Agroforestry the Peruvian Amazon

First of all, I'd like to update you on the learning community.

We were due to have a course with Mitch Schultz entitled 'Open Source Reality' in early May. Unfortunately, Mitch became seriously ill and was hospitalized around this time. We are planning to offer the course again when he is fully recovered.

Also, I have been trying to get in touch with Dennis McKenna about the course he was offering us on 'The Chemistry of the Amazon', which was postponed from last year. So far, I have not received any replies from him. I will keep trying.

If any of you have any ideas about a ten day on-line course relevant to our work that you would like to see offered, please write to me at: paul@alianzaarkana.org.

The schools and universities finally returned to classes in April after a general strike in Pucallpa and the national elections, so the last three months have been busy.

Our pilot intercultural health project was carried out by Nine Uhlich, a German midwife and homeopath working with us, and Carolina Mahua, a Shipibo woman wirth extensive knowledge of plant medicines, for one month in May in the urban community of Bena Jema. This has been very successful and early results in terms of better health care are very promising.

They have been able to offer high quality personalized attention and good alternative medical care to 140 individuals. Additionally they have treated around 60 of the children in the primary school for parasites, as well as made the plant medicine for parasites widely available in the community. This work is highly cost-effective. All of this has been achieved with a budget of $500 USD for one months work.

Other highlights of the last three months have been:

• The continuing development of a project to publish a Shipibo childrens book, based on the paintings of 30 spirits of medicinal plants by acclaimed Shipibo visionary artist, Lastenia Canayo.

• Planting a medicinal garden of 75 different plants, in the form of  a pathway that people can walk through, as part of our permaculture/education project in Santa Clara. Our Shipibo permaculture expert will be teaching about these medicinal plants in the primary school and we will also be using the book with the paintings of Lastenia Canayo to develop this work with medicinal plants further as it is a key aspect of traditional Shipibo culture.

• Taking on four new scholarship students, three of whom are young women from the community of Santa Clara, where we have our major permaculture project. We are paying their university fees as well as offering them additional classes in English and computer skills and a personal tutor.

• Hosting a short visit of two people from one of our international partner organizations, the Swedish NGO, Asociación Amazónica Sueca, together with two people from the University of Gothenburg. This short visit was to plan a further visit of around 50 people from the University of Gothenburg, in two groups, next november, which we will be hosting.

• Renewing contact with the new administration at the indigenous university in Pucallpa.

• Working with the shipibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya to help them make a video publicising the problems they have ben having in relation to the cultivation of palm oil on their ancestral territory. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ezX_psjoM.  A good article about this situation also recently appeared in the UK newspaper, the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2016/may/25/london-stock-exchange-amazon-deforestation

Finally many thanks for your ongoing support. Receiving regular donations this way provides a backbone of funding that we can rely on and helps make us more independent of the vagaries of different grant-giving cycles.

In appreciation,

Dr Paul Roberts

Intercultural Education Director, Alianza Arkana

Dear all

First of all, as always, many thanks for your ongoing support.

Secondly, about the learning community. We now have dates for the next course with Mitch Schultz, Director of the acclaimed documentary, 'DMT: The Spirit Molecule', which you can see on Youtube here. Mitch will be offering his ten-day on line course on 'Open Source Reality' from 2nd to 11th April. I will write to you separately about that nearer the time.

I am still waiting to hear from Dennis McKenna about the revised dates for his course on 'The Chemistry of the Amazon'.

In relation to our work here, based in Pucallpa, after a relatively quiet start to the year for the first part of January, we have had a very busy last two months. The highlights include:

• In February we welcomed four new volunteers, (which I imagine most of you read about in our newsletter) and since then we have a further two new volunteers working with us, one doing research for his Masters program in Norway on ayahuasca tourism and its effect on the Shipibos, and another helping us with communication. Increasingly, we are attracting high calibre, talented, committed volunteers.

• One of our new volunteers, Thomas Younger, is heading up our eco-social justice program. He is first talking to many indigenous leaders here about what the needs of the Shipibo communities are. At the same time, he and another colleague are working with a Shipibo film-maker to make a documentary about what is happening with respect to palm oil cultivation in a neraby Shipibo community. Palm oil cultivation is rapidly emerging as the latest threat to the Amazonian ecosystem and its indigenous peoples.

• Our work with young Shipibo women and girls has continued with a further five-day personal development workshop for teenage girls from the community of Paoyan. This is run in collaboration with the US-based non-profit, 'Girls for the World' and is the fourth year in succession we have successively run this program. Additionally, Denise VillaIva, a very talented Mexican volunteer working with us, ran a two-day workshop with mainly girls and two young men from the local urbal community of Bena Jema, using animations to explore themes from their everyday lives. You can read more about this on our blog here.

best wishes  Paul