Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.9. Nazaré and Dolores, Guarani Nhandeva women and child, 2001.
Guarani in the Baixada Santista were never honored, although the money was
spent. These vital contracts were for the purchase and distribution of seeds, tools,
and other important agricultural products. The hunger and scarcity which resulted,
coupled with tremendous increases in the costs of living, brought about an escalating
incidence of child mortality, drug abuse and violence, and a general deterioration
in public health.
I asked another Guarani Nhandeva woman, Iraci Fernandez, to tell me what she
sees or feels like when she goes without eating for hours or days at a time. The
woman replied:
When I don't eat I see things, like a huge mountain of food…. So I pray I can
get to the dump on time to meet the big trucks that bring the good food from the
supermarket. Last month my sister made it there on time: she got three whole cans
of evaporated milk, bread, beans, spaghetti, you name it! So you've got to eat
good once in a while, otherwise you die without ever being able to fly that high.
Iraci was referring to the hope the people who live off the dump hold on to, that
they will be there when the cargo trucks from local supermarkets bring food with
expired validation dates to the dump. But in Mongaguá this does not happen very
often, since major supermarkets are located in neighboring and much larger cities
of the Baixada, such as Santos and São Vicente, 30 to 35 kilometers north from the
Itaóca reservation. One of the biggest dumps in the area is located in São Vicente,
but during a few months in the summer, because of the high influx of tourists in the
area, the companies also use the smaller Mongaguá garbage lot. When UNICEF
(1999) was surveying the situation of children looking for food in dumps in 1998,
the companies also used the smaller Mongaguá site, afraid of the negative publicity
they would get if caught dumping goods that could have been donated to needy
families before the expiration date. This keeps the Guarani's hopes up, and some
