Help Provide Christmas Joy for Chocó Children

“As a result of this solidarity campaign for a dignified Christmas, we seek to give a smile and moments of happiness to the children by handing out bags of sweets, toys, food kits, and clothing.” —William Nastacuaz, President of the Awá Pambilar Community.

 

Hi! My name is Juli Hazlewood. I am the Co-founder and Executive Director of Roots & Routes IC, a non-profit organization working to implement Indigenous and Ancestral peoples’ initiatives to learn from one another so as to continue to steward the lands. In spirit of the holidays, I am asking you to help provide Christmas joy directly to Chocó Rainforest children!

 

Olindo Nastacuaz is a R&R Board member. He has been President of the Federation of all 22 Awá communities and of CONAICE, the National Organization of Coastal Indigenous Peoples.

 

Olindo is asking you to make a difference this Christmas for the children of eight communities: six lowland rainforest Awá communities, the Chachi Indigenous community of La Ceiba, and the Afro-descendant community of La Chiquita.

 

The goal: To raise $4000 for 1,300 children, ages 1-11 years old. You will make their hearts very happy!

 

 

 

All the communities live in the Chocó Rainforest along the border of Colombia in the San Lorenzo Canton, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador. The Chocó Rainforest is among the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Thanks to the Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples’ stewardship, their rainforest territory is abundant and teeming with life.

 

Despite its ecological and cultural importance, the Ecuadorian Chocó Rainforest is severely impoverished. The boys and girls do not have access to quality education or health care, and they suffer from malnutrition. The region has become increasingly violent, crisis-ridden, and invisibilized. It is no exaggeration to say that the Indigenous and Black communities are undergoing ethnocide as we speak.

 

Surrounding oil palm companies are contaminating the communities’ river, and the people do not have access to drinking water. These conditions particularly affect school-age children, as their parents do not have enough income to guarantee their basic rights. To learn more, watch our documentary teaser, “Hope & Struggle in the Ecuadorian Chocó Rainforest” and visit our website rootsroutes.org.

 

In honoring Indigenous and Afro-descendant families celebrating culturally traditional festivities as part of Christmas, we at Roots & Routes join hands with them, and we hope that you will do the same!  With the funds you give, we can together evoke the spirit of the holidays and provide moments of joy and happiness to the Chocó children.

 

Donate to make a difference for Chocó Rainforest children this Christmas! ❤️