Projects
As young indigenous people, we know that climate change is displacing us from our homes and communities, but we do know that we must have the energy to look for innovative solutions.
Keeping and applying our ancestral knowledge as young indigenous peoples is essential. The Uru Uru project is an initiative born by combining indigenous and scientific knowledge to protect our water resources so that life is always assured for our community and everyone.
By applying what we learned from our ancestors about the characteristics of our native plants, Totora and Chijchua (they clean and absorb contaminants dissolved in water), and what we learned from science about phytoremediation, we developed our “native rafts” that are placed along the tributaries of our lake that contain discharges from mining, wastewater residuals. Therefore, the contaminants in those “dark” waters can be absorbed by our plants. So that our lake cannot die as our life will not.
Caring about efficiency and sustainability, we use recycled material for elaborating the rafts, in which the native aquatic plants are emplaced. Then, trash can be transformed and be part of the solution.
Our “Communal Garden”
Sustainability inspired us to develop an activity parallel to our “native rafts.” We made a communal garden so people could take care of the rafts. Also, they can produce veggies and fruits using the clean water obtained by our rafts. This is a win-win since we take care of our lake, and by doing it, we get water to take care of our garden and, thus, our alimentation and economy.
“Taking care of mother nature’s rights means taking care of us.”
This project aims to reduce the violence that affects indigenous women in Bolivia. We work with indigenous men’s youth groups in Oruro, Bolivia. They participate in a series of new masculinities, feminism, and indigenous workshops to become aware and able to share and increase their understanding and acknowledgment of the violence indigenous women suffer.
The project also includes a practical component of entrepreneurship. They get first-hand training from successful entrepreneurs from Bolivia and then compete for initial funding for an entrepreneurial project with a gender perspective.
The project covers methodical and practical parts. It is because the main vectors for increased violence against women are related to economic constraints and lack of gender education in our society. Chacha Emprende envisions working on those vectors to reduce violence against women.
In Warmi Shining, we envision that every indigenous woman can have access to quality education. Warmi Shining focuses on providing free integral education to groups of 20 indigenous girls per year between fourteen and sixteen years old with free English classes, leadership workshops, and volunteering activities.
Volunteering activities – Girls volunteer in community activities such as cleaning and recycling campaigns, teaching indigenous communities English, etc.
