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Preserving and Expanding the Enxet Legacy Paraguay the College of Idaho Jazmin Nuñez Scolari & Mia Maldonado (College of Idaho) June-July 2021

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Preserving and Expanding the Enxet Legacy Paraguay the College of Idaho Jazmin Nuñez Scolari & Mia Maldonado (College of Idaho) June-July 2021 Preserving and Expanding the Enxet Legacy Paraguay The College of Idaho Jazmin Nuñez Scolari & Mia Maldonado (College of Idaho) June-July 2021 CONTEXT: Located at the heart of South America, Paraguay has long been overlooked by the media in comparison to its neighboring countries in the Southern Cone. This neglect is largely due to its landlocked location. However, Paraguay has a population of 7 million people. While most of the population resides in urban areas, the country is very sparsely populated. Many Paraguayans live in small rural villages, and they often derive their living from agricultural activity such as in the soy and beef industries, which are the country’s greatest exports. However, the demand for land in these industries has caused tensions between indigenous communities, the government, and ranchers. Though the Paraguayan Constitution guarantees indigenous peoples the right to preserve and develop their ethnic identity in their ancestral land, the government has failed to uphold their collective land rights in favor of agribusinesses. Deforestation significantly threatens indigenous land, especially in the Western side of Paraguay known as the Chaco— a semi-arid region with one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. The Chaco is home to abundant wildlife and several indigenous tribes like the Enxet. The Enxet is an ethnic minority traditionally known as hunter-gatherers, but today many members are skilled in artisanal craft, agriculture, and beekeeping. Already threatened by deforestation and land issues, the Enxet village of Karanda lost 13,300 acres of ancestral land and wildlife to forest fires in the year 2020 alone. With the COVID-19 pandemic, families working in the agricultural industry have lost their jobs and have yet to receive any financial or medical assistance from the Paraguayan government. Without income, community members rely on hunting and fishing in what is left of their ancestral forests. Facing agribusiness tensions, deforestation, wildfires, and a pandemic, the Enxet in Karanda lack the infrastructure to have a greater presence in Paraguay. The project we propose is aimed at empowering the sixty-nine families in the Karanda village by hosting various informative workshops while also refurbishing the current community collection center and providing computers and sewing machines so that residents may sell crafts for income and expand their market in today’s digitalized society. PROJECT OVERVIEW: In collaboration with Karanda locals, we propose to refurbish the village’s community collection center (centro de acopio) that offers a multipurpose room that can store computer equipment, general utilities, and sewing equipment. The current building needs new windows, doors, and proper painting to accommodate the project. Karanda is electrified through the company ANDE, and the wi-fi provider will be Chaconet. This refurbished center will serve as a meeting grounds for community members to get together. In order to empower the community about their land and environmental rights as indigenous people in a society that does not include them, we will host different awareness workshops promoting environmental, labor, and property rights. Additionally, we will host a digital learning workshop to introduce the computer equipment and provide basic IT skills. We will lead these workshops along with our project partners. The project is intended to improve the conditions in the Karanda community, particularly among job-seeking adults. To alleviate the high unemployment levels, the provided sewing equipment will allow both men and women to continue their traditional textile work and pursue an income. Likewise, access to computers will both enhance their digital skills and expand their market. Our project will take four-weeks between June and July. PARTNERSHIPS: Tierra Viva a los Pueblos Indígenas del Chaco, is an NGO working and promoting the human rights of the indigenous communities in the Chaco. Since 1994, Tierra Viva has led programs advocating public policies, strategic litigation, legal training, and organizational strengthening; their main goal is to ensure the protection of indigenous rights. Through Tierra Viva we connected with Remigio Romero Lopez, leader of the Karanda community, official translator of the Enxet language, and judicial expert of the Paraguayan Supreme Court. After contacting Remigio and discussing how we can help the community, together we decided on refurbishing Karanda’s collecting center. He is eager to work together on this project for his home village Karanda and share his expertise on indigenous legal rights. Also, he is our main contact to facilitate the communication with the other members of the community. He and his wife have graciously offered to host us in his home during the completion of the project. Additionally, Field Coordinator Santiago Bobadilla from Tierra Viva has accepted to be our main partner in Asunción and provide us the guidance in terms of indigenous legal and environmental rights, as well as assistance for the project while in Karanda. Also, two computer science students from the National University of Asunción have agreed to volunteer and help with our digital learning workshop. Despite that most of the community speaks Enxet and Guaraní, Remigio and other leaders of the community will be responsible for interpreting for the volunteers that only speak Spanish. TIMELINE: The project will take four weeks between June and July 2021 • Weeks 1 and 2- During the first two weeks, we will work under the close guidance of Santiago Bobadilla from Tierra Viva to prepare for our trip to Karanda. We will collect the renovation materials in both the capital city, Asunción, as well as in the closest city near the village, Loma Plata. Once in Karanda, we will spend a week getting to personally know the community and start the refurbishing of the collection center together with the help of local volunteers. • Week 3 - Remigio will take charge of the renovation on site supervision with our help and the help of local volunteers. We will also be collecting multipurpose room equipment and transporting it to Karanda during this time. This includes transporting computer desktops, desks, sewing equipment, chairs, etc. During this time, we and our partners will prepare for workshops to give to the community about environmental and legal rights and digital skills. By this time, the refurbishing of the community center will be close to finished. • Week 4 – In the fourth week, we will be finished with the renovation portion of the project. This last week will be dedicated to giving the workshops. The workshop portion of our project will take 2-3 days, with different groups of community members attending each day. In the final days of our project, we will host a ceremony which will provide the opportunity to center community members’ perspectives on their experience with the project. IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY: The short-term goal of this project is to provide Karanda community members with a meaningful way to engage and strengthen their community during the renovation and workshop portions of the project. Overall, this project will provide a meeting grounds to foster multidisciplinary skills with sewing equipment for locals to make and sell traditional craft, especially for job-seeking adults. The newly refurbished community center will additionally provide computer access so that residents may improve their digital skills to expand job opportunities beyond Karanda. Most importantly, we are determined to leave Karanda residents with greater knowledge of their land rights as Enxet, so that they feel empowered to make claims against the Paraguayan government who has not upheld their land rights against agribusinesses. We will be leaving the community center knowing that Remigio, as the village leader, and Karanda residents are committed to preserving these resources for future use. By broadening their legal knowledge, educational resources, and digital infrastructure, the Enxet will be able to make a greater presence throughout Paraguay to maintain their culture and land. PERSONAL STATEMENTS: Jazmin Nuñez: Born and raised in Paraguay, I am a native speaker of Spanish and speak Guarani fluently— one of the indigenous languages of Paraguay also spoken by the Enxet. As an Environmental Studies major, I have been aware of the long abandonment of the local government towards indigenous communities; therefore, I am committed to making a positive change by actively supporting these marginalized ethnic minorities that are continually being affected by the current environmental crisis. Mia Maldonado: I am currently a junior at the College of Idaho with double majors in International Political Economy and Spanish along with minors in Communications and Health Promotion. I am passionate about sustainable development and hope to utilize my area of study to empower and provide equity to underrepresented communities, especially in Paraguay as my father is Paraguayan and has shared with me his country’s culture and history growing up. It would be an honor to fulfill this project for the resilient Enxet in my country of heritage. COVID-19: This project will abide by the sanitary guidelines set by the Paraguayan Ministry of Health, ie, mask wearing, sanitation supplies, social distancing, etc. .
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