“Vodou practitioners have the responsibility to look after the well-being of the population. They have received the powers and the knowledge to put (well-being) in practice.”
Ati Carl Henri Desmornes (kahl on-ree day-mahn), Supreme chief
“Do not forget Vodou is our culture and our religion at the same time. Don't forget we are descendants of Africans. We're born in Vodou.”
Ongan Michelet Alisma (meesh-lay al-smah), priest
“Gede (ancestral spirits) and all the others are always present anytime they are called upon. We feel as if they are with us always and they hear us whenever we call on them.”
Manbo Amelia Ingrid Llera (ah-mee-lee-yah een-grid yeh-rah), priestess
“Vodou comes from the enslaved people of Africa… They walked all over the world and came here to our land. This is the way we came to have the vodou spirit within us.”
Manbo Katy (mahn-bow kay-tee), healer & priestess
“We do not want to live in the past. The past that lives in us will transform this country for the better.”
Denildo “Biko” Rodrigues (day-neel-doh bee-koh rod-ree-guess), coordinator, national Quilombo Association (Conaq)
“Today we work rescuing our memory…It is all connected to our history - to return to the past, to seek our origins, to learn good things, to bring to the present and build a better future.”
Adilson Almeida (ah-deel-sun ah-may-dee-yah), Quilombo do Camorim Cultural Association
“That’s what we do here in this small corner hidden within the Amazon. Surviving so that we can obtain land titles and guarantee a piece of land for us to live on, for the future of our children.”
Claudinete Colé (claw-dee-neh-tee koh-lay), Boa Vista community leader
“It is important to stress: the fight is not just ours. Preserving the environment and our history is in everyone's interest.”
Sandra Maria da Silva Andrade (sahn-drah mahr-ee-ah dah sill-vah ahn-drah-day), leader Minas Gerais
“We’ve left behind the ‘I’ in order to work for ‘us’ and the ‘my’ to work for ‘ours’. What is mine? The house, the clothes. And what is ours? The land.”
Benedito Alves da Silva (ben-eh-dee-toe ahl-vays dah-seel-vah), President Association Ivaporundura
“We only worked collectively, doing collective projects, puxirum (poo-she-room) as we called it, and the work was always divided with the plots right next to each other.”
Daniel de Souza (dah-nee-yell day soh-zah), territorial leader, Jauary
“We do as our ancestors taught us. People need to know where (their) food… comes from. Our typical dishes came from the slave quarters and remain made without chemicals or poison.”
Heloísa de França Dias (eh-low-ee-zah day-fran-kah dee-ahz), community educator, Sao Pedro
“Our struggle, like our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’, is to defend this land so that we can hand it over to the new generations just as it was when we received it.”
Adrienne (Drica) (ah-dreen) (dree-kah), teacher, Cachoeira Porteira
“From a very young age I was taught by my grandfather the medicinal purposes of the plants around our region - a traditional way to pass on ancient knowledge and practices.”
Wendell Paulus (wen-dell pow-luss), Saamakan food entrepreneur
“When our ancestors fled…they did not carry anything with them. They learned how to live – what plants to eat, how to deal with subsistence needs once they got to the forest. It is our whole life.”
Wanze Eduards (wahn-zeh ed-wahrdz), Saamaka Headcaptain
“On September 19, 1762… our ancestors, the Saamaka maroons, signed a peace treaty with the Dutch Crown…acknowledging their territorial rights and trading privileges…It still goes on.”
Miquella Soemar-Huur (mee-gwell-lah so-mahr hyour), Surinam National Assembly