Researchers in the School Stage

The project is designed from the initiative of supporting tenth and eleventh grade students from the José Reyes Pete educational institution, Headquarters of the “Cxamb Wala” (big town) Ethno-Ecological Technical Institute, located in the Vitoncó Indigenous Reservation (Páez-Cauca), who develop ethno-ecological proposals as a degree requirement. There is a great interest in contributing to cultural survival from the feeling of indigenous youth; from these initiatives, traditions and knowledge are rescued, research is carried out according to the worldview and beliefs, with the accompaniment of the elders and leaders of the community, strengthening intergenerational communication. In this way, it seeks to open the way to position spaces for youth participation, built from cultural autonomy, where there is a deep respect for Mother Earth, the territory and the spirits that inhabit it. All the actions developed to meet the objectives prioritize WËT WËT FIZENXI or good living, to live in harmony.

The CHC had the pleasure of supporting the creation process of the booklet of traditional stories: “Yeckatê´we´sx (yuwetx katxude ec)”, an initiative carried out by the indigenous Nasa student Denny Milena Cayuy to opt for the title of academic bachelor of the José Respetes school.
The support of this initiative is a joint achievement that aims to strengthen traditions and knowledge, promoting the preservation of the oral and written language, making these stories reach mainly the children and young people of the indigenous community. In this way, these stories are made known with editorial quality and images made by the children of the community themselves, making this a process of the community that thinks about itself, from its interests and needs such as the preservation of its own culture in the midst of the context of globalization that tends to commercialize and homogenize cultures. This is why it is extremely important to strengthen one’s own identity through this type of initiative that aims to ensure that children and young people are knowledgeable and proud multipliers of their indigenous history.
We are currently working on obtaining resources to produce a hardcover printed version with analysis of the stories in Spanish, with the aim of disseminating the work in other Nasa indigenous reservations and educational institutions in the departments of Cauca and Huila.