In July and August, Executive Director Niyanta Spelman, accompanied by various folks went to our current and future partner communities in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon. Below is her reflection on her return visit after 15 months during which time the RP Peruvian team has been working on creating a management plan for sustainable means – both ecologically and economically – of making an income by harvesting an endemic palm fiber used to make brooms. In so doing, the community is able to conserve almost 9,000 acres of their community-owned forest.
Today, August 6, 2009, has been a pivotal, amazing day for us. We left Tarapoto early in the morning and came to Chazuta. We had a wonderful meeting with the vice president of the district of Chazuta and had a delicious lunch of local fish, yucca and salad (I ate everyone else’s unwanted salad, a great luxury and a delight, thanks to the guidebooks that recommend avoiding salads!)
Then off we went for our much anticipated meeting with our partner community. For everyone with me, it was their first visit to our community. For me, however, I was returning after 15 months and we had accomplished so much in that time that I couldn’t wait to see them as opposed to getting pictures, videos and almost daily updates from our team on the ground.
To avoid disappointment, I had warned everyone that we may not have many people to meet. We were headed to what I have taken to calling “main Street” Chipaota (El Pueblo) on the river Huallaga where the community center is, where the school is and where everyone has a second house and where the women stay with the kids during the weekdays during school year. But school opening was delayed, thanks to Swine Flu prevention efforts, and I was expecting everyone to be at their chakras (small subsistence family farm next to their huts) in the forest.
But as our boat arrived in Chipoata, and we climbed the stairs, “Main Street” Chiapota was filled with people young and old with the kids playing soccer. We went into the community center (a thatched roof, mud floor structure with some wooden benches and a table at the head) and it was filled with all the friendly familiar faces. The Apu (chief) was in his ceremonial dress as were some of the community members. They had called a general assembly in anticipation of our arrival and everyone had made an effort to come down to El Pueblo to receive us and meet with us.
We heard wonderful, passionate stories about the RP project, its implications, its effect and the conservation of the forest of Chipaota. We were addressed and sung to in Quechua and Spanish and we were fed wonderful food: humitas, ceviche de pulpo de platano (plantains), ensalda chonta (palm heart salad), chonta cooked in peanuts – all served in beautiful handmade ceramic bowls with pretty shells for spoons. And there was local hot chocolate in very pretty small ceramic bowls made in a manner that goes back 1,500 years in this part of Peru.
Several of us had to fight back tears and hold back our overwhelming feelings, and I am not one to be lost for words that often. It was a true joy to be here to see the culmination of the first phase of our first project. In that moment, all of us, and Rainforest Partnership had arrived.
The welcoming reception was truly moving. When we arrived on the shores of Chipaota there were so many townspeople out to greet us that I instantly felt a connection with the community — which I had previously only heard about through Lucia’s updates and an occasional photo or video.
The Apu led the proceedings with a commanding authority and a powerful voice to match. So many Chipaotans approached us, eager to discuss the project and their thoughts for the future of their community. We were shown such warm hospitality by our partner community and I was reminded that, while our languages, cultures and livelihoods might be very different from each other, we ultimately share much more in common with our friends in Chipaota.