Nhãã ngūnēiwa rü wüi nguenēi mēētchi'i nīī nãca' nhure i mãiyugü uma ngugü nãwa ya da'a ngu'epatãü ya UNICAMP, erü nüü ta ya ngaugü i nhãã nhu'gü i mūū i ngunēigu nãgu rü īn üēi, yiema wüitchigü rü ye' eracü taya ngegüta rü nhū'matchi nhū'mã rü nã'ca ta ya wanã i nhãã o,ã rü nãtchica nã'ca e tamücügü i tawe'ama nē īī rü nhēmãcü yii. Nhūmãütchi tama nã wü'cu i 60 rü e'na 70 mãiyugü i Amazonaswa nē īī rü nhūmatchi toomatchigü i nãtchicawa i tagucü'agü arü.
The text above, written in the Tikuna language, is an excerpt from the statement made this Wednesday (20) to the Unicamp Portal by Osias Tikuna, about the reception of freshmen approved in Unicamp's first indigenous entrance exam, held in December last year. Translated by Osias himself, the text says: "This day is a wonderful and fulfilling day for all the indigenous people who arrived here at UNICAMP and enrolled, as we are here for an objective, the objective that most of the time we think so much about or dreamed of by our parents. However, today begins the new stage of our academic life and we arrived here to open a path for our indigenous friends who are coming after us trying to enter university. So, this morning 60 or 70 enrolled indigenous students who came from the interior of the state of Amazonas and other villages or communities from several states. Therefore, at this moment, the State University of Campinas has a new characteristic in the sense of having racial and ethnic diversities."
The new students represent 23 different ethnicities. At the reception held this Wednesday (20), the indigenous people registered and submitted documentation to grant assistance for housing, transportation and food. The dyes of genipap and annatto mixed with the colors of the veterans, who waited to mark the freshmen with the acronyms of the new courses. In the mixed rituals, smiles and tears, recognition, hopes and the certainty of being part of a historic moment were intertwined. “This moment is an achievement for everyone. It's very important. It is the result of a struggle by many, here and in all regions of Brazil. Being here is a dream come true”, said Daniela Patrícia Villegas Barbosa, from the Tukano ethnic group, who came from São Gabriel da Cachoeira to study Literary Studies.
Dean Marcelo Knobel, at the welcome ceremony alongside Unicamp's general coordinator, Teresa Atvars, and undergraduate dean Eliana Amaral, asked each incoming student to introduce themselves and was moved by the diversity of ethnicities and trajectories present in the Basic Cycle auditorium. “Everyone here knows that they are living in a historic moment. There are few days in our lives that have such meaning. It’s a day that everyone here will remember forever,” said Knobel.
For him, the celebration marked the beginning of a journey of new challenges and achievements for indigenous peoples and for the University. “You are the pioneers. It is you who will open the paths for others. We need to build this path in a harmonious way and bring more and more indigenous people to the University, with all this knowledge and diversity. These are important ways for us to be able to absorb the knowledge you bring and also take the knowledge you came here to seek back to your villages,” he highlighted.
The appreciation of traditional knowledge brought by new students was also highlighted by Marinaldo Almeida Costa, or Naldo Tukano, as he is known. “The load I brought in my bag is wisdom. The entire concept of family, learning and study is within it. It is the indigenous epistemology that will be passed on to you. I didn't just come to learn here. I also came to teach you what it means to be indigenous,” he said in front of the packed auditorium.
The hope of being able to return to their regions and help improve the quality of life of their people was also common in the speech of the newcomers. “My city needs a lot of things. I want to come back to help. I also want to explore the medicinal plants we have there, sit with the elderly, talk to them, learn and, who knows, produce medicines for our own people”, said Jussimara Cordeiro, from the Piratapuia ethnic group, who will study Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Difficult distances
São Gabriel da Cachoeira, the municipality in the State of Amazonas where most of the students come from, is three days by boat from Manaus and more than 3.000 kilometers from Campinas. Many of the indigenous people who arrived at Unicamp had never left their villages. Some brought their family along, as is the case of Arlindo Alemão Gregório, indigenous name Curumim, who came to study Electrical Engineering. His wife Niceias Angélica Maues and his children Cauã and Cauê accompany him on the adventure. The eldest has already enrolled in the 8th year of high school. The youngest will stay with his mother this semester and will try, next semester, for a place in the Early Childhood and Complementary Education Division, which receives the children of Unicamp students, employees and teachers.
“It was a shock,” said Niceias, when she found out that her husband had passed the Entrance Exam. “When he said we were going to another state, we didn’t even know where it would be. When he said it would be for Campinas, in São Paulo, I was a little scared. I knew it would be a radical change. But I told him, let's go ahead. We have nothing to lose here,” she reported.
For Quirino Lucas, from the Ticuna ethnic group, the challenge is different. He left his four-year-old daughter in the municipality of Benjamin Constant, on the triple border of Peru, Colombia and Brazil. “It’s very complicated, it’s hard. I have to balance things here, housing, scholarship, so she can come next year,” he said.
Belonging to the struggle
To the sadness, the writer and doctoral professor, Daniel Munduruku responded with a call for responsibility. “You are here as the fruit of a journey that has been undertaken for a long time by our relatives, by our ancestors, by our ancestors. You are here because you are beings of the present, of the now. You don't have the right to give up. This right does not belong to them. You are here to honor the journey and to move things forward,” he said.
Munduruku reminded students that the challenges have just begun and that their goal should be to finish the course. “What you are starting is also so that many other relatives can reflect their desires in you and can take a step forward. They can understand that it is possible. It is possible to be a full Brazilian, a full citizen, without ceasing to be who we are. We can make Brazilian society a multiple society, a diverse society, an effectively democratic society because we are part of it and we will not let Brazil forget that”, she concluded.
Read more:
Expectations and welcome: indigenous freshmen are arriving
Unicamp prepares a joint effort to welcome freshmen for the Indigenous Entrance Exam
