Amazon Conservation & Indigenous Revival

Dear Friend! ,

Warm greetings from the Kamëntsá Territory in the Colombian Amazon 

We are deeply grateful to share how your support has allowed OIOC to expand our work — from protecting forests to reviving ancestral language, and from caring for medicinal plants to creating intercultural education programs rooted in Indigenous science.

This evolution reflects a larger vision: to protect both the land and the wisdom that sustains it.
Our project now carries a new name — Amazon Conservation & Indigenous Revival — symbolizing this union of ecology and culture.

“In Kamëntsá cosmovision, the forest and the people breathe as one.
Each tree we plant and each word we teach in our language is a way of remembering who we are.”

Your generosity continues to make this remembrance possible.

Thank you! 

Recent Achievements (July – October 2025)  Amazon Conservation & Reforestation

• 20 new native and endangered trees planted, expanding our reforestation initiative in sacred and community-identified areas.

• Ongoing care for 1400+ previously planted seedlings, including Yagé, Yarumo, Palmito, Chilca, Motilón, and Nacedero.

• Reforestation gatherings continue to blend ecology with ceremony — restoring both biodiversity and the spiritual relationship between people and the land.

Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants

• The OIOC Botanical Garden now cultivates over 150 native medicinal plants, under the care of Don Pablo, our field worker and plant guardian.

• New multilingual plant signs (Spanish, Kamëntsá, and scientific names) have been added, transforming the garden into a community learning space.

• Elders, children, and visiting herbalists gather here to exchange plant medicine knowledge — keeping ancient healing traditions alive through living practice.

Kamëntsá Language Revitalization – “Moch Huagnish” School

• 122 active students are now learning and teaching the Kamëntsá language.

• Classes integrate song, storytelling, and art, making language learning a celebration of culture.

• Each new speaker is a bridge between generations, carrying forward the memory of the ancestors.

Indigenous-Led Science Program

• We launched the Indigenous Science Program, connecting traditional ecological knowledge and modern research.

• This initiative explores the ancestral science of the forest and plant medicines, uniting Indigenous elders, scientists, and students in ethical intercultural learning.

• It marks a new chapter in Indigenous-led education — rooted in the forest, shared with the world.

Looking Forward: What’s Next

In the coming months, OIOC will:

• Plant 100 additional native trees to strengthen biodiversity corridors.

• Expand our medicinal nursery, cultivating sacred plants vital for ceremony and healing.

• Publish digital learning materials featuring Kamëntsá language, plant uses, and ecological wisdom.

• Support Indigenous women and artisans, ensuring cultural and economic resilience across generations.

A Message of Gratitude

Your donations help us care for the Amazon not only as a forest, but as a living teacher.
Each contribution supports the protection of biodiversity, the revival of an endangered language, and the empowerment of Indigenous knowledge keepers.

Together, we are sowing harmony — between humans, nature, and spirit.

With deep gratitude and reciprocity,

The OIOC Team
Organization for Indigenous Outreach & Conservation
Sibundoy Valley, Putumayo, Colombia
www.oioc.co | info@oioc.co

Links:

• Organization Sustainability Plan
• Indigenous Science Program
• Language revitalization Program

Preserve Kamëntsá Yagé Wisdom & Restore Amazon
Reporting Period: February – June 2025
Project Location: Kamëntsá Territory, Sibundoy Valley – Alto Putumayo, Colombia

Dear GlobalGiving Donors,

We’re honored to share the continued progress of our work in the Kamëntsá territory. Since our last report in February, we’ve taken meaningful steps to expand and deepen our efforts to restore native ecosystems and protect ancestral plant medicine knowledge, also but not part of this project we are working on basic need support for the Kamentsa people and the revitalization of their Native Lenguage—thanks in part to your continued work.

"In Kamëntsá cosmovision, life flows in cycles. Everything is connected—humans, rivers, forests, and the unseen. This vision guides every tree we plant, every sacred plant we care for, and every elder we stand beside. We hold our supporting community in this same spirit of reciprocity and prayer."

Recent Achievements

(February – June 2025)

Reforestation and Plant Medicine conservation Milestones

• 200 new native and endangered trees planted, expanding our Amazon Conservation reforestation initiative in community-identified areas.

• 1,000 Urapán trees (used for traditional wood crafts) are now being cultivated in Benitos Chindoy green house lot and will be distributed to Kamëntsá artisans to restore the supply of culturally significant trees.

• Ongoing protection and care of previously planted seedlings including endangered species like Yagé, Yarumo, Palmito, Chilca, Motilón, and Nacedero.

Botanical Garden Maintenance

• Continued cultivation of over 150 native medicinal plants, including Yagé (ayahuasca), guided by Don Neftalí our field worker.

• The garden is now being equipped with plant signs, transforming it into a community learning space where plant medicine knowledge is shared between elders, children, and visiting herbalists.

 Cultural & Ecological Integration

This project is about more than trees. It’s about rekindling the deep spiritual relationship between the Kamëntsá people and their ancestral land.

• Through every planting cycle, we host ceremonial planting gatherings, led by elders, where stories, songs, and prayers are offered to the land.

• Our reforestation work now includes riverbank restoration, helping protect vital water sources and sacred sites.

• We’ve begun integrating trees used in Kamëntsá craftwork, making ecological and cultural restoration one and the same.

 Looking Forward: What’s Next

Thanks to your continued support, we are preparing to:

• Complete planting of another 500 native trees in upcoming months.

• Continue expanding our medicinal plant nursery, particularly for species critical to ceremony and healing.

• Launch a pilot program to train youth in traditional agroforestry techniques.

• Develop multilingual signage in our garden to honor Kamëntsá names, uses, and cosmological meanings of each plant, addign this to our website.

Every tree planted and every medicine nurtured is a thread in the web of life. We thank you for walking this path of sacred reciprocity with us.

Your support isn’t just protecting biodiversity—it’s helping a people remember who they are, and helping the forest remember how to thrive.

With deep gratitude,

The OIOC Team
www.oioc.co | info@oioc.co