BELA VISTA DO JARAQUI, Brazil: The communities of remote Amazon cities, feeling abandoned by the state, are turning to religion and traditional remedies for protection in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Raimundo Leite de Sousa, 34, says he overcame COVID-19 with a potion made from the stinktoe and crabwood plants, flavored with lemon and garlic.
“It (the virus) shook me over twice as much but it didn’t bother me,” said Leite de Sousa, who avoided the fate of some 210,000 other Brazilians who died – a national tax that went beyond just the United States.
Leite de Sousa is located in Bela Vista do Jaraqui, an hour from Manaus, the regional capital of the state of Amazonas that was hit hard by the second wave of pandemics.
The riverside town offers a panoramic view of Rio Negro and is home to 112 families who have access to wooden huts with dirt tracks leading up from the pier.
From the river, a wall of trees hides in the town.
The nearest health center is in another town – 25 minutes walk or 10 minutes by boat.
A health worker collects a swab sample from a resident to pass a COVID-19 test administered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Bela Vista riverside community for Jaraqui in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, on January 18, 2021. (Photo: AFP / Marcio James)
“Although many people have lost friends, I am happy because I believe that God is greatest,” said Silvio de Melo, who participated in the COVID-19 pilot program of the city of Manaus.
Locals say it has only been made possible by donations. Forty-five people were tested on Tuesday (January 19) and have to wait five to seven days for their results.
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“COVID-19 is the worst problem in Amazonas,” said Erasmo Morales, 55, but not worried because “God cares for everyone and if (death) comes, there is no cure in which you will be saved “.
For his neighbor Francisco Morales it’s a matter of prevention: He’s supplemented his personal health pot with a daily bullet of cachaca, a sedimentary spirit.
A resident with COVID-19 symptoms will receive medical support from a member of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Bela Vista do Jaraqui riverside community in Amazonas state, Brazil, on January 18, 2021 (Photo: AFP / Marcio Seumas)
“I DON’T DO IT”
In the city, everyone, even children, will wear a mask.
More than half of the community has never been tested for a coronavirus, even though they live in one of the worst-hit states in Brazil.
There is also a new strain of the virus from the Amazon state that is believed to be more contagious than the original one.
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“I’m ashamed, the governor could have done more,” said Jardei Santos, 35, who thinks she has contracted the disease because she suffers from dementia and headaches.
Sitting on a wooden bench waiting for her leg to test, she says she and her family are scared.
“I’m more worried than I was last year because I’m seeing more people infected. But we have to pray, God doesn’t forsake you.”
More than half of the Bela Vista do Jaraqui community has never been tested for COVID-19, even though they live in one of the worst-affected states in Brazil. (Photo: AFP / Marcio James)
“MISMANAGEMENT”
In Bela Vista do Jaraqui, the villagers fish and until they come ashore. Much of their time is spent going back and forth to the river.
But in Manaus, people have died when hospitals ran out of oxygen supply, Leite de Sousa points out that there is a lot of oxygen in the jungle and says that nature has saved the people of the city.
“All the struggle in the city for this oxygen we have here,” he said, blaming the crisis on “a very serious regulatory failure”.
“If I don’t know what fuel I need to get to Manaus by boat, I’ll get stuck half way, because I’m a bad manager,” he said.
“We are killed by such mismanagement.”
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The health system in Manaus is on the verge of collapse, running out of hospital beds and with bodies piling up in cooling trucks.
Although their town is remote, the people of Bela Vista do Jaraqui have access to the internet and communication through WhatsApp group.
When someone shows symptoms of COVID-19, they are taken by boat to a health center. Five such boats – donations – are shared by 700 families spread across 15 village communities.
Leite de Sousa is not sure of any value in taking patients out of the natural environment to the city of 2.2 million.
“The 10 patients who were transferred to Manaus died,” he said. One of them was a 53-year-old uncle.
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