Janilson walked 8 kilometers every day just to get to class.
Some years, he did not even have a notebook. To buy one, he sold bananas, flour, and fish in his community of the Sateré-Mawé people, in Amazonas, Brazil. His teachers, seeing his determination, ended up giving him materials so he would not leave school. Over time, he lost a brother to malaria, saw an uncle face cancer, and watched a sister receive a diagnosis of a rare disease. That was when his decision was born: he would become a doctor to care for others as no one had been able to care for his own.
Today, at 29 years old, Janilson Silva dos Anjos earned first place among Indigenous candidates in the 2025 Special Selection Process at the Federal University of Pará, Altamira campus. He studied on his own, without preparatory courses or expensive materials. Now he faces a new challenge: paying for housing and transportation far from home while supporting his elderly parents.
