Mbya Guarani
I was raised in the province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina, home of Mbyá Guarani communities, aboriginal native peoples who have been historically displaced from their lands, exploited, forgotten and used, people who have been lost in the middle of the forest where they live In very harsh conditions, maintaining their ancestral customs.
A few months ago, I participated in a photographic recording of a social project in the Chafariz community of Mbyá Guarani, in that context the cacique called me and asked me if I had access to media. He told me about the German Foundation, which had been collecting money on behalf of the Mbyá Guaraní people (http://www.guarani-hilfe.de/). A foundation that began working with these communities promising help, some of these came to fruition, but most of the money collected was embezzled, used to buy land with the promise of returning them to the Mbya Guaranies, which never happened.
Caciques from several communities jointly filed a complaint in 2014 against this foundation and its subsidiary in Argentina at the Ministry of Human Rights in the province of Misiones. This complaint did not prosper. Given the lack of answers to the cacique, Vicente Mendez, asked me for help.
Most of these communities do not have access to electricity or drinking water. The particular case of this community of Chafariz, is that in addition to this, the children, from 4 years who have to walk several kilometers to take to school, have to cross the stream and remove their pants to cross the water. The community have been demanding for years the construction of a bridge and laying of electric light, a claim that had not been met either.
At the request of the cacique we gathered the whole community and wrote a poster that said the name of the German Foundation with the caption "Do not represent us", I committed to make it reach the media and to collaborate in the defense of the rights Of the Mbayá people Guaraní, requesting the construction of the bridge and the laying of electric light. The news was the cover of the most important newspaper of the province, a note came back the next day, and was replicated by national means. Faced with media pressure, the governor of the province personally promised to carry out the works, visited the community and in less than a month the community of Chafariz achieved what had been fighting for many years, electric light and the bridge to cross the stream. Much remains to be done to restore the dignity of the native peoples of Mbyá Guaraní, help to stop with exploitation, and seeking to improve their living conditions.
http://www.elterritorio.com.ar/nota4.aspx?c=3909121252016679
http://www.elterritorio.com.ar/nota4.aspx?c=6525262873767028
http://www.elterritorio.com.ar/nota4.aspx?c=9485993849334848
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F_pxWBtNd0
© Sebastian Gil Miranda Photography - All rights reserved
I was raised in the province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina, home of Mbyá Guarani communities, aboriginal native peoples who have been historically displaced from their lands, exploited, forgotten and used, people who have been lost in the middle of the forest where they live In very harsh conditions, maintaining their ancestral customs.
A few months ago, I participated in a photographic recording of a social project in the Chafariz community of Mbyá Guarani, in that context the cacique called me and asked me if I had access to media. He told me about the German Foundation, which had been collecting money on behalf of the Mbyá Guaraní people (http://www.guarani-hilfe.de/). A foundation that began working with these communities promising help, some of these came to fruition, but most of the money collected was embezzled, used to buy land with the promise of returning them to the Mbya Guaranies, which never happened.
Caciques from several communities jointly filed a complaint in 2014 against this foundation and its subsidiary in Argentina at the Ministry of Human Rights in the province of Misiones. This complaint did not prosper. Given the lack of answers to the cacique, Vicente Mendez, asked me for help.
Most of these communities do not have access to electricity or drinking water. The particular case of this community of Chafariz, is that in addition to this, the children, from 4 years who have to walk several kilometers to take to school, have to cross the stream and remove their pants to cross the water. The community have been demanding for years the construction of a bridge and laying of electric light, a claim that had not been met either.
At the request of the cacique we gathered the whole community and wrote a poster that said the name of the German Foundation with the caption "Do not represent us", I committed to make it reach the media and to collaborate in the defense of the rights Of the Mbayá people Guaraní, requesting the construction of the bridge and the laying of electric light. The news was the cover of the most important newspaper of the province, a note came back the next day, and was replicated by national means. Faced with media pressure, the governor of the province personally promised to carry out the works, visited the community and in less than a month the community of Chafariz achieved what had been fighting for many years, electric light and the bridge to cross the stream. Much remains to be done to restore the dignity of the native peoples of Mbyá Guaraní, help to stop with exploitation, and seeking to improve their living conditions.
http://www.elterritorio.com.ar/nota4.aspx?c=3909121252016679
http://www.elterritorio.com.ar/nota4.aspx?c=6525262873767028
http://www.elterritorio.com.ar/nota4.aspx?c=9485993849334848
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F_pxWBtNd0
© Sebastian Gil Miranda Photography - All rights reserved