About us

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This project evolved following a brief encounter and subsequent lengthy discussions between an experienced geography teacher in the UK, who had a firm interest in global issues and the Amazon, and a Brazilian animator with much experience of producing films around education for sustainability and extensive travel throughout the Amazon.

With support from the Geographical Association’s Initiatives Fund (GAIF), Emma Espley and Adriana Meirelles managed to create a jam-packed workshop spanning the school day, which not only explored the geography of the region, but also integrated critical thinking; themes, such as sustainability and consumerism, and an element of creativity through the medium of art using natural materials and animation.

They were later joined by a photographer, Marcella Haddad, who introduced them to an indigenous community in Brazil. We have since been in regular contact with the Tururukarê-uka community from the Kambeba ethnic group right in the heart of the Amazon.

Due to Covid-19, our workshop had to ‘go virtual’ and now, via the platform of Zoom, we are able to involve up to six schools at a time, resulting in new contacts being forged, the swapping of ideas and sharing of work between schools across the UK.

During 2022, we launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to secure a more reliable Internet connection for the tribe, buy a computer for the indigenous community’s school and pay for Adriana and Marcella to visit them. In the process, Adriana and Marcella managed to strengthen our bond with the community, made long term plans to support and exchange knowledge between both the UK and Brazil and collected new audio-visual material to enable us to broaden the range of activities that we are able to offer.

From August 2023, Adriana took a secondment, returning to Brazil to spend time with her extended family. She has still maintained a rapport with the Kambebas, working independently with them on a literacy-focused project and visiting the community with her own family. Meanwhile, Emma and Marcella have continued to offer virtual single school and multi-schools events here in the UK, tweaking the format and content over time as more audio-visual material and updated information becomes available from our ongoing contact with the Kambeba community.

Olívia Pires Zamprogna has recently joined us. Olivia was born in Brazil, but has been living in the UK since 2015. She studied Interactive Digital Design at the BRIT School in London and her work now centres upon graphic design, motion graphics and filmmaking. It is hoped that we will be able to utilise Olivia’s skills and expertise to add fresh audio-visual material to our website and strengthen our bond with the Kambeba indigenous community, particularly with the younger generation.