Support Indigenous Medicinal Gardens in the Amazon

First of all, we would like to thank the donors who make this project possible. In addition, we reiterate the spirit in which it was born: to help preserve the medicinal traditions of the Shipibo People towards a self-management of health, with special emphasis on the urban area and shantytowns of the district of Yarinacocha in the Peruvian Amazon. After their traditional communities in the rainforest, Yarinacocha is home to the largest number of Shipibo people.

Yarinacocha is ancestral land of the Shipibo people, but nowadays it is an expanding city where the western influence has weakened the traditional use of medicinal plants. But after the COVID 19 pandemic, they began to revalue their medicinal traditions.

The Shipibo live in a permanent state of medical neglect due to the insufficient coverage of public services, and also because public services do not provide intercultural facilities such as interpreters from Shipibo to Spanish.

They feel that hospitals are strange, indifferent and even aggressive places. Sadly, we must recognize that there is structural racism in Peruvian society, which is reflected in the care provided by public servants.

It could be said that they live in a permanent state of emergency where the solution for now is mainly in their own hands, in the revaluation of the use of their medicinal plants.

A Medicinal Garden for Mother Artisans is Starting

We are starting a new medicinal garden in the courtyard of the Shipibo handicraft sales center called Maroti Shobo, located in the main square of the district. There the artisan mothers make and sell their products.

And there they spend long hours working and sharing time among themselves and with their young children. In other words, it is a space of social and cultural cohesion that is purely Shipibo.

They are very excited for the medicinal garden because the older women will be able to teach the use of medicinal plants, and the children will grow up caring for and knowing their traditional medicine despite being far from the forest.

The first works have been the movement of debris and the leveling of the soil. Now we need to bring in fertile soil and fertilizers. The seedlings will be provided by the project's main nursery located about 100 m away.

A Medicinal Forest for the Bilingual Institute of Yarinacocha…

…Is waiting for your support. The enrichment with medicinal plants and manage of the forest will be at the same time an outdoor classroom to complement the education of the future indigenous teachers and a source of medicine for the students and neigborhood.

How we said in the last report, we've strengthened our alliance with the Bilingual Institute. Now, we're planning to create a medicinal forest, incorporating large medicinal trees and creating pathways with medicinal gardens.

The Bilingual Institute trains bilingual teachers in indigenous languages, and we'd like to support their holistic culture, including traditional medicine, by creating this forest.

Brief Project Overview

Our project operates primarily on seasonal cycles, particularly the rainy and dry seasons, and is currently in full swing. One of the keys to our project is adapting to seasonal changes. When the rainy season approaches, we prepare our nurseries to grow plants.

The medicinal gardens provide free natural remedies to the community, especially to those who do not have access to conventional healthcare. They are also centers of biodiversity. Your continued support is vital to sustain and expand these efforts, promoting self-sufficiency in healthcare. Together, we sow the seeds of a healthier, more resilient future.

Due to climate change, the Peruvian Amazon is suffering unusually high temperatures. That is why nurseries and medicinal gardens need to increase their irrigation, for that we need to install efficient irrigation systems urgently.