In January 2009 Lourdes and I spent two weeks with our Shipibo friends, not on an ayahuasca retreat, but embarking on an educational and social outreach program that we hope will continue and grow as time goes by.

          Lourdes used her many years experience as a teacher using the Waldorf principles of alternative education to conduct a supplemental program for fourty Shipibo children. Helped by our German volunteer Anna, she began each day with singing, poetry and movement in a huge circle on the flat ground between the palm-thatched buildings called malocas. Then, while Anna played games with the younger children, Lourdes taught classes in creative but basic reading, math and writing. There is a school for the children in the community but the indigenous peoples of Peru are at the bottom of the social totem pole and teachers only sporadically show up, if at all. Lourdes did remedial work in the basics to make sure each older primary school child had a grasp of the foundations for future learning. We went on a field trip one day in our 45ft boat to see pink and grey wild river dolphins and visit a neighboring community only accessible by river. On one of our final nights we had a party with live Shipibo music and dancing.

          In the afternoons I taught English to teenagers and adults.
          In the future, and at the request of Teo and his extended family, we would like to continue this educational work and also supplement it by improving the infrastructure of the community. There are plans for bathrooms and showers, classrooms, a carpentry shop and areas for sports such as volleyball and basketball.

          We have the notion of work brigades made up of Shipibos and guests slowly but surely tackling these projects. Please contact us if you would like to help and we welcome financial support as well. We would welcome the design input of someone with a knowledge of composting toilets vs conventional septic system so we can begin with this most basic foundation for the whole project.