What are reparations for? In Brazil Amazon community, its culture.
On the lush banks of the Amônia River, where Brazil meets Peru deep in the Amazon, the Ashaninka Indigenous community is quietly spending $3 million in reparations for illegal logging.
Traditional thatched roof homes are being rebuilt larger and sturdier, and villagers speed down the muddy river on canoes equipped with new motors.
Yet the most meaningful transformation is taking place under the surface, locals say, and began long before the reparation settlement was reached.
“Our dream is not the money. Our dream is protecting this,” says Moises Piyãko, a member of a family of village leaders, gesturing to the expanse he helped rebuild, covered with groves of plentiful fruit trees, grassy clearings, and reservoirs for fishing.
The Ashaninka of the Amônia River spent generations as manual laborers
