Aid projects for the Waiãpi

After Rüdiger Nehberg had successfully campaigned for the rights of the indigenous group of the Yanomami for 20 years and they received acceptable protection in 2000, we turned our attention to the Waiãpi in the Brazilian Amazon and built them their first small hospital in the centrally located village of Comunidade Triangulo Amaparí (CTA) in 2003.

With the current "Jungle Clinic" project, we are supporting the indigenous people's desire to be able to live independently in their ancestral forest. For us, this project is a valuable contribution to protecting the rights of the indigenous people, sustainably supporting life in the forest and thus preserving the Amazon rainforest.

Until now, the indigenous people have had to go to the city of Macapá for most examinations and treatments. There they are forced to adopt the way of life of the non-indigenous people and infect themselves with other diseases. Thanks to the infirmary built by TARGET and the jungle clinic, they can stay in their ancestral territory and receive on-site medical help from Brazilian specialists.

The jungle clinic

The clinic comprises three buildings: the round patient and treatment house is the heart of the project. The Waiãpi have decorated it with their traditional drawings. Due to the uniqueness of the Waiãpi drawings, they have even been declared a World Heritage Site! The second building houses the labor, birth room, ultrasound and vaccination room. In the staff house is a large kitchen, which also serves the inpatients. The Secretariat for Indigenous Health (port.: Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena, SESAI) of the Brazilian Ministry of Health ensures that the jungle clinic and the infirmary are equipped with medical equipment, medicines and staff.

After ten months of construction, the inauguration was celebrated on August 17, 2012. Over 200 Waiãpi attended, all festively decorated. High-ranking government officials had traveled from Brasília. The guests were impressed and spoke of a showcase project, of which there would be no second in the great rainforest. "A dream has come true for us today," said Chief Kumaré at the opening, "finally many of my people's diseases can be treated here in the forest." Since then, between 3,000 and 5,000 treatments have been carried out each year in the jungle clinic as well as around 2,500 treatments in the infirmary.

Since 2010, TARGET has also been supporting the Project "Apoio Social", which was set up by the Waiãpi association "APIWA-TA". If required, TARGET provides financial support for the purchase of special medicines and health aids, such as glasses, prostheses or pacemakers, as well as examinations by specialists in special cases for the Waiãpi.

In order to support the lives of the Waiãpi with further health stations deep in the jungle, the village of Ytuwassu was identified as a suitable location in discussions with the indigenous people and SESAI at the beginning of 2019. The village is located in the inaccessible jungle on an important river. The new infirmary was inaugurated in October 2019. It is also a contact point for those Waiãpi who live deep in the forest and protect the borders there. Construction was not easy due to the topographical location. A lot of building materials had to be transported over long distances from the city of Macapá, 400 kilometers away, first by car on unpaved roads and paths and then by small boat to the jungle village.

Since 2019, we have also been supporting a Waiãpi border protection project as well as free access to information and online education. Detailed information on these new projects can be found in the Annual Letter 2019 from page 4 onwards.

See also the following videos: