In July 2007 a group of local women came together in the Flona Purus, a national forest reservation in the region of Pauiní to discuss the needs and solutions for their communities and to unite to overcome the challenges that humanity has been facing, which also touches them in the forest.
This group formed under the name "Emflores". As a result of this gathering and further meetings thereafter, specific projects were developed, which Floresta Project, Inc. is committed to supporting.
1. Community Center – Activity center for the
Village of Flona Purus, Pauiní.
- To promote the economic development of the community
- To generate jobs and work – a job center
- To promote regional assets and resources
- To increase nutritional and food consciousness
- To receive visitors
- To have a museum dedicated to the memory and documentation of local cultural history
- To offer a room for meetings – development of local arbitration or "community justice"
- To centralize the work of the "lavadeiras" (people who handwash clothing on behalf of the community) and to offer a service to visitors
- A space to create local crafts
- To offer housing to the homeless
- A teaching facility
- A women’s house
- Production of crafts
- To unite the local craftspeople
- To promote conscious ecological sustainability
- To generate income
- To form a crafts school
4. Cultural Center
Centro Medicina da Floresta-CMF (local NGO) has put together, organized and developed the local traditional knowledge about medical properties of Amazonian herbs, and has become a center of production. The traditional information that CMF gathered was from the knowledge of the original peoples of the community. CMF would like to give back to the community and help provide the resources for these people to become self sustainable and support them in creating sustainable organizations from their homes with the knowledge that they have.
6. Health
- A space for leisurely activities, enjoyment, education and entertainment
Centro Medicina da Floresta-CMF (local NGO) has put together, organized and developed the local traditional knowledge about medical properties of Amazonian herbs, and has become a center of production. The traditional information that CMF gathered was from the knowledge of the original peoples of the community. CMF would like to give back to the community and help provide the resources for these people to become self sustainable and support them in creating sustainable organizations from their homes with the knowledge that they have.
6. Health
- For groups of women to have meetings in the villages to discuss and explain health issues.
Maria Alice Campos Freire founded the Centro Medicina da Floresta (Forest Medicine Center) in 1989 with Marina Ruberti and a group
of local women to preserve the knowledge of the forest.
They have developed research and healing methods with
plants of the Amazon, as well as education programs for
children about the preservation of nature and sustainable
development.
Maria Alice is also an activist, a member of
the Alliance of Peoples of the Rainforest and is on the
International Council of the Thirteen Indigenous
Grandmothers.
Centro Medicina da Floresta (CMF) has been dedicated to
the research, education, and preservation of the forest
and the health of its people. In 1997, CMF was incorporated
in Brazil as a Non-Governmental Organization.
Since then, CMF has expanded its horizon, developing
partnerships not only in the Amazon region, but throughout
Brazil and with other international organizations. It
has expanded its activities in the Juruá Valley since 2000. The charitable activities of CMF encompass
agroforestry projects, which involve collecting forest
seeds for production of reforestation of plundered areas.
Also, CMF conducts research and cataloguing of over
500 plant species from a diverse array of forests (e.g.,
"virgin" forests, recovered forests, and cultivated gardens);
from these sources CMF cultivates and maintains
medicinal gardens and medicinal remedies. CMF is the
sole producer and distributor of natural and traditional
medicines in the community and provides medicines free
of cost to the community and to impoverished families in
the region who have no alternative access to medicines.
Other activities include the free training of health practitioners,
children’s education programs about Amazonian
plant species and their preservation, apprenticeships for
the youth via an internship program, and working with
children on-site.
Prominent among its activities is the practice of extracting medicinal species from the forest for the production of health elixirs as well as to replant them in deteriorated areas. Florais da Amazônia (www.floraisdaamazonia.com.br), Floral essences from the Amazon researched by Maria Alice and Isabel Faccinni Barsé, are among the main products of the CMF. The preparations obtained are distributed free of charge to the local population, as a preventive measure against the diseases predominant in the area. Visitors from all over the world also benefit from the CMF.
Prominent among its activities is the practice of extracting medicinal species from the forest for the production of health elixirs as well as to replant them in deteriorated areas. Florais da Amazônia (www.floraisdaamazonia.com.br), Floral essences from the Amazon researched by Maria Alice and Isabel Faccinni Barsé, are among the main products of the CMF. The preparations obtained are distributed free of charge to the local population, as a preventive measure against the diseases predominant in the area. Visitors from all over the world also benefit from the CMF.
The Santa Casa de Cura Padrinho Manoel Corrente, or
"Holy House of Healing," is a hospital located in the heart
of the Amazon Rainforest. The hospital was established based on the need to centralize healing treatments and natural
therapies, including remedies from the forest, and provide it to the
sick and needy.
The Santa Casa is dedicated to sustaining the basic public healthcare needs of its community and of the surrounding region. As one of the sole healthcare providers for the community, the hospital delivers a broad range of health services, and functions primarily as a charitable institution, as all services are free of charge. It assists with births and treats ailments such as fractures, traumas, snake and spider bites, bruises and burns. It also treats diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, epidemics, hypertension, and the most wide-ranging strains of tropical illnesses. The hospital also aids in providing accommodations for patients, and transportation, if necessary. The hospital treats patients using traditional medicine made in the forest by Centro Medicina da Floresta (CMF).
The Santa Casa is dedicated to sustaining the basic public healthcare needs of its community and of the surrounding region. As one of the sole healthcare providers for the community, the hospital delivers a broad range of health services, and functions primarily as a charitable institution, as all services are free of charge. It assists with births and treats ailments such as fractures, traumas, snake and spider bites, bruises and burns. It also treats diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, epidemics, hypertension, and the most wide-ranging strains of tropical illnesses. The hospital also aids in providing accommodations for patients, and transportation, if necessary. The hospital treats patients using traditional medicine made in the forest by Centro Medicina da Floresta (CMF).
The Santa Casa also functions as a school for teaching
young people about using plant remedies as
well as preserving the knowledge of traditional ways of treatment.
Since 1999, Clara Shinobu Iura has directed the Santa Casa de Cura, with a board of women. Through her developed capacity as an experienced shaman and spiritual healer, she functions as one of the main healers of the community. Clara is a member of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers who represent “a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come.”
Since 1999, Clara Shinobu Iura has directed the Santa Casa de Cura, with a board of women. Through her developed capacity as an experienced shaman and spiritual healer, she functions as one of the main healers of the community. Clara is a member of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers who represent “a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come.”
