A week at the heart of the Bákra Forest School
I think it must have been difficult to name Bákra: The Kayapó Forest School, because it is so many things at once. It is a school, but it is also a thriving ecosystem that lifts up elders, creates equitable jobs, and builds community through shared joy.
Each week, a new group of 20–30 Kayapó arrived at Kamotidjam — and then at the Bàkra campus, Kajgodjam, once it was ready to host them — and they arrived in force. The elders always arrived enthusiastic and ready to hit the ground running, decked out in their traditional attire: feather headdresses, beaded bracelets, armbands and necklaces, painted in vibrant jenipapo, the Amazonian fruit traditionally used by Indigenous peoples to stain their skin.
With each group, we did a round of introductions to start. I thought it was endearing how each of the elders would stand up and make a large speech about how they were excited to be there and the importance of the program — and then each of the students would stand up and shyly whisper their name and the name of their village.
Faces marked in Jenipapo and urucum,
Bákra worked on an intense schedule of activities, driven by what the elders wanted to teach and where they wanted to take their students. A typical week looked like this.
A week at the forest school
Tents, the circle, and the first story
The group arrived in the afternoon from their villages. After everybody set up their tents and settled in, we formed a conversation circle so that everyone could introduce themselves, and our Indigenous coordinators presented the schedule, rules, and expectations of the program. We passed out the t-shirts and student kits while the cooks started preparing dinner. An elder would often tell a traditional story on this first night.
Jenipapo, then into the forest
The people who didn’t arrive already fully painted would paint each other in jenipapo in preparation for entering the forest. They would often paint me as well. I loved the process, and it was always exciting to see what design they would come up with — I rarely wore the same one for very long, as the stain faded pretty quickly, and one of our coordinators, Bekwykukati, would always call me over to redo my paint when it started to fade from my face. In Kayapó culture, many people prefer to be painted before dancing, so it was essential to paint everybody at the start of the program, because there was lots of dancing to come.
Getting painted with Urucum was a part of every morning before heading out into the forest.
After everybody got painted, our coordinator — or a returning student who knew how to use the cameras and camera traps — gave a brief lesson before we ventured into the forest, usually to a mud pit to install the traps. The elders led the group and pointed out animal paths or hotspots that would make good locations. The students verified that each camera had enough battery and a SIM card installed before deploying them on tree trunks, low to the ground.
Once everybody had their cameras installed, we headed back to camp to eat lunch and relax before the afternoon handicraft — usually the men doing one activity and the women another. The women might paint fabric with their traditional designs while the men wove baskets or other items. After dinner, the whole group might dance together under the stars or around a fire.
Ronko, the Piti tree, and the drones
In the morning we set out early — usually by boat, then on foot — to one of a variety of traditional sites. One was Ronko, an abundant grove of coco de babaçu, a delicious food that tasted a bit like coconut and was also used to make oil for hair or cooking. The grove was home to an enormous Piti tree where we would often do traditional dances and sing traditional songs.
There was also a nice clearing that was great for teaching the students how to launch and collect the drones. We would try to get an aerial view of the site and talk about why it was important and how drones can be used for territorial monitoring. The elders usually stuck to the back of the group, collecting plants and barks that might be useful as medicines or in that afternoon’s handicrafts — and if we came across an açaí tree, people took turns trying to climb it to cut down the fruits at the top.
Later, after lunch, the women would often bead, crochet, or prepare a traditional meal like Berarubu, while the men made a feather headdress or a wooden war club. At night, the whole group gathered by the fire as an elder told a traditional story. My favorite was the one about the man who fell in love with a woman in the stars, who eventually brought down all the good foods they enjoy eating today — manioc, pumpkin, and papaya.
An elder teaching the girls how to crochet the traditional leg bands that the young children wear.
Berarubu in the making — manioc flour and meat folded into banana leaves, hands working together across generations.
Layering and wrapping the parcel before it goes to the coals.
