Deep in the Amazon, the Wai-Wai people of Mapuera live days away from the nearest hospital - up rivers broken by waterfalls, beyond the reach of the public health system. ONG Zoe sends volunteer surgeons, doctors and nurses on medical expeditions to their villages, delivering surgeries, consultations, diagnostic exams and medicines where no one else goes. Since 2020 we have provided 27,000+ free medical services across the Amazon.
The Mapuera village, home to the Wai-Wai indigenous people in northern Para, are among the most isolated communities in Brazil. Reaching a hospital can take days of travel by boat and plane, so even simple conditions - a hernia, an infection, poor eyesight - become disabling or deadly. Families are forced to leave their territory to seek care, weakening their bond with the forest they protect.
ONG Zoe organizes volunteer medical expeditions to the Wai-Wai territory: surgeons, pediatricians, gynecologists, ophthalmologists and nurses travel with equipment and medicines, setting up care inside the community. Patients receive consultations, ultrasound and endoscopy exams, minor surgeries, eyeglasses and follow-up - free of charge, respecting Wai-Wai culture and working side by side with local health agents.
When healthcare reaches the village, families stay on their ancestral land - and the forest keeps its guardians. Each expedition trains community members in basic care and first aid, builds trust between the Wai-Wai and the health system, and strengthens a replicable model of culturally respectful medicine for remote Amazon territories.
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