The activity of listening to demands was made by AMAB in partnership with Instituto Juruá, in the Carauari Fishing Agreement Area.

By Fernanda Moraes 
Translated by Laiane Lessa

In November 2023, the Association of Agroextractive Residents of Lower Mid-Juruá (AMAB), along with the support of Instituto Juruá, finished an action that was initiated in 2023: the demands assessment named “Community of Dreams”. This activity was based on “Dragon Dreaming” and “Tools for assessing needs and impacts” methodologies. The goal was to bring the main demands presented by different social groups (men, women and young people) to improve the quality of life in their communities.  The demands assessments took place in 10 communities, at the Fishing Agreement Area of Lower Mid-Juruá.

“Community of dreams” was a smooth and successful activity. While we were presenting the project to communities, we could see the sparkle in the residents’ eyes. Dreams bring hope that a transformation will change people’s lives. We know that dreams are wishes that strongly claim within people about something they deeply want for their lives. Lively dreams are important and potentially transform reality.

In a world where we have been living under difficult situations, why can’t we talk about dreams and together bring hope of better days? The activity was developed in separated groups of women, young people and men and was carried out in the following  communities: Reforma, Lago Serrado, Paquetá, Ressaca, Santa Cruz, Marizal, Concórdia, Marapatá, São João and Bacaba, resulting in the participation of 75 women, 67 men e 44 young people.

Despite being so physically close together, we could notice that the realities of each community were different. Some dreams were identical, however, with distinct meanings. We know how much life in the communities needs to be improved and this project came with the purpose of shedding light on the main concerns of the residents. When we introduced the activity to the residents, it was noticeable that, in that moment, they saw an opportunity to build a community of their dreams, even though they were aware of the hard work involved to shape up the community into a place where dreams become reality.

The region where the communities are located still needs special attention, specially in the area of education. Currently, there are no opportunities for courses, and  there is a lack of educational centers capable of training not only young people, but also people of different ages who wish to receive education. 

The need to have an opportunity to attend high school in the community was highlighted in the meeting, as well as the need for specific courses such as information technology (IT), environmental education and public speaking. This lack of opportunity represents a major obstacle that we need to overcome in order to transform reality. 

Besides the dreams focused on education and various training programs, many demands related to the structural improvements were mentioned, such as the installation of solar panels in order to obtain cleaner energy, reducing dependency on burning diesel, and pumping water into the houses for consumption. In addition, many of the dreams made reference to the structural improvements for arapaima management, including the need of fishing gear and a standardized floating boat for pre-processing the managed fish.

During the “Community of dreams” activity, each group not only presented their dreams, but also their strengths, determination and hope, as if they were designing a plan of activities to execute following a priority sequence.  Through this activity, we could witness the strengths of women that do not allow the silencing of their voices, they are firm in their positions and make ideas come true through their struggle.