Once again
the Shipibo family was camped on the sidewalk outside our hotel selling
bracelets, necklaces and such.
They are so hopeful we will buy and look so pitiful when we don’t. Maybe someday. Peruvians are so polite, offering a
‘Buen dia’ as we pass or sometimes ‘Eh gringo!’ Pleasantries must be exchanged even with cab drivers before
asking where you want to go. In
the office everyone shakes hands each morning and excuses themself before
leaving the room.
It is only a
short walk to the office and we leave later each day hoping not to be the first
to arrive. Time here is relative. Today we timed it right
and got there just as Diego and Juan Pablo were unlocking the door. Carlos, the boss, showed up about 30
minutes later. We are learning a
lot about the Instituto del Bien Comun but still don’t have a good translation
for ‘Bien Comun.’ (The consensus is 'Common Good.) IBC (ee-bay-say)
is an NGO (or ONG in Spanish) that is dedicated to protecting the rivers, the
forests and the indigenous cultures of the Andean Amazon. Funding comes primarily from USAID and
the Gordon and Betty More Foundation in San Francisco. IBC works with other NGOs like The
Nature Conservancy and with similar organizations across the border in Brazil.
Juan Pablo gives the impression that they in direct opposition to the
government, which seems to have a different agenda which, if followed, will
reduce the Amazon rainforest by some 50% to 90% in the next thirty years.
Peru has
laws to protect the rights and heritage of the indigenous people who live by
choice in isolated communities.
But they are largely being ignored in favor of big logging concerns,
petroleum exploration and mining operations that obtain concessions to work on
supposedly protected areas. Other
pressures come from illegal logging, fishing, poaching and harvesting of forest
products. The indigenous people
are highly susceptible to diseases from the outside and a single epidemic of
flu could seriously affect an entire culture.
IBC is
working to change these practices, to protect key river basins, the forests and
the indigenous people who depend on them for their livelihood. IBC has a large map and database and
provides resource management and even legal aid. Our job is to organize and catalogue their photographs to
use in presentations. But so far I
fear we have mostly been making a nuisance of ourselves.
