The beginning of the 2022 Census Dress Rehearsal in the community of Novo Remanso, in Itacoatiara (AM), fondly known as “Charming Village”, was characterized by the good receptivity of the local population. Since before the beginning of the Dress Rehearsal, some residents already asked the IBGE team whether their house would be visited. After the first interviews, the enumerators, working in Novo Remanso since November 4, perceived that the population of the pineapple land is as sweet as the fruit produced there.

Jéssica Severo was one of the first enumerators to go to the field, covering the streets of the community. She soon perceived that the people in the community are welcoming: “in a general way, we are doing fine; they are very responsive. I can say that at each 10 residents, two remain shy. They ask ‘what is it for?’, ‘what the survey is all about?’, though they are welcoming and invite us to come in, offer water…”, tells her.

According to the enumerator, the greatest difficulty of the Dress Rehearsal in Amazonas is the weather: “the heat is mistreating us (laugh), but the rest is flowing well,” says Severo.

Édina Thomé is also working as an enumerator during the Dress Rehearsal and said that the balance of the interviews is being more positive than negative, in terms of receptivity. In her experience, she visited households with “older” couples and said “it was very easy, I didn´t have any negative experience up to now,” tells her. Thomé told that some colleagues reported denials of residents, but she believes that they are punctual situations.

Experience of the dress rehearsal will be passed on to the 2022 Census

The servants who work today as enumerators in the dress rehearsal are the Census Sub-area Coordinators (CCSs) in the work structure of the 2022 Census. They will train the enumerators who will go to all the households in Amazonas next year. According to Roberto Melchior, one of the enumerators, “the dress rehearsal will be very important for the training of the enumerators of the Census next year.”

He says that he is well impressed by Novo Remanso: “here we have a receptive people who welcome well in their houses. When we explain the reasons why we are here, it gets even better as they understand why they are answering the questionnaire and what this test represents in terms of benefit,” explains him.

Melchior adds that the enumerators of the Census Dress Rehearsal in Amazonas are working “safely and easily” and also said that distrusts are very rare, despite the accelerated expansion of the urban area of the village. “In general, they open their doors and want to talk with us, answer our questions,” concludes him.