With 12 positive cases and two deaths, the Wai Wai people are already suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic in Roraima. The situation is even more serious since for cultural reasons they demand the burial of relatives Fernando Makari Wai Wai and Sergio Xehxena Wai Wai, victims of Covid-19, who died on July 4 and 5 at the Roraima General Hospital, in Boa Vista.
In addition, without proper assistance from the government, indigenous people are also frightened and fear the spread of the virus to the most distant communities with access only by river and air.
Concerned about the situation, the coordinators of the Indigenous Council of Roraima highlighted the sending of humanitarian aid to the Wai Wai. The collaboration was sent by the CIR emergency team with the aim of supporting the Xaari and Anauá communities with basic food baskets, PPE, and personal hygiene kits mainly for women and children.
In the Xaari community, the CIR listened to the demands of the community and reaffirmed the commitment to fight for life and also to seek a common understanding with the authorities about the burial of covid-19 victims.
According to the protocol of the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), the bodies have to be buried in the capital for health safety measures. However, the leaders claim that this is totally against their culture, hurts their customs and traditions, as the bodies of the Wai Wai must be buried on their land.
"We want the bodies of our brothers. They should be buried here in the indigenous land. We don't want to open the coffins and SESAI can even come and bury them according to the procedures, but we want them to be buried here so that they can rest in peace," said the coordinator of the tuxauas, Valdecir Wai Wai.
Even in this difficult moment, the Indigenous leader Zacarias Wai Wai thanked the CIR and spoke of the importance of the organization at this time.
"We thank our organization, we are the CIR, we will fight together, this disease is very bad, our parents, grandparents have already been through other pandemics and taught us to always continue, and that is what we are doing, using traditional medicines and fighting to save our people," said the leader.
The CIR team also took folders and banners with information about the new coronavirus translated into the Wai Wai indigenous language, as most of the people in this region speak their mother tongue and many do not understand or speak Portuguese.
According to data from DSEI-Leste, in Roraima alone the Wai Wai are a population of 865 people divided into the communities of Anauá, Catual, Cobra, Jatapuzinho, Laranjinha, Makará, Samaúma, Soma and Xaari. Their ancestral territory also expands to the states of Pará and Amazonas.
The action was supported by the partners; Niatero, CAFOD, Greenpeace, NCI and the Bem Viver project.