Centro Awavãna
Today, Hushahu has taken on this dream as a project to protect, preserve and share what is important to her. From her art to the spirituality that inspires it. This project is directed towards the following objectives:
Preservation of the Yawanawá spiritual tradition:
The Yawanawá carry something rare and precious in the world of today. Many traditions like this one have been forgotten already and the Yawanawá are blessed to still hold on to what was passed down orally through generations before contact with the western world.
Centro Awavãna is dedicated to keep this alive in a good way and to have a proper structure to share it with those that want to discover it, whether from within the tribe or outside.
In this way Centro Awavãna is a school, teaching self-understanding and connection to the natural world in a form that honours those passed.
Preservation of the Yawanawá arts and crafts:
When Hushahu entered her first diet, she began expressing the world she discovered through art. Without any materials, she began drawing on herself with the traditional paints Nanẽ (Genipapo) and Paxĩti (Urucum), designing in the earth and painting with charcoal from the fire. Taking inspiration from the traditional stories she began bringing back the traditional decorations of her people, working with beads, feathers, bone and other things from the forest.
The arts and crafts form an important part of Yawanawá culture, from decorative arts to objects for spiritual practices, household objects and traditional weapons. Many of this is being forgotten due to the convenience of buying things from the city and the lack of need for making things from the forest. Centro Awavãna is a space for Hushahu to bring her creative work forward and bring other talented artists together to give continuation to these practices.
Preservation of the rainforest & movement towards more sustainable practices:
The spirituality of the Yawanawá is about connection to the natural world around them. Centro Awavãna is dedicated to preservation of the rainforest and promotion of sustainable practices. In the land around no trees are allowed to be cut unless absolutely necessary and hunting is not allowed. A large investment has been made into planting fruits and vegetables which are shared with the families nearby, moving away from dependence on the cities for sustenance.
At the start of 2022, Hushahu received her first Western guests in the space for retreat and study as well as many of the Yawanawá youth to whom Hushahu is a teacher. She received about 20 young members of the tribe who entered diet to study the songs and arts with her in the new space.
Completed
Main Shuhu (roundhouse) with 2 floors
Wooden walkway from river to main Shuhu and leading to the toilet & kitchen
Outhouse with 3 toilets & 3 showers
Water well with filter system
Large kitchen with traditional palm roof, traditional Earth fire, gas stove
Food plantation focused on traditional foods – manioc, bananas, corn, 4 types of potato, various fruit trees, coconuts..
Diet space deep in the forest with 4 huts and 1 small kitchen for deeper study & isolation
Currently funding
Separate diet space on hill overlooking the space with one smaller Shuhu, 20 diet huts sheltered in the banana palms 2 toilets & 2 showers
Solar panel system
Toilet and shower in the isolated diet space with water pump for when creek runs dry
Water system to support the plantations during dry season
Food plantations (ongoing)
Medicinal plants plantation
4 small roundhouses to house guests connected to main shuhu by extension of the walkway