Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon

by Center for Amazon Community Ecology
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Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
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Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
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Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
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Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
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Support native artisans & rainforest in the Amazon
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Project Report | Aug 29, 2013
New handicrafts and craft plant reforestation

By Campbell Plowden | CACE Executive Director & Project Leader

Brillo Nuevo artisan planting guisador dye plant
Brillo Nuevo artisan planting guisador dye plant

Dear CACE Project Supporter,

Every summer, I take a break from supporting CACE work in Peru from afar to join our project team in the Amazon.  I’ve gotten used to spending a full day in a boat to reach a remote village, visiting nasty outhouses, and tolerating bites from chiggers, mosquitoes, and the occasional piraña.  What I love is getting to know families in our partner native communities along the Ampiyacu River. 

Their days may include harvesting yucca roots from a field, canoeing to a lake to fish, or climbing trees to gather pijuayo palm fruits to eat.  They have to be creative and work extra hard to buy other necessities or send their children to a better school because traditional jobs don’t exist there and markets can be far.  I’m thrilled that our project is helping over a hundred artisans to make and sell new handicrafts, and our plans to produce new essential oils are making good progress.  See a summary of recent activities below.  Our small group’s trials, errors, positive results and persistence have earned our partners’ trust that we have a long-term investment in their success. 

Please consider sharing this commitment with us by becoming a Recurring Donor.  A generous GlobalGiving supporter will provide a 100% match for the first gift made any new Recurring Donor given by this Friday, August 30.  Visit our project page and click on Monthly Recurring under the Donate button. We also invite our supporters to become a Fundraiser for our project on GlobalGiving.  Create your own page on the site and use your creativity and personal network to help us raise an additional $3000 to buy and send a commercial-scale essential oil distiller to our project in Peru. GlobalGiving is offering prizes for successful Fundraisers in September.  To get started, click the green Fundraiser button on our project page

Here are a few highlights of our project activities this summer.  See some photos of these below.

  1. One field team measured the condition of 900 rosewood tree seedlings planted in February and continued monitoring the growth of resin lumps on copal trees around Brillo Nuevo and Jenaro Herrera.  We hope to start distilling rosewood leaves and copal resin into marketable essential oils in two to three years with a higher capacity still.
  2. We worked with artisans in four villages to develop new woven handicrafts including hair barrettes, hat bands, water bottle carriers, cell phone carriers and animal figure holiday tree ornaments.  
  3. We continued our survey of chambira palms in artisan fields, supported a cooperative artisan effort to plant more chambira in one woman’s fallow field and continued promoting the use of pruning saws for low-impact harvest of chambira stems used for weaving crafts.
  4. We assisted women artisans to establish a plot of dye plants in an upland area safe from flooding and continued documenting the use of these in a manual being made for artisans.  Watch our new video about the dye plant Mishquipanga on YouTube.
  5. We finished painting the community pharmacy in Brillo Nuevo built with a social rebate from CACE handicraft sales and officially turned over the keys of the pharmacy over to community leaders. 
  6. We held four workshops to teach young Bora men and women how to use a digital camera to record their activities in the forest, field and home.

Thank you very much for your interest and support for our project.  Please contact us with any questions, comments or ideas.

Sincerely,

Campbell Plowden

CACE Executive Director and Project Leader

Captions for photos in report

Report header photo

Bora artisan Hermelinda Lopez planting guisador ginger in fallow field. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology. See more photos of artisans planting dye plants and chambira palm enrichment.

Other photos

Bora man measuring rosewood tree seedling planted at Brillo Nuevo in joint project between CACE and Camino Verde.  Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology.  See more photos of rosewood planting.

Resin lump on copal tree at Jenaro Herrera.  Studying the growth of resin lumps will allow us to determine a sustainable harvest rate for this resin provoked by bark-boring weevils.  Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology.  See more about copal research.

Bora artisan Ines Chichaco with new model of chambira woven hat band. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology.  See more photos of hat bands and the artisans who made them.

One new model of chambira woven hair barrette made by artisans from Brillo Nuevo. Photos by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology.  See more photos of hair barrettes and the artisans who made them.

Bora artisan Casilda Vasquez dying chambira fiber with sisa leaves. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology. See video Artisans of the Ampiyacu to learn more about chambira craft making and dye plants.

Bora men practicing use of digital cameras at Brillo Nuevo. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology.

Bora man painting community pharmacy in Brillo Nuevo built with social rebate funds from CACE craft sales. Photo by Campbell Plowden/Center for Amazon Community Ecology. See more photos about this community project.  

Bora man measuring rosewood seedling
Bora man measuring rosewood seedling
Copal resin lump in study at Jenaro Herrera
Copal resin lump in study at Jenaro Herrera
Bora artisan with new woven Amazon hat band
Bora artisan with new woven Amazon hat band
Amazon flower design woven hair barrette
Amazon flower design woven hair barrette
Bora artisan dying chambira fiber with sisa leaves
Bora artisan dying chambira fiber with sisa leaves
Digital camera workshop in forest for Bora men
Digital camera workshop in forest for Bora men
Painting community pharmacy at Brillo Nuevo
Painting community pharmacy at Brillo Nuevo

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Organization Information

Center for Amazon Community Ecology

Location: Lemoyne, Pennsylvania - USA
Website:
Facebook: Facebook Page
Twitter: @Amazon Ecology
Project Leader:
Campbell Plowden
Lemoyne , Pennsylvania United States
$190,850 raised of $230,000 goal
 
1,397 donations
$39,150 to go
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