What the cameras caught
In the morning we set out to collect the camera traps from the first day, and everybody came back into camp itching to see the photos. We would pull them up on a laptop and the whole group gathered around to ooh and ahh at everything the cameras caught. It was exciting to see the biodiversity we captured in just four days — tapirs, anteaters, a variety of birds, and, surprisingly for me, deer similar to those I saw in my backyard growing up in Virginia.
Registering students for the Forest School.
After coffee and breakfast, the group departed — and we reset for the next one.
What eight weeks held
Eight weeks of this schedule was a lot. A lot of personal growth, a lot of immersion within the Mebengôkre-Kayapó culture, a lot of time to practice speaking Mebengôkre, and a lot of opportunity to actually form relationships with the people whose association I had been working in for the past year.
The importance of this program is undeniable. The passing down of culture and tradition has stagnated — young women struggling to climb the açaí trees their grandmothers scale with ease, young men not knowing the words to their traditional songs.
Indigenous-Led Conservation: Matt's Journey to Kayapo Territory
May 18–19 · Washington DC to Peixoto de Azevedo
I had the pleasure to participate in several institutional strengthening and governance meetings with two partner Kayapo associations, the Instituto Raoni and Instituto Kabu. My IR meetings took place at their headquarters in Peixoto de Azevedo and IK during their annual general assembly in the village of Pykany.
Traveling to these meetings is not easy. First, I connected on a series of flights from DC → Panama → Brasilia, where I was able to meet (and rest) briefly with Dr. Adriano Jerozlimski, Director, Kayapo Project in Brasil.
The Journey Begins
Early the morning of May 19, I flew to Sinop, a medium sized city in the state of Mato Grosso, the heartland of the Brazilian industrial agricultural sector, where I met my uber driver Andre and we headed north on the BR-163, the “Soybean Highway.” 4 hours and 200km later, we arrived in Peixoto de Azevedo. Along the road, corn pellets flew from the back of large trucks and battered the windshield of the Chevrolet Montana. In Peixoto, gold mining is 90% of the economy and statues all over the town pay tribute to the economic past time:
A billboard on the edge of town addresses the gold-mining debate.
A statue honoring the garimpeiro, the local gold prospector.
Gold-buying storefronts light up downtown at dusk.
That afternoon, the Instituto Raoni was unable to meet. Cacique Raoni had fallen ill and they were meeting with his team of doctors to arrange for the best possible treatment. We made arrangements to meet the following day in the office.
May 18–19 · Washington DC to Peixoto de Azevedo
Meeting the Instituto Raoni
The Instituto Raoni is a small building off the BR- 163. The offices and rooms inside are organized by department. There is a room for the executive team, the communications team, the finance team, the women’s department and the bioeconomy and sales team. I spent my first day with IR meeting the team and co-working with the Bioeconomy and sales team. For me, this was a special moment. I started working with the Kayapo in 2014 and joined the Kayapo Project team in 2023. These were my first minutes with IR outside the pressure of an assembly, budget, or project meeting. Having some informal time to be present with the team, get to know the personalities, hobbies, and spaces they navigate will be incredibly helpful as we continue to work together and collaborate.
At IR with bio economy and women's departments
A trophy case inside the Instituto Raoni headquarters.
Products from IR’s bioeconomy and sales department.
I worked with the IR team for the next three days, spending time in conversation and at lunch with the finance and executive teams, discuss how we can best support IR’s territorial and cultural conservation initiatives, how to improve dialogue and process, and also sharing ideas around future initiatives with the IR such as the Kayapo Forest School, currently in operation along the Xingu and Riozinho Rivers.
On Friday May 22nd, the whole team was in the office and I gave a short presentation on Biome Conservation, The Kayapo Project in general and a few of the initiatives I work on such as the forest school, field course, and a media at the guard posts. The leadership team and others who had just returned from the Pykany village, where I would be headed in a few days, joined me. To round out my visit, I had a chance to visit with Cacique Raoni, thank him for his leadership, and wish him a speedy recovery.
With the IR team and Kayapo leaders in Peixoto de Azevedo.
