Join now

Fire in Yawalapiti village in the Xingu (Brasilia)

Views
36

I got this inquiry today... If you can it would be nice if you could help too.

Below you will find the letter as I received it:
.........

Dear all,

I know that you are all very busy, but I am contacting you with regard
to the following: a month ago, there was a bad fire at the Yawalapiti
village in the Xingu, and two of the ocas (longhouses) were burned to
the ground. There is a text attached explaining what happened (I
translated the email I received) but I only found out about this on
Friday. The two family groups lost all they had.
We would like to make an appeal round the embassies for donations of
hammocks, blankets and non-perishable foods.
Obviously, the value of replacing what they lost is tiny, trifling,
compared to all the gadgets and expensive clothes that one of us might
lose in a house fire! For this reason, I am trying to liaise a
"collection" of donated goods, or small cash (so that I can buy
hammocks - about 50 are needed: one decent (i.e. strong) hammock costs
about 30 reais), so that we can help them out.
I attach some photos I took on a visit to this very village in Protected content ,
so that people can understand how easily an oca can catch fire, plus
two photos taken (not by me) when the fire occurred in July.

Although this news has only just reached me, there is a certain
urgency about it. Gerard and I can load up our plane and fly stuff
directly into the Xingu, as we need to go to Alta Floresta very soon,
and can deliver the goods directly to the Indians themselves.

The cacique Aritana apparently went to FUNAI to ask for help and,
shockingly, came away empty-handed.

I have never been involved in this sort of appeal before, if you have
any suggestions how to help, I would be more than grateful. If you
think this needs to be dealt with on a personal, one-to-one basis,
emailing various contacts in the diplomatic circles and others, that's
fine. The value is very low - if we could get 50 families to donate Protected content
reais, or provide a couple of blankets, etc, we would be doing very
well. If you have any brilliant ideas, I would be most grateful!!

Thanks for your time,
Best wishes,
Margi
Protected content

Protected content

......

I posted the pictures in my albums so you can see them.
Protected content
Please contact her directly if you want to help.
Thank you very much.

Brasilia Forum

Our Global Partners