Between October 23 and 24, the Meeting of Indigenous Women of the Taxi community, Surumú region, Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, was held. The event brought together more than 60 participants from the Macuxi and Wapichana peoples. During the two days, all preventive measures against Covid-19 were taken, such as the use of masks, physical distancing and distribution of hand sanitizer. The objective was to strengthen the movement of indigenous women in the community.
The event was attended by local leaders, young people, the Secretary General of the Indigenous Women's Movement, Maria Betânia Macuxi and psychologist Iterniza Pereira, both from the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR). The opening of the meeting took place with the traditional parixara dance.
During the two days, the discussions were around topics such as combating domestic violence, alcoholism, suicide prevention (Yellow September), breast cancer (Pink October), empowered women and politics.
On the first day of the meeting, Maria Betânia argued with the participants about alcoholic beverages and other topics. "So we continue to bring information and clarification to our bases for the good of the social organization. Always grateful to God for leading the walk and the leaders for always welcoming us with affection and attention in the community", she highlighted.
Continuing the subjects, psychologist Iterniza Pereira spoke about suicide, domestic violence and over the course of the two days, she provided psychological care with the leaders. On the second day of the meeting, the secretary highlighted the importance of women's empowerment and their insertion in politics.
Naísa de Souza, coordinator of the women of the community, said that for her the topics conducted were useful and fruitful. "We address these topics every day, but this moment was to strengthen us even more, not only women, but men and everyone in the community. It was worth everyone's participation," she said.
A resident of the Taxi community for twenty years, Clélia de Oliveira, also said she was pleased with the meeting. She stressed the importance of women understanding and participating in politics and is already thinking about organizing a next event to discuss the topic. "We have to understand about party politics, because it is part of our daily lives. From now on we will continue our work," she explained.
Visits to community and women's retreats
On the occasion, in order to strengthen the work of livestock and agricultural production, secretary Maria Betânia also visited the community and women's retreats. In the São Pedro community retreat, which is the responsibility of the youth, there are varieties of productions, as explained by the regional coordinator Lucas Magalhães.
"Here we plant cassava, corn, bananas, watermelon and others. We also have cattle management and so the work continues to be enhanced", he explained.
At the Paracau retreat, which is coordinated by the women, existing projects such as livestock and poultry farming were presented.
