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 2003
http://www.projetopegadasbrasil.org.br

LAST October we once again followed the tracks of the onça (jaguar) and the capybara into the Pantanal of Mato Grosso and then east to the vast interior spaces of the cerrado, where the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais and Bahia meet one another, to hold two large tracking courses. This was our sixth consecutive year of regional camps and trainings for Brazilian youth, offering trainings in Cuiabá and Brasília. Our message of environmental awareness and cultural respect has fallen on open ears in Brazil and our project there training future environmental leaders continues to grow, watered by the dedication and inspiration of the young rastreadores Brasileiros.

Lounging jacaré near the Pousada Pouso Alegre, Pantanal, Brasil.

The first course for 40 young people and 20 adult participants was held at Pousada Pouso Alegre in the Pantanal, and the second class for 40 young people and 15 adults took place at Fazenda Trijunção in the cerrado.

The Pantanal region is a tracker's paradise (much like the Everglades of Florida and northern Australia), with seasonal waters, a soil that holds tracks well and world class biodiversity. The area serves as a transition zone for three huge systems—the Amazon, the cerrado and the Pantanal. In the short time we visited Pousada Pouso Alegre, we saw storks, cranes, herons, ibises, kingfishers, hawks, kits, emas (rhea), macaws, parakeets, cayman, coati, foxes, capybara, numerous species of monkeys, bats, frogs and a tamandua bandeira (giant anteater), who came in from the forest each night to drink milk from a baby bottle.

The visit was coordinated by members of Projeto Pegadas Brasil (PPB), a branch of The Tracking Project based in Brasília. Members of our mentor circle, 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 of the project includes: Bento Viana, Edison Luís Guedes Neves, Henrique, Renate Maria Guedes Neves, Flavia, Carla, Samir, João Gabriel and many others. In Cuiabá, our regional coordinators include: Carolina, Yara, Clarissa, Marthe and others. The success of this work in Brazil is based largely upon the efforts of the staff of PPB, whose tireless travels and amazing stories about our work have elevated us to a "legendary" status! Many of the young people attend the camps just to see if we are real.

The team from New Mexico included Able West and the Stokes family—John, Nancy, Jade, Kainoa and India. Funding for our visit was provided through the generosity and vision of the Aurora Fund, with assistance in Brazil from the AVINA Foundation, the Embassy of Finland and others. Translation was provided by Edison Luís Guedes Neves, and Graziella and Bento Viana.

History of Our Work in Brazil

Our work in Brazil—from the creation of Projeto Pegadas Brasil (PPB) to our annual trainings for Brazilian youth, additional trainings for Brazilians in the U.S. and Nutrindo as Raízes, a three year mentor program—has followed a strategic plan developed through the collective vision of the Aurora Foundation, The Tracking Project and the members of PPB. The story of how this all came to be is worth relating.

Projeto Pegadas Brasil is one of the flowers from The Tracking Project's original mentor program, Nurturing the Roots, which took place in New Mexico in 1996-2000. Bento Viana attended the first year of the training in 1996. As a visual artist who shared the vision of training young people to care for the earth, he sought and received permission (in 1998) to establish the work of The Tracking Project in Brazil, agreeing to follow our project's methodology, goals and objectives. Together with Edison Luís Guedes Neves, Solar Law and many others, Bento set up an office in Brasília and began to work with young people.

In 1998 we were invited to hold courses in Brazil. The first year, we held a tracking class in the Chapada dos Veiadeiros north of Brasília. In 1999 we established a second group of rastreadores with a course on the northeast coast near Fortaleza (Ceará), and held a second course in Brasília. In 2000 we returned to Fortaleza and Brasília. In 2001, we added a new region with a course in the Serra de Cantareira outside of São Paulo. That same year, we streamed our teachings, bringing in a new group of beginning students for the Brasília course, while holding a leadership seminar for the advanced students there.

Our tracking class with cooks and staff, Fazenda Trijunção, Brasil.

In 2002, we met the challenge of trying to return to each site each year by visiting Brazil twice. The first visit we worked in the Pantanal region near Cuiabá and held a longer leadership camp for the advanced students in Brasília. Returning in October, we visited São Paulo for a second year and took our second group of trainees in Brasília into their second year.

We have now worked with more than 400 participants from all over the country—Alta Floresta, Manaus, Campo Grande, Florianópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Acre, Fortaleza, Campinas, São Paulo, Cuiabá and other regions—who have taken part in these camps, with thousands more touched by the classes run throughout the year by the staff of PPB.

The success of our work in Brazil has been assured by the efforts of PPB, whose tireless travels and remarkable 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 page or by going directly to www.projetopegadasbrasil.org.br) maintains a full schedule of courses in Brazil and hosts our annual visits.

Major funding for the start-up of Projeto Pegadas Brasil and for our visits throughout these six years has been provided through the generosity and vision of the Aurora Foundation. In Brazil, further assistance has been provided by O Fundaçao Boticário, the AVINA Foundation, The Nature Conservancy do Brasil and other organizations.

Our work in Brazil continues to burn brightly, thanks to the hard work of Projeto Pegadas Brazil and the many individuals who give their time and assistance to this valuable project. Our regional coordinators have done a great job in each of the centers we have established and we send our thanks to everyone involved.

Plans for 2004 include the second year of Nutrindo as Raizes, a visit to the Amazon region near Taruacá, and on-going tracking classes in Brazil, as well as visits by the PPB staff this summer for our Hawkeye and Dreamtracking camps. Tem muitas saudades for our many Brazilian hosts and friends for their dedication and hospitality.

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