food, clothes and fuel. All of this fits in the canoe that takes Wai Wai indigenous people to the Jatapuzinho Community, on the other side of the Jatapú River, in the municipality of Caroebe, South of Roraima. During the rainy season, the river floods and isolates the community, so they prepare themselves with supplies to face intense rains.
The items should serve around 600 indigenous people in the community. The journey down the river to the village takes 3 hours by canoe. g1 was at the exit point this Wednesday (8), where 14 indigenous people — including men, women and children — embarked back.
They buy their supplies in the village of Entre Rios, in Caroebe. After that, they hire a freight that takes everything to the end of BR-210, which ends where the river cuts it. There, they get together and take everything to the community in a canoe with a motor.
One of the indigenous people who made the journey was mother tongue teacher Elias Oliveira, 35 years old. He says the items can sustain the community for about two weeks.
According to him, every year during this period the river level “rises a lot” and that is why the Jatapuzinho community is used to it and is preparing. As the canoe has a limited weight level, it is not possible to carry supplies for all the months that comprise the rainy season in Roraima, which starts in April and lasts until September.
With the dry season, which intensified in February and March, the community made this journey by motorbike, now it is only possible by canoe.
“That year the river dried up a lot, it dried up a lot, the canoe couldn’t even pass by anymore. We were coming from the community on motorcycles, bringing everything, now it’s made it difficult. The river is full, you can only get there by canoe and we need to make this journey to take the things the community needs”, he explained to g1.
“With this flood, there is no way to get to the other side. The current of this river is also very strong. It’s difficult for us to cross, the only way is to have a full canoe.”
For health agent Reginaldo Wai Wai, 38 years old, during floods the greatest risk is that the community will be isolated. He highlights that there is a branch on the road that is flooded. Therefore, for them, the river becomes the road.
“For us, indigenous people of Jatapuzinho, the river is our main access route, we call it our road, especially during the flood season, when the river is full and facilitates navigation”, explains the agent.
The person who took the supplies from Entre Rios to the watercourse was the driver Antônio Freitas, 43 years old. He highlights that, especially during the flood season, he ships to the river daily for different indigenous communities that live in the lower Jatapu.
In addition to shipping, Antônio also offers maintenance on the canoe engines. According to him, each community has its own shipping needs and requests.
“We carry out freight practically every day, due to the large number of indigenous people and communities that need our services. Transporting supplies is essential so that indigenous people can spend a long period of time without having to return, and we offer this service,” he explains.
The Wai Wai Indigenous Land is located 350 km from the capital Boa Vista and has around 400 thousand hectares of land. The region is known for its extraction of Brazil nuts – or Amazon nuts, as they are also known.
