FOREST SCHOOL
Forest-Based Learning in the Amazon
TRANSFORMING EDUCATION for
INDIGENOUS CHILDREN in the Amazon
why is this project so unique and essential?
For the first time in Ecuador, an indigenous community in the Amazon Rainforest is taking ownership of their own formal education, allowing their children to have access to enriching, high-quality education without the need to leave their homes and community.
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For the Kichwa community of Mushullakta, because secondary schools are located so far away, youth were forced to leave their homes and find educational opportunities in nearby cities. However, now they can stay at home, earn a high school diploma and help their parents steward the land.
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Through a groundbreaking partnership with El Sauce School in Quito, Mushullakta children learn local and global knowledge. Community elders teach their ancestral wisdom, knowledge, and cosmovision - in their own native language - to the next generation, while national and international volunteers support with tutoring the typical subjects of Math, Language Arts, English, etc.
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This unprecedented approach teaches youth the importance of their identities, language and forest, while simultanuously training them how to navigate the western world. The Forest-Based Learning high school degree is truly one-of-a-kind.
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WOMEN AND GIRLS BECOMING LEADERS
Girls and women who become compassionate leaders have better chances of lifting their communities out of poverty and improving the overall wellbeing of their families.
This is why the Forest School focuses on cultivating strong women leaders.
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Women leaders see the forest as their home and projects like the Forest School are essential to stop deforestation in the Amazon. When we treat the forest as our home, we help return this vital ecosystem to its natural trajectory. This is just another reason the education of women and girls is so essential.
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This school is now an example for neighboring communities and organizations who have been observing the process and are convinced of its benefits. They are now waiting for the opportunity to become restorers themselves and register their children in this education project.
A FOREST-BASED LEARNING APPROACH
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Our unique approach harnesses the power of technology and connectivity to bring forward ancestral indigenous knowledge, sustainable forest management and regenerative agriculture techniques. Combined with learning modern entrepreneurship skills, the school can potentially turn this rural community into an example of environmental, economic, and social wellbeing for Indigenous groups around Ecuador.
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Each part of the curriculum is designed for students to learn how to live sustainably with nature.
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For example, regenerative agriculture methods, including ancestral practices, teach youth how to create organic food forests, aquaculture systems, organic fertilization, bioconstruction, and more.
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The children are redefining what health and wellbeing mean in the community, ensuring they know how to sustain themselves and their families, as well as how to produce and sell their organic products to outsiders.
Besides regenerative agriculture, the students learn leadership, product processing, entrepreneurship, communication in three languages (Kichwa, Spanish & English), traditional music, dance, and art.
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The experiences range from how to be a tourist guide on a forest adventure, to how to create attractive promotional materials in both Spanish and English, to how to cook and sell products created with native ingredients.
WE ARE CURRENTLY FUNDRAISING FOR THIS PROJECT
HELP US REACH OUR GOAL!
This is a long-term project that needs continous investment into learning resources and teacher salaries. Please help us expand its impact.
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Contact Chochi Iturralde if you are interested in supporting these children.
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