Communal kitchen and bathrooms:
The construction of Ozelia’s communal kitchen and bathroom stemmed from the dream of a remarkable woman who is both a village chief and one of the greatest knowledge-keepers of the Huni Kuin people, Ozelia Sales Bismani Banu Bake Huni Kui, a resident of Aldeia Novo Natal in the Indigenous Territory of Rio Jordão. Ozélia requested our assistance in building a communal kitchen for her village. Her kitchen serves as the heart of the community, where food and traditional medicines are prepared, and ancestral knowledge is passed down to her daughters, granddaughters, greatgranddaughters, daughters-in-law, and nieces. Unfortunately, the previous kitchen was in terrible condition and lacked proper utensils, severely affecting the women’s health. They frequently complained of musculoskeletal issues and regularly dealt with waterborne diseases, as there was no running water or dedicated water tank for the kitchen. Most days, the kitchen is used by matriarch Ozélia Sales and her family, but it also regularly hosts events involving other villages and occasionally outside guests.
The Flor da Floresta Institute provided support through an online crowdfunding campaign, supplemented by part of the funds raised from a health and tourism experience the institute promoted in August 2025 in Aldeia Novo Natal, as well as
direct donations from various partners who made a difference in this project! We thank everyone who supported this project directly or indirectly—we know it will make a significant difference in many lives and directly impact the health, culture, sanitation, and education of the entire Novo Natal village.
We began the project by purchasing items unavailable in Jordão, such as a stainless-steel table with a large basin and countertop, ensuring durability and easier cleaning compared to materials like wood. Additionally, we acquired other
stainless-steel sinks, various plumbing fixtures for water installations, a 500L water tank, a water filter, cutlery, pots, silicone utensils, and more
With the strength of the union of many people from across the country, this dream became a reality, and today the space is completely renovated and rebuilt. The structural and sanitary conditions are much improved, which strengthens the traditional food production and brings more comfort and health to the lives of women and children, and the entire community has benefited. This is further proof that the union of knowledge and strengths from different parts of Brazil and the world can make a difference in people’s lives, especially those most vulnerable. At the same time, we continue to learn and honor the Huni Kuin indigenous traditions, holders of wonderful knowledge!
Additional photos from the gallery can be seen in our Instagram post about the bathroom and kitchen renovations by clicking in the following link: Kitchen´s post
Access here the accountability onf the project
After a six-month campaign, the Flor da Floresta Institute has brought to life one of its happiest projects this year: in partnership with Novo Natal village, represented by leaders Bismani Ozélia Sales and Maná Edinaldo Macário, a cross-cultural health immersion was held.
For six days, health professionals and artists from the southeast gathered in the village to celebrate the richness of Huni Kui culture and medicine. The event focused on food security and sovereignty, healthy food production, care
for medicinal gardens, and cross-cultural health treatments and diets. Nearly all participants contributed to others’ health and received health contributions in return.
Eight doctors treated pajés (traditional healers) and were treated by them in turn. Nutritionists and nutrologists both taught and learned in lectures given by traditional knowledge masters about healthy eating focused on traditional foods, discussing everything from pesticides and water contamination to vitamins in food, traditional indigenous vegetables, and the cultural adaptation of traditional indigenous food when it comes into contact with globalized eating.
There was everything from pepper baptisms and traditional indigenous vaccination to medical consultations emphasizing the importance of vaccination, especially in children. The immersion was a success: all participants reported finishing the experience happier and healthier than when they began, and a great abundance of material resources was mobilized for Novo Natal village—thousands of reais in donations of highquality self-care items and clothing, investment in traditional indigenous crafts during fairs, and the main material resource promoted: with help from participant payments and donations from people in various parts of the world, a community kitchen was built with stainless steel countertops, gas stove, sinks and cooking utensils, plus a community bathroom and laundry room.
Previously this year, cooking was done with campfires on the clay floor where food was prepared directly on firewood, and water was mostly used without plumbing, using gourds, except for one small sink that existed but couldn’t handle the demand of a community kitchen for a village of 70 people. Thousands more reais were also raised in medicines — both artisanal herbal remedies, industrialized and allopathic—which were carefully prescribed and donated with the humility and delicacy of health professionals who work respectfully, valuing the medical knowledge of Huni Kui culture and carrying out harmonious integration in the necessary prescriptions to be used based on each
medical system. There was also an experience with production of local essential oils, with visitors having the opportunity to connect with the fantastic Huni Kui aromatherapy through the Ni Ininipá laboratory, represented by leader Ibã Tiago Sales.
In total, more than R$30,000 reais were invested in the village, both in community goods and in donations to individuals whether in material goods or volunteer work. The immersion was a success—a historic effort where never before
had 8 medical specialists and also a nutritionist been in the Jordão indigenous area, especially with a harmonious vision, cultural competence and integrating traditions within their capabilities.
Even team members who were not healthcare professionals brought artistic and organizational contributions that improved the effectiveness of transdisciplinary and transcultural healthcare initiatives, considering that culture is an essential factor for human health.
The Flor da Floresta Institute is immensely grateful to the Huni Kui people, the Novo Natal village, and all the participants who made this experience and all the joint initiatives possible.
Haux Hauxxx💚
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Other healh actions
Since 2023, the medical team at the Flor da Floresta Institute has been working in partnership with the shamans and midwife of the Novo Natal village, making biannual visits to the village, where they provide medical care and clothing, food, and medicine. The village, which has an average population of 70, boasts invaluable cultural and natural wealth, but faces social difficulties in issues such as nutrition, sanitation, and other ills related to the devastating cultural shock of colonialism, represented in this region by rubber tapping. In harmonious exchange, the medical team receives health care with indigenous medicine from masters of local traditional knowledge, which the team recognizes as revolutionary and has had a great positive impact on their physical, mental and spiritual health. They also learn about such medicines so they can apply them – to the extent that they are safe to use – to their patients, such as teas, herbal baths, aromatherapy, diets, health promotion and prevention guidelines, among many other ancestral knowledge from the forest of immense value to the health of all humanity.
This work was recorded, presented and awarded by the National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats – CONASEMS in 2025, and as a prize, the FIOCRUZ filmmaking team visited the village, and in addition to having carried out an immersion that was referred to as transformative by the FIOCRUZ team due to the contact with medicines, foods and people of the forest, it resulted in a beautiful Webdoc that praises the joint work of our institutions, the documentary can be viewed at the following link: Web Doc Aqui Tem SUS – Edição Jordão-AC
Viva o povo Huni Kui! Viva aldeia Novo Natal! Viva Flor da Floresta! Viva Fio Cruz! Viva as ciências tradicionais brasileiras e a ciência moderna globalizada brasileira!!! Viva o SUS!!!
