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Left: : A typical girls dormitory at the rural school. They
use hammocks to sleep. The students spend 2 weeks at school and 2 weeks at
home. This school has been founded in 1995 and today there are 80 students
registered from 13 different communities. It costs £15.50 per month
but often it is paid through food donations. There are 132 schools like this
in Brazil, 19 of them are in the State of Maranhao.
Middle: The babassu breakers use a very rudimentary technique to break the coconut and extract the seeds.
They now have a fully operational cooperative. They make soap using the Babassu oil combined with their home made natural essences from exotic plants from North Brazil. They are selling their oil to international companies such as The Body Shop (UK) and Aveda (USA). They recycle paper. But the most outstanding part of these women's fight is that they won a very hard battle: the approval of a local law called "Free Babassu".
Under this law the workers can now extract the nut even in some private areas.This project tells the story of strong women, warriors that are still fighting to have the right of a salary at the end of the month, to have a piece of land to grow food for their kids, to improve their basic living conditions such as sanitation, electricity in their houses and above all, to leave in peace.
