Brazilian Indian Becomes a Doctor in Havana. She’s First One to Do So

A group of Pataxó Indians from Bahia Maria da Glória Oliveira da Silva, of the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe people, has just graduated in medicine from Havana's ELAM (Latin-American Medical School). She is the first indigenous person born in Brazil to complete this course in Cuba, and guarantees that she wants to come back and live amongst her people, in the South of Bahia.

"My commitment was to return and work in the community", she said in a telephone interview from Havana.

Silva began the medical course in 2001 and intends to specialize, in Brazil, in gynecology and obstetrics or in pediatrics. When she arrives in Brazil, she will still have to face the challenge of having her diploma validated.

She says that one of the most important things that she learnt during her stay in Cuba was how to face up to difficulties

"In spite of all the difficulties, which affect not only us students, but all the Cuban people, we learnt to be aware of what we have and what we don't have, and to improvise whenever necessary. Even with the difficult situation in which they live in, the people here are always willing to help, they behave in a humanitarian way."

This scholarship for students linked to social movements is offered by the Cuban embassy in Brazil, and includes the students' course fees, food and accommodation costs.

The Indianist Missionary Council (Cimi)  has supported the training of Indigenous people by facilitating the contact between the Indian movement, the communities and the Cuban embassy. This year, at least eight additional Indians will go and study in Cuba.

The Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) has been encouraging Indian students to acquire higher education. Data from the Ministry from a couple of years back show that there were 2,179 native schools in Brazil operating within Indian territories, but most offering only grades 1-4, for lack of teachers with higher education.

In 2004 the University of Brasí­lia made the unprecendented gesture, in Brazil, of reserving 15 places for Indian students.

The government wants to have public universities reserve half of their enrollment for students coming out of public high schools. That works out to around 60,000 places.

"This is a way for us to promote racial equality in public universities," said Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, explaining that some of the places will be automatically reserved for Blacks and Indians.

Cimi

Tags:

You May Also Like

Getting to the Bottom of Brazil’s Gerald Thomas

{mosimage}Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone opera Moses und Aron, unjustly portrayed in the classical-music media as ...

Street vendors, a common sight of a lively informal economy

GDP – Brazil’s Gross Disappointing Product

GDP growth is a bit of an obsession in Brazil. You can’t attend a ...

Brazil Finally Admits Belo Monte Will Cost Well Over US$ 11 Billion

Brazilian Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant’s actual construction will begin in September or October. ...

How Diadema, Brazil, Cut Murders in Half by Closing Bars Earlier

Diadema, an industrial city in the Greater São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil, with one ...

Brazil’s Munduruku Indians Start a Movement to Save an Amazon Tributary

Greenpeace has joined forces with an Indigenous Amazonian community in an unofficial demarcation of ...

Where Brazil Was Born

In Ilhéus, state of Bahia, the hills are covered with cacao trees. If you ...

Brazil's Kayapo Indian chiefs

Uncontacted Indians Believed Dead Emerge from Brazilian Amazon

In an extraordinary encounter, a group of 89 uncontacted Indians suddenly appeared in an ...

Despite Supreme’s Ruling Brazil Jurists Still Want Military Torturers Punished

Brazilians have been asking such questions as: Is there a difference between a “political ...

The U.S. and Exchange Rates Do Not Scare Brazilian Exporters

Brazilian exports are going to rise despite seasonal factors like exchange rates and the ...

Brazil Tells US that WTO Comes Before FTAA

Negotiations within the scope of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and agreements with developing ...