Continental Meeting of Indigenous Women of the Americas

Through their Uniterra program, the WUSC (World University Service of Canada) and CECI (Center for International Studies and Cooperation) took part in the Fifth Continental Meeting of Indigenous Women of the Americas attended by more than 250 women from 17 countries. This meeting helped reinforce partnerships and promote the development of new initiatives between indigenous women from North and South America. To achieve this, Uniterra invited two volunteers from among its partner organizations: Juana Pérez from the Aymaras community of Bolivia, and Lola Cabnal from the Mayan community of Guatemala.

Lola Cabnal works with the National Federation for Community Tourism of Guatemala and with the Ak’tenamit organization, which means “new community” in the Q’eqchi language. The Ak’tenamit project is aimed at promoting the development and self-determination of the indigenous people of its community. Ak’tenamit seeks to improve the community’s living conditions through comprehensive development. Its community tourism project is based on training students to host tourists and promote local culture.

Juana Pérez leads the municipal council of Curahuara de Carangas, a city of 6,000 inhabitants from the Bolivian Altiplano. Seeing as most people living in Curahuara are Aymaras, the indigenous traditions are very apparent. The Uniterra program works in Curahuara in the areas of health and nutrition, and assists with the raising of camelidae (llamas, alpaca and vicuna).

The meeting was held under the theme Restoring Our Balance. According to our participants, this meeting made it possible to forge new bonds between the North and South. Lola Cabnal also pointed out several similarities between the various indigenous communities. “Indigenous cultures throughout the Americas have several points in common, and dialogue is essential. Naturally, some of the problems our communities face are the same (violence towards women, among others) but let’s not forget about our connection to nature, our love of the earth, the use of medicinal plants, etc.”

Juana Pérez stressed the importance of meeting together and making connections during this type of event. “This forum was an opportunity to make institutional contacts with northern communities, but also with other indigenous communities from Central and South America. But I am sorry there is so little time during this type of event… The meetings are so fulfilling, it would be great to be able to make more connections.”

In addition to participating in the fifth edition of the Continental Meeting of Indigenous Women of the Americas, Juana Pérez and Lola Cabnal capitalized on their trip as cooperants to forge new contacts with players working in community health and aboriginal and Québec tourism.