Presenting on Biome Conservation and The Kayapo Project, with Cacique Raoni in attendance.
The Road to Pykany | BR-163
From Peixoto to Pykany
From Peixoto I was back on the Soy highway, this time traveling with Brasilia-based Kayapo project colleague Igor Richwin Ferreira toward the village of Pykany for the annual assembly of the Instituto Kabu. 250 km later, we arrived to the town of Castelo dos Sonhos, historically a hotbed of deforestation activity.
Concerned about driving through the forest at night to Pykany, we stayed in a hotel. In the morning, we met up with colleagues from the Instituto Socioambiental and began the journey from the town to the forest, watching the landscape change from dusty frontier town to ranchlands to close canopy forest. Along the way, we stopped for coffee and conversation at one of the 19 Kayapo Guard posts, navigated a precarious wooden bridge, and passed through a set of small villages along the dirt road to Pykany in the heart of the TI Menkragnoti.
A signpost marking the villages along the route, Pykany included.
Crossing one of the precarious wooden bridges along the way.
The landscape closes into dense canopy forest en route to Pykany.
Pykany Village I TI Menkragnoti
The Instituto Kabu General Assembly
The general assemblies are an opportunity for the leadership of the represented communities to come together to learn about the previous year’s activities, deliberate, discuss and approve the budget and activities for the coming year. It is also one of the only times that all the Kayapo leadership is in the same place at the same time with their external collaborators. These events are a unique opportunity to absorb the full spectrum of Kayapo initiatives, particularly those that sit outside the portfolio of Biome and the Kayapo Project. I met IK leadership, community leaders, and institutional peers to discuss ways we can all work together toward the mission of Kayapo territorial and cultural protection.
During the meeting, I presented to a large audience of Kayapo chiefs, once again sharing the work of Biome and the Kayapo Project including the territorial monitoring and surveillance program, the Kayapo Forest School, and opportunities for tourism and exchange with IK communities. My presentation was reinforced by Patkore and other representatives from the Protected Forest Association, who added details and cultural clarifications to my conversation. I am pleased to say that the Instituto Kabu has approved the implementation of the Kayapo Forest School in 2027 to complement their other initiatives.
Presenting Biome and Kayapo Project initiatives.
Kayapo leaders gathered in full traditional dress for the assembly.
May 30 | The Journey Home
Reflections on The Road Back
It takes three days to get home. First a long drive back from the forest to Castelo dos Sonhos. Then, the full 450km return trip, once again having the truck assaulted by fragments of corn and soy along the BR-163. A night in Sinop followed by planes from Sinop→Brasilia→Panama and finally Washington DC. Over the three days I was struck by a few important concepts:
The Kayapo Project is Indigenous-led Conservation
It is the Kayapo and their representative association who are implementing the programs, taking the risks, and putting in the hard work. Our job must be to leverage our positions to amplify their stories and provide the necessary support for success.
The Kayapo Project is a vast local → global ecosystem of collaboration and projects.
Not just in my visits, but also in the stories of our Kayapo collaborators. While I was there, I met a colleague from Greenpeace who was arranging a trip for Kayapo representatives to visit Europe for support. In the past, I’ve met folks from the German Embassy, Conservation International, Re:wild and other peers working to support the Kayapo. The work also covers a full spectrum of activities from sewing and artisan projects to environmental reviews of the potential train that may run alongside the BR-163.
The Kayapo are uniquely threatened and conservation can only go so far.
The regional economies are overwhelmingly anchored in intensive, extractive activities such as mining, logging, and agriculture. Without providing alternative economic activities to the Kayapo and their Brazilian neighbors, the threat on Kayapo lands will persist.
The Kayapo Project Team is an incredible, international, intercultural group.
Every time I visit the Kayapo Project partners, I am in awe of the intercultural and professional skills of our Brazil-based colleagues who work day (and night) in and out to ensure that the projects move forward. Their phones are an endless stream of voice notes and messages with an infinite set of demands and questions.
– Matthew Aruch
Support the Kayapo
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