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More than 25 members of different indigenous communities of Putumayo and Vaupés -representing 6 ethnic groups of the Amazon region- delved, during the last five months, into a topic that with the passage of time becomes increasingly relevant: the importance of community communication of indigenous peoples.
The scenario was the Amazon rainforest, which from the departments of Vaupés and Putumayo, became the ideal space for dialogue and learning about community communication, around a topic that completely crosses the worldview of indigenous peoples: their own health and the importance of an intercultural health system. A discussion that became necessary taking into account recent events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, its perception and response from the indigenous visions.
This is why the Community Health Journalism project, led by Sinergias, Alianzas Estratégicas por la Salud y el Desarrollo Social, Internews and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) focused on working with different communication and narrative formats that responded to the needs and interests of each community and to the constant question of how to tell the story of the territory from the territory itself.
Through audio, video, text, journalistic genres and oral expression workshops, the 25 members of different indigenous communities of Vaupés and Putumayo faced experiences of communication and journalistic work such as: conducting an interview, recording a video or voice over for a podcast; as well as the task of researching a topic of interest, finding the right sources and thinking about the best way to narrate it and transmit it to others.
The experiences during the coronavirus pandemic were also discussed and the workshop became a community space to remember the difficult moments they lived through, but also to identify the community strengths that emerged during that time, highlighting the fundamental role played by traditional medicine and their own system of food sovereignty for their survival.
Stories and histories that were also marked by the arrival of Covid-19 to an Amazon region historically marginalized due to population dispersion and difficulties in accessing health services and where according to calculations taken with techniques from the National Institute of Health, an indigenous person living outside the capital municipality in the Amazon is 2.4 times more likely to die than a non-indigenous person in the rest of the country regardless of sex and age.
After five months of work, the project left a collective interest in continuing the processes of community communication and local production of content that tells the realities and visions of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Both Putumayo and Vaupés are currently working on the possibility of creating an indigenous communications collective or articulating with existing communication processes in the region.
Here are some of the testimonies of the project participants:
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Ancestral health as a central theme to narrate to us
The dialogues around health surrounded all the journalistic work of the workshop, understanding health from its own worldview as a concept articulated with the balance and harmony between body, mind, spirit and nature for good living. In other words, an integral wellbeing that encompasses the biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of the individual and his or her community.
And it was precisely in the midst of this recognition of their own visions of health that different dialogues arose about the importance and the need for an intercultural system that strengthens the cultural survival of indigenous peoples. In response, and as a result of the search for a research topic, the participants chose topics such as traditional midwifery, alcoholism and the importance of traditional medicine. An exercise in individual and community storytelling allowed them to use communication as a tool to tell their own stories and demonstrate the historical need for their voice to be heard.
Project characteristics:
Photos of the process
All pieces produced
In addition, we built a Manual for community communicators, as a tool to strengthen health communication and journalism in the territories. You can consult it here:
We are especially grateful to the indigenous organizations of Putumayo (La Organización Zonal Indígena del Putumayo - OZIP) and the associations of Vaupés (AATAC, AATICAM and ASOUDIC) who opened the doors of their communities, shared their experiences and accompanied the process from start to finish. Without their support it would not have been possible to carry out the project in the territories.