The Mapuche – fighting for their right to heal

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Mapuche are Chile’s largest indigenous group – a population of more than 2 million people. And, they are fighting for their right to heal. They want Chileans to value their unique approach to healthcare and give them control of land and their own destiny. But, it’s a tough sell when there’s so much distrust and violence between the two communities. Jane Chambers travels to their homeland in the Araucania region in the south of Chile, where she’s given rare access to traditional healers and political leaders.

Presenter / producer: Jane Chambers Producer in London: Linda Pressly Editor: Bridget Harney

(Image: Machi Juana at her home by her sacred altar. Credit: Jane Chambers/BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a woman who want to.
0:13.0	This is Huana.
0:15.0	She is a mache, a spiritual leader and traditional healer in Mapuche culture.
0:20.0	She is a short sturdy woman, and she's wearing a bright purple dress with lime-green flowers.
0:25.4	Juanas chanting by her sacred altar a carved wooden pillar with twigs tied to it.
0:31.0	I'm not going to comes from thunder. My spirit lives with the
0:37.6	thunder. Spirits are like gods that you can't see and they come to heal the sick.
0:44.4	They come from the sea, the mountains, different animals,
0:48.3	the moon and the stars. At more than 2 million the Mapuche, Chile's largest indigenous group, over 1 and 10 of the population, and
1:05.9	they've been fighting to control their destiny and land for centuries.
1:10.0	At the heart of their struggle is the battle to win respect for their cultural practices,
1:14.3	including their unique approach to health care.
1:17.4	I'm Jane Chambers, and for this week's assignment on the BBC World Service, I've travelled
1:22.4	nearly 700 kilometers south from Chile's capital,
1:25.4	Santiago, to the lush green region of the Araukaneer, the homeland of the Mapuche.
1:42.0	Kwan lives right out in the countryside, clucking hens and hissing geese strut around her land. She talks to me at her kitchen table beside her wood-burning
1:45.2	stove. This is where Chilions and Mapuche visit her for a basic consultation. She charges
1:51.0	$13, that's around half the daily minimum wage.
1:55.0	Spirits tell me what's wrong with my patient.
2:01.0	They are like a doctor, and then I know what plan to use. It could be mint or
2:06.2	camamile or bark from one of our sacred trees. We have many medicinal plants. They bring a sample of their urine and pyjamas they have recently slept in.
2:20.0	With that, I can see everything, their state of mind, the illness and what they need.
	...

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