Crowd Funder For The Huni Kuin
I have been supporting my wonderful partner Ulric help spread awareness for this incredible project.
You can read all about it here, and if you feel called to donate towards their crowd funder we would all be so grateful.
The Centre of Memory is an organisation set up to help support, preserve and protect the Amazon and the indigenous people that live there. The team consists of Farrah, a Defence Lawyer and Sound Healer; Rory, an Artist, Filmmaker and Healer; Ulric, a Movement educator, Feldenkrais teacher and Kambo practitioner; Ana Leticia, a Human Rights and International Development professional and Jamie, a Conscious Entrepreneur.
Together we all share a deep love of the Amazon, its people and its unique natural diversity. The threats to this irreplaceable natural environment and habitat continue to gain momentum, despite the worldwide awareness over recent decades of its precarious situation. This is also the case for the indigenous people in the region that are the guardians and protectors of these lands. They need our support to enable them to survive and we all need their support to help preserve the forest.
The Huni Kuin are one of the indigenous groups who have been under threat and have managed to survive often against great adversity, upholding their ancient traditions and deep connection to nature. In recent years, to continue to raise awareness of the urgency of the situation and to share their innate wisdom and knowledge of the forest, a number of Huni Kuin Spiritual Leaders have begun to travel around the world.
One of these is Tadeu Siã Hui Bai, a Huni Kuin Pajé from the village of São Joaquim, also called Centro de Memoria (Centre of Memory) village, situated in the state of Acre, Brazil. He is the spiritual leader of 36 Huni Kuin villages, a man of great depth, gentle yet strong, a healer, an educator, a film maker, a writer and a chief who has enormous respect from his people.
It is an honour for us to be supporting Tadeu Siã Hui Bai and his work through initiating this major project, with the aim to raise £75,000 for essential work and upgrades to the infrastructure of his village. These funds will be directed towards the following to enable Siã to realize his vision for the transformation of his village:
Artesian Well
This will significantly improve the quality of life and health of all the villagers through the implementation of a clean water source in the form of an Artesian Well and additional water infrastructure.
Repair and Renovation of Maloka
The repair and renovation of the Maloka, the central hub of the village for ceremonial work; A new roof is urgently needed, parts of the structure require rebuilding and other design alterations and repairs are necessary. A completely new Maloka may be the most cost effective solution to provide the best result.
Construction of Centre of Memory Retreat Space - 13 buildings
The construction of 13 buildings to facilitate an area of the village for the specialist study of plants, medicinal preparations, dietas, initiation rites, study of the sacred chants, Huni Kuin music and songs, Kene workshops, textile weaving, sacred rituals, in essence a place for an immersive study into the Huni Kuin culture.
Within this configuration of buildings, arranged as a circle of 12 structures around a central edifice, there will be accommodation and other ancillary facilities to provide the necessary infrastructure that will allow for extended periods of study for indigenous Huni Kuin students as well as international visitors.
Catering and Kitchen facilities
New catering and kitchen facilities to provide food preparation for up to 100 people.
Toilets and showers
New compost toilets and showers. With solar panels (if the budget allows) to provide hot water for the showers.
Centre of Memory village is in need of our assistance, with many existing structures requiring extensive renovation, a water supply that is not clean, causing many parasitic, viral and bacteria illnesses and a general inability to be totally self sufficient due to the lack of resources. In addition, the current Brazilian government under President Bolsonaro offers no support whatsoever to the Huni Kuin. In fact the current government policy is openly hostile to the indigenous people of the Amazon, viewing them as a barrier to further economic expansion through the exploitation of the forest, rather than recognising their key role in protecting the Earth's natural resources for future generations.
Your help and support for this project will be very gratefully received by Siã and the villagers of São Joaquim. It will genuinely make a massive difference to all of their lives, improving their health, education and building infrastructure, as well as offering them a way to become more self sufficient in the future, through being able to host and accommodate visitors who wish to deepen their studies into the Huni Kuin cosmology. Please see the rewards listed on this crowdfunder page that we are offering in return for your donations.
We are committed to delivering this project at the earliest opportunity once we have raised the necessary funds. We know that Siã would warmly welcome any of you who would like to visit in the future and that he would be delighted to show you the results of this fundraising campaign in person. In his village, you would have the opportunity to immerse yourself in further studies under Siã's expert guidance. His vision is to create a Huni Kuin University in his village!
Only joy, Only upwards, Only forwards, Deep gratitude.
Lets Go, Lets Dance, Lets Sing, Lets Heal.
Eskawata Kayawei, Kayawei Ki Ki
Haux ! Haux !
Shuku Shukuwe
Tadeu Siã Txana Hui Bai
Tadeu Siã Txana Hui Bai is a chief and Pajé (Spiritual Leader) of the São Joaquim – Centro de Memoria (Centre of Memory) village, located in the indigenous Huni Kuin lands of the Jordão River. He is one of the sons of the legendary Pajé Agostinho Íkamuru (In Memoriam), from whom he inherited the traditional ancient knowledge and lineage of his people.
Siã is a record keeper of many of the ancient stories of the Huni Kuin, having studied since an early age with his father. Through this training, he received an extensive knowledge of the medicinal plants of his people, the sacred chants and rituals of the Huni Kuin people, including the Baptism rites and the Nixi Pae, Katanawa and Pakarin healing ceremonies.
Siã is one of the creators and guardians of a living Huni Kuin library in the form of a medicinal plant garden at the Memorial Centre in his village. He is also a filmmaker and writer, his credits include a documentary entitled ‘Basné Puru Yuxibu’ on the Huni Kuin culture and ‘Una Isi Kayawa, Livro da Cura do Pove Hun Kuin’, which was co-authored with his father and is the first book on the healing properties
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