Under the canopy of Amazonian trees, children paint graphics on their bodies and learn about the people who came from the center of the earth.
These and other ancestral knowledge are passed down by Indigenous women to children in Parque das Tribos, home to more than 700 families from 30 ethnic groups on the outskirts of Manaus (AM).
"If you're in the city, you're no longer considered Indigenous," says Vanda Witoto, 37, a community leader.
To fight against the "erasure of the identity of original peoples," she opened her backyard to sow the seeds of this Indigenous school.
"By facing racism in schools, these children don't recognize themselves as Indigenous. And here, we strengthen that identity," she says.
Vanda was taken from her territory at 16 to work as a domestic worker in Manaus. She says she suffered various forms of violence. She only reconnected with her origins at university.
"I discovered that I had an Indigenous name and that I belong to the people from the center of the earth," says the activist and founder of the Witoto Institute.
"The waiting list [to enter the institute] is enormous because what these children have here, they can't find in any other school," Witoto explains.
Brazilian philanthropist Katia Francesconi, who runs the American foundation that bears her name, will allocate R$ 130,000 [$23,000] to Vanda's project.
"Even though I don't have the family structure people expect from a woman, educating children is my mission. It's not about me; it's about the children I can help," says Katia.
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