In French Guiana, 3,000 Amerindians of the Amazonian forest have the misfortune of living on a territory coveted for its mineral resources. They are victims of illegal gold panning, which creates a climate of violence and insecurity. Moreover, by becoming French in 1969, the Amerindians lost their traditional way of life and their knowledge. They face a double culture that they did not choose. The malaise is deep and the Amerindians dream of their own identity while being French.

With the arrival of Covid 19, they had to organize themselves and invent alternatives because this population is even more vulnerable as the UN recalled in a statement.

At the origin of these initiatives, often women you will discover .

Protection initiatives

Some Amerindian villages along the coast have already voluntarily isolated themselves. Because “we know that prevention is our ally, but the rules of distancing, for example, are difficult for us, because we don’t have this way of life. We are very close to our elders, we live with them, and it is for them that we are afraid because they are more fragile,” says Claudette Labonté, an Amerindian activist in favour of bringing government services closer to the natives in order to “develop official protocols adapted to the customary mode. So barriers were set up in front of villages like Sainte Rose.

Withdrawal from fishing and hunting

Fishing, like hunting, is the fallback solution for the inhabitants of the Upper Maroni to supplement their provisions. “We do the shopping for half the month, and for the rest we manage. We fish and hunt more,” says Anawaïke Pinkali, from Talhuwen. To feed his family, young Wayana spends about 450 euros a month. According to his calculations, he should spend 600 this month. Then there is still the slaughter (slash-and-burn food crop) to complete the plate. But this is not enough, especially since some fear that the illegal gold diggers in the region, whose illegal activity has intensified since the beginning of the health crisis, will come and plunder these crops.

the coastal Kali’nas to the rescue of the Amerindians in the hinterland

In Cayenne, Milca Sommer-Simonet goes to the supermarket every afternoon. “The Wayana people need food,” she says. Onag has therefore decided to mobilize its American partner, the Suriname Indigenous Health Fund (SIHF), to organize a supply in Haut-Maroni. According to their calculations, more than 1,000 families live there, so the budget could reach 10,000 euros. “What could block it would be transport. But I will knock on every door if I have to,” says the Kali’na.

Prize pools

The Lokono federation chaired by Solange Biswana has also decided to launch a jackpot to provide basic necessities to the various Amerindian villages. The Red Cross is also mobilizing, and not only for the indigenous people. The needs are desperate, and there is a risk that this will continue after the confinement,” says a local branch manager. All our activities are exploding. This is not only linked to the crisis, but also to structural difficulties in French Guiana. »

The nugget: the antidote

“Writing in times of confinement” was the theme of a literary competition launched by the Academy of French Guyana at the beginning of April.  A total of about sixty texts were compiled and published on the Harmattan website.  The text by José from the Gran Man Difou college proposes an antidote to the virus. Funny, poetic and powerful is the message of a child from Maripasoula: a territory twice the size of Corsica and very isolated, in the heart of the French Amazon.

Thanks to the Amerindians for sharing their initiatives with us, to Julien Sarte’s investigation and to the newspaper Politis.

Anne Pastor