks of the jaguar into the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, the southern forests of the Serra de Cantareira above São Paulo and the vast interior spaces of the cerrado east of Brasília. This was our fifth consecutive year of camps and trainings for Brasilian youth. Our message of environmental awareness and cultural respect has fallen on open ears in Brasil and our project there training future environmental leaders continues to grow, watered by the dedication and inspiration of the young rastreadores Brasileiros.

Our work in Brasil has followed a strategic five year plan developed through the collective vision of the Aurora Foundation, The Tracking Project and the members of Projeto Pegadas Brasil (PPB), a branch of our organization inspired by our original mentor program. In 1998 we held a single tracking course in the Chapada dos Veiadeiros north of Brasília; in 1999 we added a second center with a course in Fortaleza and a second course in Brasília; in 2000 we returned to Fortaleza and Brasília; in 2001 we added a third center with a course in São Paulo, brought in a second group of students in our Brasília course and held a leadership seminar for our advanced students there; and in 2002, we made two visits, adding a fourth center in Cuiabá, holding a leadership camp for the advanced students in Brasília, returning to São Paulo for a second year and taking our second group of trainees in Brasília into their second year.

A dança de masquerada, performed for our team in Pocone, Mato Grosso.

More than 300 participants from all over the country—Manaus, Campo Grande, Florianopolis, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiabá and other regions—have now taken part in the camps, with thousands more touched by the classes run throughout the year by the staff of PPB. And this work will now move to the next level in January 2003 when we travel to Brasil once again with our mentoring team to hold the first year of Nutrindo as Raizes (Nurturing the Roots / Brasil, which will be attended by more than 50 teachers, community educators, indigenous leaders and young people we have worked with or met.

Our visit was coordinated by the members of Projeto Pegadas Brasil. The staff of PPB is dedicated to "harmonizing the human being with Nature, inspiring the conservation of life on Earth" through traditional tracking skills, the revitalization of ancestral cultures and the Arts of Life. The staff includes: Bento Viana, Edison Luís Guedes Neves, Carla Perdiz, Vinicius, Renate, Henrique and others.

The success of this work in Brasil has been assured by the efforts of PPB, whose tireless travels and amazing stories about our work have generated a waiting list of young people anxious to experience the "legendary" Tracking Project. PPB (whose new website can be accessed through our website's links or by going directly to www.projetopegadasbrasil.org.br) maintains a full schedule of courses in Brasil and hosts our annual visits. They also carry a number of resource products, including a poster of Brasilian animal tracks, a promotional movie, a range of T-shirts and other items.

The group at Pousada Piuval, uma Paraiso Ecologicao near Cuiabá.

The team from New Mexico included: Able West, Solar Law, Renate Cassis Law (who translated the October courses in São Paulo and Brasília), and the family Stokes—John, Nancy, Jade, Kainoa and India. Additional help in translating was provided by Jane Silveira, Edison Luís and other members of the staff in Brasil.

Funding for our visits throughout these five years has been provided through the generosity and vision of the Aurora Foundation. In addition to the work in Brasil, we have also furthered the training of the PPB staff through visits to the U.S. each summer to work with our camps here in New Mexico. Last August, Bento, Edison Luís and Solar accompanied the Stokes family to the Ganondagan Youth and Elder Gathering, making a presentation to the Iroquois youth on our work in Brasil. By sharing the effect that the Thanksgiving Address and the teachings of the Great Peacemaker has been having on the young people in Brasil, Bento and Edison encouraged the Iroquois youth to hold on to their traditional teachings.

Brasil's cultural and ecological richness, its vastness and the beauty of the places we camp cannot be described in words. We can only hint at some of the things we have experienced. Some highlights from this year would have to include:

* The animals of Pousada Piuval and the vision of its owner Senhor João, who has spent his life paying the animals back for a favor they did him when he was a young man. From Adolfo, one of his cowboys who was once a jaguar hunter, we heard incredible stories of the onça and their powers of enchantment. In Cuiabá we were also able to connect with Isabel and Andreia, two young girls from the Bakeiri tribe, who will join us for our mentor program.

* Returning to Espaço Natureza, a nature preserve with incredible diversity of plants and animals just 100 kilometers from São Paulo with its 17 million people. Each day we awaken to the sound of the howler monkeys feeding in the trees near the main house. We often see a huge eagle cruising the treetops in search of monkeys. We were told that the confluence of winds from three different directions is responsible for the conditions which allow these forests to grow so close to this extensive megalopolis.

* Planting Trees of Peace in São Paulo and with our friend Edison Lodi in Brasília. Following the model of the peace tree ceremony of Mohawk leader Jake Swamp, we place the tree in the center of the group and then relate events from the journey of the Great Peacemaker more than 1,000 years ago. The tree is then planted by the entire group and we all symbolically bury the "weapons and stories of war" beneath the tree.

A story from Cuiabá in closing: One morning we woke the group at 5:30 am for a silent hike and tracking near the bay where Senhor João told us the mother onça had been teaching her two cubs to hunt. I was kneeling down in the sand quietly talking about some armadillo tracks to the group when I noticed that Benedito had detected something. He glanced around and asked if he could speak. Quietly he scolded the group, "The onça roared from nearby and the jacaré answered her. And none of you heard it because you were too busy listening to this man. When you are in onça country, you must never focus your awareness on only one thing."

The gang at Macaco, in the Chapada dos Veiaderos,
October 2001.

Our work in Brazil continues to burn brightly, thanks to the hard work of Projeto Pegadas Brasil, the support of the Aurora Foundation, the AVINA Foundation, Fundação Boticário, The Nature Conservancy do Brasil and other organizations, as well as the many individuals who give their time to this young project. Our regional coordinators have done a great job in each of the centers we have established and we send our thanks to Yara, Clara, Joana and Elsinha.

Plans for 2003 include the first year of Nutrindo as Raizes, new ideas for leadership camps, ongoing tracking classes, as well as the visits by the PPB staff this summer for Hawkeye/Dreamtracking camps. We extend saudades to our many Brazilian hosts and friends for their dedication and hospitality.

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