Brazilian, Canadian, European, and US Students Visit the Kayapo Indigenous Territories

By: Sarah Brasil, Sylvia Galuppo, Thomas Nickerson, Claire Wigglesworth, Caitlin Yardeny, Matthew Aruch, Natalie Knowles, and Juarez Pezzuti - August 2025

This year, the Kayapo Project Internship and Field Course welcomed five participants from four universities, representing Brazil (Federal University of Pará), Canada (University of Waterloo), the USA (Dartmouth), and Europe (Barcelona Institute for International Studies).  The internship is a collaboration between the ICFC, the Pŷkore Indigenous Association and A’Ukre community.

For more than 20 years, the internship and field course have provided a firsthand look at the unique realities of the Kayapo Indigenous Territories. Participants are fully immersed and challenged to learn alongside the Kayapo within new language, geographic, and cultural contexts. From community meetings, cultural celebrations, and forest walks, the program is one of the only ways for visitors to enter and immerse themselves with the Kayapo. 

Meeting and Greeting the Community

From the first moments of the program, participants were engaged with the A’Ukre community, meeting with community leaders in the warrior’s house. For many participants, interactions with the women of A’Ukre created some of their favorite memories, including receiving Kayapo names, new friends and relatives, and the closeness of being painted by genipapo.

“My favorite part was getting to know the women of Kayapó. And having them create names for us. Meeting them was the highlight of my time, getting painted by them too was a highlight.” - Caitlin

Sharing experiences with community members led to profound reflections and personal growth.

“I rediscovered myself as a person. During the fishing trip, I learned from the Kayapó about their way of life, about how to fish, and most importantly, about the value of being present. On the way back, singing with the women in the boat, I felt an ancestral strength cutting through the silence of the forest. The photos show a moment shared with my [Kayapo] mother and sister, together in Kayapó territory, a family connection within a land so rich in culture.” - Sarah

Being in the Forest at the Pinkaiti Research Station

In addition to working in and with the community, the forests around the Pinkaiti Ecological Research Station — maintained and operated by the A’Ukre community — provided a week of exchange between the 5 participants and 5 Kayapo instructors. During the week at Pinkaiti, interns visited Brazil nut groves and mahogany stands.  Paired teams of interns and Kayapo set up camera traps along trails. Different activities offered participants multiple ways to understand 

“One moment will stay in my heart and memory forever… walking through the ancestral Brazil nut grove with Matpari, eating nuts, dancing, and singing. As a Brazil nut researcher, that moment touched me deeply — sharing nuts, songs, and joy with an Indigenous woman made me feel a strong ancestral connection to life and the forest. It reminded me of the true meaning of ethnoconservation.” -Sylvia 

“I really enjoyed our walks through the forest with the Mẽbêngôkre and was endlessly impressed with both their navigation skills and knowledge of plants in the forest. It was cool to watch them stop at various plants and collect bits and pieces that might be useful to them later on during our walks to see different places in the forest, like the grove of Brazil nut trees or the top of a hill for sunrise. I was even more impressed that they managed to do it all in flip flops.”   - Claire

“That sunrise hike with the Kayapó is something I'll never forget. We were all climbing up this steep hill in the dark, half-asleep and slipping all over the place, meanwhile, the Kayapó were just cruising up in flip-flops like it was a casual stroll. I remember thinking, "How are they not even sweating?" But when we finally reached the top and the sun started rising over the trees, I just stood there, not because of the view exactly, but because this wave of memories hit me all at once. I thought about the sweet potato harvest, fishing… all the laughs. Somehow, it all felt connected in that moment. As the light filled the forest, it felt like I was seeing the whole trip in rewind but with a deeper appreciation. That sunrise didn't just light up the trees,  it lit something up in me too”. - Thomas

From Participation to Action

An important goal of the internship is to create the next generation of leaders with both the social and technical skills to create positive conservation outcomes. We know not all participants will go on to become conservation biologists, but the internship provides some real world context to drive behavior change and make connections with past experiences. 

“It was impressive to see the effect of deforestation due cattle pasture and gold mines. The Brazil Nut is a protected species, but only survives if it has forest around it. So, I will not eat any more steak, beef or cattle in general.” - Caitlin

“The [internship and field course] experiences made me reflect on life and on who I am. This immersion was wonderful, meeting new people, discovering a new place, a new way of living. Thank you, Kayapó, for allowing me into your territory and sharing a bit of the wisdom rooted in this sacred land. I have always felt connected to the social and environmental field. There are paths we choose to follow… and between the green that embraces and the silence that speaks, we move forward. It’s not just about walking, it's about arriving, listening, and sharing. It’s about letting yourself be touched by stories that don’t fit into reports, but take root deep in memory.” - Sarah

Join us in 2026!

“Mejkromej! I’m so grateful to the field course — may it live on and inspire many more people!”- Sylvia