A Project in the Amazon That Can Change History‏--Even $2 will help a lot

[ubaru]

Dear Friends,

I want to tell you about an important project we are working on with the Shuar people of the Amazon in Ecuador, a culmination of the years of trips we have taken to the Amazon to find out what exactly it is the people want and need to ensure the protection of our most important rainforest resource on the planet. There are only 3 weeks left of the Amazon Voice Kickstarter Campaign and $9,000 to raise - this is $3000 per week, and with your help I believe we can do it.

The project is called Kantza, which is a film project envisioned and produced by members of the Shuar nation, indigenous caretakers of the Ecuadorian Amazon. This project is not just a film - it is the lifeline to the future of a culture. The importance of the making of this film lies in the equipment, skills, knowledge, and technological capabilities gained by the indigenous people in the making of this film. I'm sure you have heard about the irreversible deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, human rights violations of its people, loss of culture and wisdom, corporate pollution of their lands, etc., for decades. It seems an ongoing problem we never cease to hear about. YES, it is STILL happening, and will continue to happen until the Amazon collapses (scientists predict as little as 10 years). Why does it take so long to rectify this situation when a revolution can take place in Egypt in 15 days? The answer lies in the ability for a group of people to connect to one another to communicate in a united effort, as well as communicate with the outside world.

The making of this film is a big step in giving the people of the Amazon a voice. The ability to speak to each other and speak to the rest of the world gives them a fighting chance. The people of the Amazon have asked us to help them build a media center with basic technological tools that will allow them to communicate with each other, with the world, as well as have innumerable other benefits including self expression of their culture, recording and sharing of their language and ancestral wisdom, reporting human rights violations, ability to educate their children in the home village, ability to prove occupation of their ancestral lands, etc. The list goes on.

With technology today a small amount of funds can shift the possibilities for entire cultures.

From the small amount of time I have spent with the Shuar the wisdom they have shared has changed my life. Help them find a way to share it with you. Help them to preserve the rainforests, not just for themselves, but for all of us - for the medicine it holds, the vital resources it provides, the climate stability it offers, and the endless cultural beauty that lies within.

The people of the Amazon have been caretaking the rainforest for us for thousands of years, and they cannot do it alone anymore. Our Shuar friend Tzama, the visionary of Kantza, is now ill from Monsanto pesticide poisoning. Many of his family are ill and dying. A highway is being carved into the rainforest that he and 15 other villages pledged to one another to protect no matter what. This is their home, their livelihood, their history, their lifeline, and it is being taken without permission, with no one else to witness.

Small actions can have large consequences.
Please watch the video and read the page of the Kantza Kickstarter Project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...aiting-to-be-0

• Please donate what you can to the project so we can immediately send cameras and other important tools to the village.
• If you have a mailing list, please send the project information to your mailing list, as you hold the power of communication that they do not.
• Spread the word through your social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter
• Even donating $2 makes a big difference: if we reach 18,000 people that can donate $2, the history of this culture can be changed.

In Service,
Shena & the Team at Amazon Voice

Shena Jade Jensen
Co Director, Critical Beats, Amazon Voice
www.CriticalBeats.org
www.AmazonVoice.org

If a culture is falling in the forest - how will we ensure their voices are heard?