In November 2008, the Rainforest Partnership Board of Directors held a special meeting at the Blue Dahlia Bistro on E. 11th Street in Austin, Texas, in order to discuss and vote on proceeding with funding our first project: working with the native community of Mushuck Llacta de Chipaota in Northeastern Peru to develop a forest management plan. After much discussion, the Board voted unanimously to move forward and we launched our debut project, which was chosen based upon a series of community criteria RP developed to insure accountability and transparency. We will be commemorating this auspicious milestone on Thursday, November 5, at an anniversary event at the Barr Mansion, hosted by Austin filmmakers Richard Linklater and Elizabeth Avellan.
Much has taken place since that time, and in August of this year I finally had an opportunity to fly down to Peru and spend a few days in our partner community. As a board member, as well as a volunteer, I have been involved in every level of the project, and had spoken via Skype with our Peru program coordinator, Lucia Eslava, and the Chipaota project manager, Jaso Angulo, on various occasions. But mostly I followed Lucia’s project updates on the blog, and listened attentively to reports from our executive director. Although I’d had previous experience working in indigenous communities, it was difficult for me to sit in an air-conditioned office in Austin and visualize Chipaota and its people. Finally I would have a chance to visit the project site, meet our ground team, and learn more about our partner community.
We were met at the airport in Tarapoto, an entry city into the Amazon region, by Lucia. It was truly exciting to finally meet her after having conversed so often through Skype. We got settled in Tarapoto and spent a few days seeing the city, and meeting with Jaso for an update on the Chipaota project, as well as other regional news. Then it was time to visit Chipaota and meet this amazing community. From Tarapoto, we traveled to Chazuta, the district capital.
In Chazuta, we met with Deputy Mayor Leonel Julca Troncos in his office. On her previous trip, Executive Director Niyanta Spelman had met with Deputy Mayor Julca and his support was crucial in our getting the project up and running in Chipaota. During this meeting, he provided us with a very informed update of all the positive progress being made in the area in regard to promoting conservation and environmental consciousness and suggested some areas for future collaboration with RP. We left the meeting with a definite sense of accomplishment, and will likely pursue further projects with Chazuta in the future.
And, finally, it was on to Chipaota, where we were greeted by a great many members of the community. More to come in the next post.
