(ANS – Meruri) – On the occasion of the extraordinary visit of the province of Campo Grande, Fr Natale Vitali, Councillor for the American Southern Cone region, highlighted a significant page of Salesian history. For more than a century the Salesians have been working with the native Bororo people, evangelizing and defending their rights. Two Salesians - a German, Fr Rudolf Lunkenbein, and a Bororo, Simão Cristino Koge Ekudugodu – gave their life for that cause. This is a story of commitment to and solidarity with the Bororo people.

The first Salesians, together with the Salesian sisters, reached the land of the Bororos in January 1902. Their leaders were Fr John Balzola and Sr Rose Kiste. They built the first mission in an area called Toripó. The School of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built in 1903. It offered lessons in Portuguese, mathematics, science and agriculture for the boys, and classes in weaving for girls. Until the mid-1920s, the mission assisted the Bororos in economic and medical matters, as well as in education and evangelization. Due to a shortage of water, the mission was later transferred to an area near Morro de Meruri, where it remains to this day. The village of Meruri grew around this work.

In the years 1934-1935 the non-indigenous population began to grow in numbers. They came in search of gold and precious stones. At the same time the number of Bororos was decreasing on account of sickness and emigration.

By the mid-50s, while Fr Mariano Bruno was Rector, the homes and the school buildings of the Salesian sisters were refurbished. In 1956-57, a large group of native Xavantes reached Meruri. There were welcomedand assisted by the missionaries and by the Bororos until they were finally transferred to San Marcos in 1958. In 1963-64, many houses were built for the Bororo families from the village of Meruri. Around this time also they acquired the first vehicles for the transport of goods and the first problems arose in the management of the territory. Non–natives occupied the areas around the mission that the Bororos used for hunting and fishing, and also other areas that were officially declared reservations.

In 1972 the CIMI was founded, the Council of Indigenes and Missionaries. The missionary commitment of the Salesians to evangelization now began to include also the preservation of the native culture and language, and the protection of their right to a territory where they could live as an autonomous people. A hospital was built, and with the assistance of some very competent professionals this contributed greatly to the health situation of the Bororos. Tuberculosis was eradicated from the Bororo and Xavantes people. In 1973 the mission school was officially recognized as an indigenous state school, and in 1974 began the process of training native teachers and nurses.

Conflicts over the land came to a head in 1976, when the indigenous area of the Bororos at Meruri was re-defined and Fr Rudolf Lunkenbein and  Simão Cristino  were assassinated. In the years that followed no new parishes or educational centres were opened for the native people, and the mission at Meruri concentrated more than ever on the care of the Baroro people.

From 1980 to today there has been a growth in the number of Bororo students in the elementary school. In 2009 a secondary school was started. The teachers are all Bororos and most of them have a degree in higher education. Worth mentioning is the establishment in 2001 of the Fr Rudolf Lunkenbein Centre of Culture, which today is the national reference point for the revitalization  of naïve culture.

In 2012, the management of the school was handed over completely to the Bororo people.

According to the 2010 census in Brazil, there are 2,348 Bororos constituting 0.31% of the indigenous population of Brazil.
 
Published 22/04/2012