Not receiving state assistance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, several indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon have chosen to isolate themselves in the jungle or in their ancestral territories. Communities do not depend on Western medicine and resort to shamans and spiritual guides to confront the virus.
This is what he described Leonardo Tello Imaina, an indigenous communicator of father Kukama and mother Achuar who directs Ucamara radio in the heart of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve (in Loreto, Peru), in the recent webinar “The impact of the coronavirus on indigenous peoples”. The activity was organized by the World Health Crisis Coverage Forum, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the International Network of Journalists (IJNet).
Tello participated with four other Latin American experts in the webinar, which was moderated by journalist Bárbara Fraser, specialized in environmental and indigenous issues.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is not seen as something new by indigenous peoples. This same situation appears in mythical stories about other epidemics of the past, such as that of Mother Smallpox. The first thing one thinks, as an indigenous person, is that this is a manifestation of evil, a demon who wants to steal our souls, and the answers are provided from indigenous wisdom, with the guidance of shamans. Even through sleep come indications from the spirits of deceased shamans about how to behave, where natural and ancestral medicine is vitalTello described.
Carol Zavaleta, Peruvian doctor, researcher in health and food security of Indigenous peoples, corroborated Tello’s version. According to what he said, isolation in the jungle or in ancestral territories, while providing protection to communities against the advance of the pandemic, introduces another problem, because it does not ensure food subsistence.
“Forest resources are scarce and seasonal. They depend on climatic factors such as rains or floods, which affects the food security of indigenous communities. Mortality and malnutrition rates in children and women in Amazonian towns are higher than in the rest of societyZavaleta said.
For the adviser on Cultural Diversity of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Sandra del Pino, the challenge is to harmonize the experience of ancestral medicine of indigenous peoples with western medicine.
“PAHO is working to build intercultural health, something that requires a lot of time and trust. We use the tools of the dialogue of knowledge, not only to understand the vision of the other, but to harmonize plans. Indigenous peoples must have a leading role from the beginning. The messages that are issued about the COVID-19 pandemic must not only be translated into their languages, but must be worked from the specificity of their cultures.“Explained del Pino.
The Argentine teacher José Javier Rodas – director of the Bilingual Intercultural School of the Mbya Guaraní Jasy Porā community in Puerto Iguazú, Misiones – reported that, since they were unable to apply virtual education due to connectivity deficiencies in the region, they had to try another experience . Teachers prepare the contents of their classrooms on paper and the director, the only one authorized to enter the isolated territory of the community, takes them daily to the students, maintaining the educational experience with the help of Opygua, the spiritual leader.
“The Jasy Porā community (Luna bella, in Guaraní) is located in an isolated territory that helps contain the virus, but we are on the Triple Border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where there is a latent threat due to the large number of infected in Brazilian territory. It is our main concern and therefore the borders remain closed“Indicated Rhodes.
From Ecuador, Adrián Díaz, PAHO’s adviser on family and community health, confirmed that many indigenous communities have also become self-isolated or self-confined in the region, many of them in agricultural farms. This guarantees food security, but Díaz expressed his concern about the distribution of food that reaches them as aid from the State, which includes many ultra-processed products and sugary drinks that are not part of their traditional diet.
“This situation causes a transition or nutritional accumulation, which produces cases of overweight or malnutrition. The indigenous child population has a prevalence of chronic malnutrition above the national one, a problem that can become more acute during the pandemicDiaz emphasized.
The PAHO adviser responded to a query about very small indigenous peoples that could become extinct if they were to be hit by the pandemic. “That concern exists. They are people who are in areas of very difficult access, with limited possibilities of responding from the health system, in case the virus enters their communities“, he claimed.
You can watch the entire webinar here:
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