Alianza Arkana

Alianza Arkana is an indigenous grassroots organization based in Yarinacocha, Ucayali, Peru, that has dedicated itself over the past ten years to revitalizing indigenous traditions and facilitating intercultural exchange and education through research and development projects in the community, and advocating for indigenous rights and environmental justice in the Ucayali region. There are one of AMI’s most important regional partners.

Alianza Arkana has piloted a wide variety of successful pilot programme and initiatives to build cultural identity and resilience before and during the pandemic.

Rao Banabo

Alianza Arkana’s has facilitated many unique and innovative community projects. Its most recent initiative, Rao Banabo, will transform the health and well being of Shipibo-Conibo communities through facilitating the growth and use of Amazonian traditional medicinal plant medicine.

During the pandemic, the region experienced a crisis in public health care where indigenous communities did not receive the access and treatment needed to devastating consequences. Many turned to using traditional Amazonian medicines to great results. Recognizing not only the effective power of these natural medicines to heal illnesses like Covid-19, but the traditions that they are embedded in to their culture and traditions, Alianza Arkana launched an important project to revitalize the use of Amazonian plants in everyday life in Pucallpa and area. This is project is undertaken through establishing four community garden projects with Amazonian medicinal plants that can be used to treat multiple ailments and as well complementary therapies to modern medicine.

The Shipibo-Conibo have a long cultural history of traditional healing and possess vast knowledge of medicinal plants. However, the new generation has lost interest in this ancestral knowledge for the lure and demands of urban life. As a result, there has been a steep decline in the transmission of precious medicinal plant knowledge to Shipibo youth. The loss of these lifeways and their technologies that are embedded within them is deeply felt as in the case of the pandemic, where many lives could have been saved by using traditional medicines. An important dimension of this project is how it will contribute to preserving intergenerational sharing and the strengthening of the social fabric and culture of indigenous communities in the area as well as the valuable knowledge contained with them. This project endeavors to put Amazonian medicine at the forefront of community resilience.

Rao Banabo’s long-term goal is to create sustainable models of community gardens and the use of Amazonian medicinal plants in public health care. Their vision includes incorporating education programs for children and young people in the public school system. They also plan to create gardens in Pucallpa, planting main avenues and other urban spaces with native and medicinal species of plants. This would have the impact of increasing public well being by integrating the rainforest into urban life, as well through proximity to shared traditions and healing.

KENÉ SIKATI KIRIKA

Another important initiative being launched right now by Alianza Arkana is the publishing of a remarkable book, KENÉ SIKATI KIRIKA, a one-of-a-kind collection of Shipibo-Conibo Design you can purchase online HERE:

Receive a free E-book

For more information, visit the KENÉ SIKATI KIRIKA page or learn about these traditions directly on our new pilot Apprenticeship program being launched this spring 2023. Early registrants immediately receive a free copy of this book!