Supporting the Shipibo-Conibo Community from the Amazon, Peru
I met Kelson Cauper Sánchez, during my research journey to Ecuador and Peru at the beginning of this year. In Fernando´s Garden close to Quito (capital of Ecuador) I took this picture of him, wearing the traditional ceremonial clothing of his tribe. His mother made this one and many more beautiful traditional embroideries like you see in this picture.
We established a friendship and have been keeping contact. The pandemic hit his community unexpectedly hard. All members of his family got infected with Covid-19. Fernando and me have been supporting him and reaching out to our networks.
On September 10th we are dedicated our Soneiro Community Event to bring awareness to the situation of our friends in the Amazon. The event was on donation basis and the full outcome was sent to Kelson´s community.
For those who couldn´t join the event but still want to support the guardians of the Amazon - we made an online campaign. Find all info below! Thank you so much for your support!
During this time it is important to not forget those who are really in need.
KELSONS MESSAGE
“Hello Familia, I am Kelson Cauper Sanchéz from the Shipibo-Conibo people of the native community of San Francisco Pucallpa Peru. I was born and grew up here in the community.
My responsibility is to provide humanitarian support to the people of this community. I have been working in handicrafts, agriculture and fishing, that is our source of work. Now we are working in agriculture because we need to sow and harvest to be able to feed ourselves, because this disease of Covid-19 has devastated us all in general. Not only Covid-19 but also dengue fever is very strong here and people are dying.
That's why we need support in general with food, medicine and different supplies to prevent further infections. It is getting strong again, it is the resurgence that worries us a lot because we don't want to lose any more lives for our relatives.
We thank all the friends who have been supporting us unconditionally. We still need your support to continue feeding our Shipibo brothers and sisters because they can not work or do other things when they are dealing with the infection. Here in the community there is still Covid-19, the dengue that has already taken lives and we do not want to lose any more.
Blessings to all and keep praying for us...
Sincerely,
Taita Kelson of the Shipibo-Conibo people”
The Shipibo-conibo from Peru in times of covid-19
The Shipibo-Conibo are indigenous people who have been living for thousands of years in the Amazonian rainforest. Many of their traditions are still cultivated, such as working with plant medicine, their traditional songs, clothing, embroidery and textiles, the pottery and tools.
Their artcrafts and healing methods are reknown internationally and people travel from around the world to get in contact with their rich cosmology and traditions. Now they need our help.
When Covid-19 entered Kelson´s community, many people got infected. In the beginning it seemed unclear if it was Dengue Fever or Covid-19, since they were also no chances to test it. Covid-19 is a virus that was unknown to the community and they treated it with traditional and modern medicines.
However, from the 3.000 people living in the community 20 died so far and 90 per cent of the community got infected. Most people had to drop their work and duties in order to heal and recover.
The Pandemic is effecting the Shipibo-Conibo community majorly and we feel the clear call to support them from distance. I am in regular contact with Kelson, who is reporting me about the situation in his community.
ONLINE DONATION
For those of you who could not make it to the event, you can donate via our GoFundMe campaign in the link below!
SONEIRO SINGING CIRCLE COMMUNITY EVENT TO RAISE FUNDS
Since this summer once a month we gather in Treptower Park to come together and sing: both mantras and medicine songs. We believe in the power of community, sharing and connecting to nature and each other - all values that we can perfectly put into practice for these donation based gatherings.
AT THE EVENT ON SEPTEMBER 10TH WE RAISED 560€ FOR KELSON´S COMMUNITY. NOW WE WOULD LOVE TO RAISE AN OTHER 500€ THROUGH THE GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN, WITH THE DONATIONS FROM THOSE WHO COULDN´T COME TO THE SINGING EVENT.
Co-Creation with Fernando Derks
Here you see Fernando. I took this picture of him after my Vision Quest, when we wrote a song together. We are joining forces with one of our favorite musicians: Fernando Derks.
He introduced me to Kelson in Ecuador. Together with Fernando we sang songs at the Fundraiser Event and he also shared Ikaros (traditional healing songs) with us after the singing.