Refreshed and Revitalized by a Visit to Our Roots
A small party of us just made a visit to the rain forest of Ecuador and to Kapawi Lodge there. In a trip of just one week we saw the origins of the Pachamama Alliance, met with and meditated in the jungle, swam in the Kapawari river, took plant medicine with a local shaman, explored the customs of the Achuar people and breathed in the life and energy of this remarkable place.
Introducing our Partners, Widen & Kennedy to the Rainforest
The purpose of the trip was to introduce our partners from Wieden + Kennedy to our work, so that they can use their creative genius and media insight to help us to spread the impact of our work further and faster than ever. We’re looking to the company that put the swoosh in Nike to help us communicate our messages more succinctly and powerfully in these days of increasing urgency.
So the trip was a guided visit and we had fabulous guides. Lynne and Bill Twist, who first responded to the call they heard through their dreams and flew into this remote spot to meet the Achuar nearly 15 years ago. And Daniel Koupermann the Ecuadorian who first worked with the Achuar to build the eco-lodge at Kapawi. He told us how he and an Achuar hunter were exploring the rivers to find the right site and they followed a river dolphin into a lagoon. Not yet convinced that this was the sign they were waiting for they took plant medicine from the forest and waited for confirmation. The answer was yes and so today this small lake is home to the lodge, the only indigenous owned and operated lodge of its kind.
A Success for All Parties
Were we successful? Yes is the answer if we consider the response of our partners who had a life-changing and hugely informative trip, a more considered answer will need to wait on the outcome of their deliberations now, but we’re confident that their expertise in communicating to the heart in simple and powerful ways will deliver some great new ideas – ideas to change the world!
And for everyone of us I’m sure, to sit in this most fertile of places is to feel the power of life, unstoppable and irresistible, it is an opportunity to re-confirm our commitment to do whatever we can to support the work of building a new dream, of peace and justice and sustainable living in the human family everywhere.
