Mba’e Japo
(What to do?)
The Mba’e Japo (What to do?) project was conceived at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, and its primary purpose was to help the Rio Silveira Village Guarani community organize to face the novel coronavirus.
Due to the need for social distancing, a WhatsApp group was created including indigenous leaders from all five residential clusters to provide a communication channel between the project team and community leaders.
Under the coordination of Luciane Ouriques Ferreira, an anthropologist specialized in indigenous collective health, actions were performed to raise community awareness of the pandemic and spread information on preventing coronavirus infections.
The project was funded with resources from the company Inolex, and it was a major step in curbing the virus in the early months of the pandemic, at which point the Rio Silveira Village community was facing big challenges due to misinformation regarding proper health and safety measures.
This work provided important information and subsidies to the Project for Strengthening and Spreading Traditional Rio Silveira Village Mbyá-Guarani Knowledge and Practices During Pandemic Times.