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” “If the forest is gone, people will also end,” says Ajareaty Waiapi, a female chief and grandmother working to preserve her community — and the planet’s lungs.
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“And in spite of the ongoing threats from the outside world, she teaches them to celebrate, to sing and to dance.
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“At a festive party one afternoon, she rallies the women of her village to gather in a line, holding hands, teaching them a song that has been passed on for generations.
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” “We are singing for the butterfly,” Nazaré said.
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“According to Waiapi legend, butterflies are constantly flying around tying invisible strings that hold the planet in place.
“If we don’t take care of the butterflies and their home,” she says, “they will not be happy and will stop working, causing the earth to fall.”
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Teresa Tomassoni from: “The Amazon’s best hope? A female indigenous chief is on a mission to save Brazil’s forests” (NBC News 8.25.2019)
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“We are all butterflies
Earth is our chrysalis.”
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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2019
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