A story of hope – Choco Andino Ecuador

When sharing time with youth, I noticed specific patterns that, as adults, we perpetuate. For instance, the mainstream discourses about how young people and children are not able to make their own decisions or that they do not even know what to do or how to do something, however when we pay a little bit of attention, we can encounter that actually young people have their own interests that are shaped by many different factors and interconnected with their social, cultural context.

In this post, I want to talk about La Red de Jovenes del Choco Andino, which is a group of youth people, from 12 years to around 19 years, who live in the communities of Choco Andino. The Choco Andino, is a biodiverse reserve that encompasses 5 countries in South America. for a couple of years, mining companies have threatened this territory, which has caught the attention of many activists and alternative media in Ecuador.

This past summer, I went to the Agroecology Annual National Encounter, which was held in Pacto, a wonderful rural community located within the Ecuadorian Choco Andino Reserve. This encounter gathers people from all over Ecuador interested in agroecology; some are peasants, small-scale farmers, entrepreneurs, cooks, activists, and academics. 

Photo: Ana Carolina Benitez

In one of the activities, I met Cristina, who is part of the Red de Jovenes del Choco Andino; Cristina is 18 years, and she told me that she was attending this agroecology encounter because she feels is important to share the story of their collective but also because she truly believed that only through cooperation is possible to achieve big goals. She told me that they are raising awareness about the territories these mining companies are threatening and how not only nature is being threatened but also people who co live whit nature. I asked her how she does not lose hope, and she told me, "I am a dreamer." Then, she explained to me that it all started with a dream when they started as a group of young people that shared their worries and frustration with the situations happening in their communities. She said that when she was 14, she and her cousins talked about how worried they were because their younger siblings didn't have the technology needed to print or do homework in their homes, so they organized themselves and came out with the idea of creating a shared space where children and young can go to use computers, printers and other devices required for completing their homework. So she said that it was not simple, but they really wanted that, so as a group, they went to the Provincial Council to talk with the authorities about their necessities. They told them to prepare all the paperwork and present the project "officially," so they did, and they obtained the devices required. She also said to me that adults sometimes think young people are naive and inexperienced. Still, it is ironic that they keep complaining about their realities but do nothing about it. She added, "we believed that we actually could do something and that we cannot wait until somebody else helps us or save us," and "we needed to do it by ourselves. "

Nowadays, the Red of Jovenes del Choco Andino is mobilizing themselves in different areas to defend the quality of life of themselves, their families, and nature. They organize events to raise awareness about the biodiverse fauna and flora that exist in Chocho Andino but they also there are actively inviting people to meet the people that live there and that have been living there for many years.

During my visit to Pacto, I remembered that they are two things we should never forget, the problem of universalism in feminist studies (Mohanty). For instance, contrary to what outsiders would think, Cristina does not see herself as helpless or a victim; she sees herself as a person who can choose and create. As Cristina, other young women in Choco mobilized without doubting or being intimidated by the obstacles they could encounter. So, in these narratives, it is visible how they change the notions from being helpless to being the main supporters of community thriving and resilience by action. Finally, I found sense in many authors' when highlighting the importance of reflecting on our positionality when writing/researching. Most of the time, communities/women/people's needs are not the same as what we think they need, as the legacy of top-down approaches has made us believe. We can only validate saberes(plural of knowlegde) as legitimate knowledge by revisiting our interests.

 

I am linking a YouTube video that describes stories and gathers the testimonies of these young women being part of Red de Jovenes del Choco Andino. It is in Spanish, but I invite you to take a look as you may understand the main idea.