The people of the Amazon rain forest

Kechwa women showing us gourds they use for just about everything

People speaking Kechwa languages populate much of the Ecuadorean rain forest.  There are about 120,000 of them in the forest.  Other Kechwa people live in Andean villages and, of course, in Quito.

The Sacha Lodge wanted to give its guests the opportunity to learn about the forest culture while, at the same time, helping the local Kechwa tribe have a more sustainable existence.  The Lodge funded the local community to build a typical village in the forest and to help the women to develop crafts they could sell to tourists.

food cooking on traditional fire

We spent about 2 hours with 2 Kechwa women who are leaders of the local community's tourism effort.  Like most Kechwa, they are very small, less than 5 feet tall.  The older woman, 39, is pregnant with her 6^th child.  She told us that when she was ready to give birth, she always had her babies at home with help only from her husband.  During her first birth, she stood up while her husband put his knee in the small of her back and pulled her shoulders backward.  Sounds grim, but she said it helped push the baby out.  Not sure who caught the baby as he emerged.  But, it must not have been an ideal delivery method, because the rest of her deliveries, also standing, have happened with her hanging onto a rope loop tied to the cross beam of her house, pushing while she hung on.  Her husband caught the baby.  Not surprisingly, she told us that younger women preferred to go to the clinic about an hour away by boat.

fish, manioc and plaintains

There are no roads in this part of the forest, except for those built by oil companies that don’t connect to anything except the river.  So, the river is their highway and the route to the clinic and to other villages.

They believe the forest provides everything they need, from natural medicines to food to materials for building their homes.   They don’t need cash, they said, because they simply go into the forest to get what they require.  But, the cash economy they have created with their crafts and meetings with tourists is clearly very important to them.  They told us the money is used to maintain the demonstration village and a small amount to buy things they need for their families. 

Their food is very limited.  Fish from the river when they can catch it, manioc and plantains are the staples.  Various larvae and bugs add to the diet, while hot peppers are a key part of the flavoring.  They make a drink out of manioc.  When they don’t have any other food, they will drink that 3 times a day.  It can be fermented to become their local beer.  They gave us samples of their food, which is quite good.  They serve their meals on large, clean banana leaves on the floor.  The family sits on the floor to eat with their hands.

eating local food

While the forest may provide for them, it certainly doesn’t provide enough all the time.  The claims that the forest is all they need are not believable when you know that child and maternal mortality are high, food is often scarce, and they really need some economic activity to make their lives more sustainable.

The villagers are all Catholics, but they add in a very large amount of traditional beliefs and rituals to their religious lives. Our guide told us that they are animists who enjoy the rituals of the Church when a priest visits them once a month.  But, the strictures of the Church do not play a big role in their daily lives.

mom, maybe grandmother and baby

The younger woman has an 8 month old baby.  She is not married and does not plan to marry.  She said she can have babies without getting married.  Her family does not mind.  They all help care for her baby.  The older woman is not married, either, though she has lived with her children's father for many years and considers him her husband.  They met when they were in school and had their first child very young, as do most couples.

Both women said they want their children to stay in their village.  Boys live with their parents or in a nearby thatched home when they marry.  Girls move to their husbands' villages.  The women said they stay in close touch with their daughters even if they are far away by forest travel time.  

Very few children have any schooling beyond about 5th or 6th grade because they would have to travel too far for secondary school and would have to live away from their families.  The is a university in Coca, but that is a long way by foot and boat from the forest communities.