Ashaninka – Yoreka Training Centre

“Yoreka means knowledge, science, awareness. It is inspired by the spirits and the mysteries of the jungle, by the wisdom that we draw from talking with the elders, by the respect for nature and especially by practical everyday work.”

This stems from the Centre for Education, Culture and Environment, which provides an exchange of knowledge, intercultural dialogue and education for indigenous and un-indigenous residents of the Jurua River. With wisdom from indigenous traditions, the non-indigenous residents of the jungle are taught to recognize the value of protecting the environment and how to use it without destroying it. The centre imparts to young people and adults a new way of existing alongside nature, for example through projects such as turtle breeding or reforestation and forest economy with local fruit trees.

The ca. 60,000 Ashaninka live in the Peruvian rainforest. Only 800 have Ashaninka have settled on the other side of the border in the Brasilian state of Accre. However both sides have experienced for many years the frightening effects of globalisation and the “Western” hunger for resources. The Amazon rainforest is shrinking more and more rapidly; the European, Asian and American wood-enterprises press in more and more against indigenous lands. Not only is the trade of tropical woods booming, but soy and sugar plantations have sprung up where the great woods used to be. Enormous swaths of jungle have disappeared for this purpose. Exploitation, robbery of land and violence against the indigenous peoples is the order of the day.

On top of all that, these actions release up to 100 billion tons of CO2, with potentially devastating effects for the world climate.

More details can be found under http://gfbvberlin.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/yorenka-atame-das-ashaninka-projekt/ Read more