Among the many initiatives blossoming across the Amazon region—as concrete signs of hope and shared commitment—the project underway in San Borja-Bolivia, within the Apostolic Vicariate of Reyes, stands out. It is being carried out in collaboration with Caritas San Borja and the local REIBA San Borja team.
A response rooted in life and the land
The project “Training for Youth from Indigenous and Rural Communities with a Focus on Dynamic Successional Agroforestry” emerged as a concrete response to the call to care for life and the land and to promote good living in communities.
Its main objective is to promote the implementation of diversified vegetable gardens that:
Strengthen food sovereignty
Improve family nutrition
Revitalize the deep relationship with the land
More than a productive initiative, it is an educational and community-based journey that integrates ancestral wisdom and technical knowledge in harmony with nature.
A comprehensive and participatory process
The project’s development is characterized by its comprehensive approach, where each stage is experienced as part of a collective learning process:
Preparing the land, respecting natural cycles
Delivering and planting seeds
Supporting care, maintenance, and harvesting
Community spaces for knowledge exchange
This process reaches a profoundly significant moment in food preparation, where new vegetables are integrated with the traditional products of each community. In this way, recipes are enriched without losing their cultural essence, thereby strengthening culinary identity.
Youth and Identity: A Path to Rediscovery
Throughout this journey, the local REIBA San Borja team provides close support to young people, encouraging them to rediscover their Tsimane identity as a valuable gift that deserves to be nurtured and strengthened.
Likewise, the active use of the indigenous language alongside Spanish is promoted, fostering a bilingualism that:
Dignifies
Strengthens identity
Allows them to proudly defend their own culture
This educational process not only transmits knowledge but also shapes individuals who are conscious of their history, their territory, and their responsibility toward future generations.
Weaving Networks to Care for Our Common Home
This experience reminds us that the challenges of the Amazon require us to walk together. Therefore, we extend an open invitation to other networks, organizations, and institutions working in the region to continue coordinating efforts to:
Strengthening the culture of indigenous peoples
Preserving territories and biodiversity
Promoting intercultural bilingual education
Fostering sustainable alternatives from within communities
Joining forces is sowing the seeds of the future.
Sowing more than just food
This project does more than cultivate gardens: it sows hope, identity, knowledge, and dignity. It empowers young people as leaders in caring for our Common Home and as builders of a more just, supportive, and sustainable future for the Amazon.
With every seed planted, the life of the peoples also takes root.
WALKING IN SINODALITY: Project in collaboration with Caritas San Borja and the local REIBA San Borja team
