In 2012, a group of Awakening the Dreamer Symposium Facilitators in Latin America began to host phone conferences to express and bring to fruition their vision of a Regional Network of Facilitators and Leaders. This network of people would not only coordinate Symposium-related activities and opportunities in their own countries, but in the entire region encompassing Latin America and Spain; the Ibero-American region.
The team named itself Group of Ibero-American Leaders (GIL), and since 2013 it has had three in-person gatherings in different countries. This year, 16 of its members from seven nations met in Ecuador where they discovered a new way of working together and planned for the year ahead as they celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium in the very place that inspired its creation, the rainforest of Ecuador.
The Purpose of This Gathering
“To be transformed and inspired by the essence of Pachamama and to allow that experience to inform the role of the group in the great transition humanity is undergoing.” - Purpose Statement Created by the GIL for the Gathering
To achieve their purpose, the GIL worked on the event’s agenda for several months. The intention was to create an experience that would balance and honor the best of both—the ways we in the modern world do work, and the way indigenous communities relate to life. The team was unsure of how the journey would actually turn out and yet they surrendered to the experience and trusted the spirit of the rainforest to guide them and their intentions.
[metaslider id=45314]
With agendas in hand, backpacks ready and—as agreed upon—egos and expectations left behind, the team embarked on the journey to the Sápara ecotourism project, Naku.
Once in the rainforest, GIL leaders Manari Ushigua (Sápara leader) and Abuelo Suaga Gua (Muisca Chibcha Elder) performed rituals and ceremonies to honor the source of life and added the spiritual guidance needed to complete the experience.
The GIL uses the ancient Amazon prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor as a guiding principle for how they intend to create the future we all yearn to see—one that is environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just. The nine-day event was filled with activities designed to connect individuals with group purpose, and to finding a way of being and doing that is rooted in the teachings from indigenous communities—recognizing the interconnectedness of all life. With intention and full trust, the team was able to experience what it is to embody that prophecy in order to achieve a purpose.
Discovering Their Next Steps
The group leaders left Ecuador having discovered their next steps to achieve their mission:
"To weave the wisdom of the natural, ancestral, and modern worlds to generate transformation in the world."
Some of the commitments made by the group include bringing the message of the Symposium and creating Pachamama Alliance Communities in 3 new countries, bringing the Symposium to the business world in the region, and organizing a Latin American indigenous elders gathering in 2016.
