Indigenous communicators from the Wakywai network ("Our News" in the Wapichana language) met to exchange knowledge and experiences at the Indigenous Center for Training and Culture of Raposa Serra do Sol (CFICRSS). The workshop was promoted by the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) on December 15 and 16 and brought together 18 participants, and was attended by the secretary general of the Indigenous Women's Movement, Maria Betânia on the first day of the meeting. There was distribution of masks, hand sanitizer and informative material about Covid-19.
With the theme "Indigenous communication: New tools of struggle", the meeting had lectures aimed at strengthening the performance of communicators in the areas of photography, agenda preparation, script construction, production, community communication, the role of the communicator, and especially training leaders. Also during the meeting, the CIR psychologist Iterniza Pereira, talked about motivation and the documentary "Fighting for the Land" was shown, which portrays the resistance of the indigenous peoples of Roraima.
Thais Barbosa, of the Macuxi ethnic group, evaluated the workshop as positive and stressed the importance of the participation of young people from different communities in activities like this as a way of exchanging knowledge. "As young people came from different regions, we who have already been participating in these events end up transmitting and receiving a little more knowledge," she said.
According to Márcia Fernandes, coordinator of the CIR's Communication Department, since 2017, the Indigenous Council of Roraima has been conducting training in the area of audiovisual, photography and text to prepare indigenous communicators. "Having these communicators in the communities makes all the difference. In addition to working together with their leaders, in regional assemblies, in their communities, they have the role of documenting moments considered important for the community and also passing on information to the leaders," she said.
Bleidi Ribeiro de Sousa, coordinator of the Training Center, congratulated the CIR for the initiative and said that training like this is welcome at CFICRSS. "We feel very happy and motivated to have these young people on the journey, to take our demand, our history, production and knowledge to Raposa Serra do Sol or other territories".
Founded in 1997, the Training Center, which hosted the meeting of communicators, is directly linked to the struggle in defense of indigenous peoples. In addition to training indigenous leaders, it is also committed to the process of professional training of young people, who are vigorously committed to the search for alternatives for the development of indigenous communities, always based on sustainable production (with respect for the environment), in order to contribute to the affirmation of indigenous peoples in their traditional lands and consolidate socioeconomic autonomy, considering their customs, traditions and modes of social organization.
