Dear friends,
I made the first call, and cried.
Then I made a hundred more -- talking to Amazon chiefs and
elders throughout the rainforest.
The voices changed,
but it was all one story: of Earth's most resilient people,
passionate guardians of the forest,
facing utter
devastation by Covid-19. It's killing their elders,
their children, mothers, and warriors.
One man was days
from any hospital, and his wife was sick. The next time we
spoke, she was dead. And yet he couldn't stop to grieve. Too
many of his people still needed help.
The scale
of the suffering nearly broke me -- but instead, I got to work
on a plan.
We've now mapped out the Amazon's
most vulnerable communities and what they need to survive. We
know where they are, and how we reach them -- and I'm hopeful,
because with just one good fundraising response from the Avaaz
community,
we can save thousands of lives. Medicine,
covid tests, urgent food aid -- we can deliver it
all.
It's an incredibly ambitious plan, but
these people -- the Waorani, the Yanesha, the Kayapó, and
dozens more -- they've given all they can to protect their
families and the rainforest. Now it's our turn.
Donate
now and Avaaz will spend every penny we get on this urgent
response:
We
can't save the Amazon without the people who call it
home. Over thousands of years tribal elders have
grown a deep, intimate wisdom of the rainforest, and how we
can help it to heal. But now that ancient human library is
being ravaged by the virus, just at the moment the world needs
most.
More than 150 tribes in Brazil are already
infected and people are
dying at DOUBLE the
rate of the general population. I know how desperate
it is. They told me through tears.
We can get
funds into these remote communities, fast. Already,
thanks to the power of small donations from many of us, we’ve
just helped over 35,000 indigenous families across the Amazon.
It's incredible, but we have to do more. So I've mapped it all
out, and if we raise enough, we can:
- Provide vital Covid-19 testing
kits, medical supplies, and food packages for
desperate families;
- Fund mobile health facilities and
makeshift ICU beds in remote areas and rebuild
rundown health centres;
- Buy vital communication equipment so
communities can coordinate evacuations, report infections,
and call for help.
This is our chance to defend the
defenders; to lift up the people who've cared for and
protected the world's most precious rainforest for millenia.
And I promise that myself, Avaaz colleagues, and all the
indigenous leaders I spoke to will make every cent count.
This can save lives, so please donate what you can
now:
Our movement has stood
with indigenous communities from the very start. That’s why
our phones have not stopped ringing with calls from indigenous
leaders -- because they trust us during one of the darkest
moments they've faced. These are truly some of the most
inspiring people in the world and they know exactly what they
need to survive -- our help. So let's do all we can to lift up
the guardians of Earth's most precious rainforest.
With
fierce hope and determination,
Oscar, with Mike, Bert,
Nell, Martyna, Mouhamed, and the whole team at Avaaz
PS
- This might be your first donation to our movement ever. But
what a first donation! Did you know that Avaaz relies entirely
on small donations from members like you? That's why we're
fully independent, nimble and effective. Join the over 1
million people who've donated to make Avaaz a real force for
good in the world.
PS - Here are a few
photos of what our community’s first round of donations has
already made possible:
Testing,
treatments, and oxygen tanks -- it's all provided in one of
the 262 rapid-response ICUs we've helped set up in remote
areas of the Amazon.
Community
members receive medical advice and covid-testing at a
makeshift clinic.
There
are no roads deep into the Amazon, so here food aid and
medical supplies are delivered by boat.
This
is one of many community food gardens Avaaz members have
funded, so families can grow healthy food while supply chains
remain severely disrupted.
Days
from the nearest hospital, often the only way to reach
communities is over rivers or by air. This is one of the
planes that was used to deliver aid and medical supplies --
again funded by small donations from people like you. Thank
you!PS - This might be your first donation to
our movement ever. But what a first donation! Did you know
that Avaaz relies entirely on small donations from members
like you? That's why we're fully independent, nimble and
effective. Join the over 1 million people who've donated to
make Avaaz a real force for good in the
world.
More
information:Deforestation, oil spills, and
coronavirus: Crises converge in the Amazon (Grist)
https://grist.org/justice/deforestation-oil-spills-and-coronavirus-crises-converge-in-the-amazon/Protecting
the Earth’s First Responders from Covid-19: How to Prevent the
Extinction of Indigenous Communities in the Amazon (Avaaz
Report)
https://secure.avaaz.org/amazonemergencyCoronavirus
gets dangerously close to isolated ‘Arrow People’ in Amazon
(National Geographic)
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2020/08/coronavirus-gets-dangerously-close-to-isolated-arrow-people-in
