Yanapuma - Blogabond

Returned last night from 3 days in the Tsa'chila communities around Santo_Domingo_de los_Tsa'chilas, mostly in the community of El Búa. Met many local people, participated in a community meeting, walked around, and learned about people's lives and needs. Did a tour of a small nature reserve, which is one of only a few small patches of remaining forest, and learned about native plants used for food, construction, handicrafts and medicine. The second night, we were treated to a great live music performance with handmade drums and marimba. Helped test and evaluate some old and mostly nonfunctioning computer equipment at one of the local elementary schools.

Still defining the goals of my work in the community, but have many ideas for helping with reforestation, mapping for land use planning, and setting up educational programs for health, environmental awareness, and better agricultural practices. One challenge is that none of the crops grown there generate much income from the local market in Santo_Domingo. Another is that much of the land has been seriously degraded from chemical use, burning of crop residues, and monoculture. Some of this land has been leased to mestizo campesinos and the indigenous government has recently decided to not renew the leases and to reclaim the land. This is of course a sensitive issue, but presents an opportunity to make improvements in land management. Yanapuma is working to unite the 7 communities in a cultural rescue effort, which has as one tangible objective the construction of the new cultural center.

Lots of mosquitoes there - much more than anywhere else I've been on the trip. There's a fairly good road but very few vehicles passing by. Some of the main crops are plantains, cacao, yuca, malanga (like taro), maracuya (passion fruit), sugar cane, pineapples, teak and corn.

written by

cjones on January 24, 2008 from Quito, Ecuador

from the travel blog: so-journ

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