Shipibo Radio Network

Photo: Participants in the 4-day hands-on community-based radio workshop with their handmade antennas, radio transmitters, and all the parts necessary for 4 complete radio stations throughout the Central Peruvian Amazon.

Village Earth has spent the past three months preparing for and implementing four community-based radio stations throughout the Ucayali Region of the Peruvian Amazon. In a strategic planning session with Village Earth in 2007, the Shipibo community leaders decided that the creation of their own radio stations to improve communication in the region is an important part of their vision for the future of the Shipibo Nation.

Photo: Building the Radio Transmitters.

In October 2009, the Shipibo achieved this goal with the help of Village Earth and Project Tupa of Free Radio Berkeley. Project Tupa traveled to Peru for a 4-day radio workshop where participants from four communities learned to build FM radio transmitters by-hand. The hands-on nature of the workshop will lend to the success of the radios because the participants are intimately familiar with every part and component of the radio, this will lead to the sustainability of the radio transmitters. They also learned to use soldering irons to solder small components onto the circuit boards. Project Tupa also taught the participants to scrap old electronics as a cheap way to get replacement parts. If a part were to burn out, the workshop participants would know where to find the parts and how to replace them without waiting for some technical expert or international funding.

Photo: It takes a lot of people working together to build a radio transmitter by hand in 4 days.

Photo: They learned to use soldering irons to solder small parts onto the circuit board of the amplifier.

In many remote regions of the Amazon, radio serves as one of the only means of getting news and information to communities. At the beginning of workshop, indigenous leaders talked about the importance and significance of indigenous-language and bi-lingual radio because the radio stations in the city require a certain amount of Spanish-language programming. Because each of the four radios will be controlled by an elected committee within each community, the communities will decide on the radio programming. Community members have already come up with program ideas such as an environmental education program, local news, and an oil awareness program to discuss oil exploitation in the region.

During the workshop the participants decided to form a radio network called “Red de Radio Emisora de la Amazonia Peruana “Xawanbo” (Radio Transmitter Network of the Peruvian Amazon “Macaw” in English). This radio network will be a point of access to resources for the radio network to share resources and information between the four community-based radio stations. More communities are already interested in joining this network and starting their own community-based radio station.

Photo: They learned to scrap old electronics for parts to build and repair their radio transmitters.

These radios will be an important tool in Shipibo cultural self-determination, defense of their lands and resources, and the development of their communities.

We are hoping to expand both the coverage area through more strategically-placed community-based radio stations, and also to expand the current radios programming capabilities by getting more equipment for field reporting (such as laptop computers and digital voice recorders). We also hope to provide more training in advanced radio programming and to continue to build the capacity of the radio network to be a strong, empowering force for the self-determination of the Shipibo Nation.

Thank you to First Peoples Worldwide for a Keepers of the Earth grant, Project Tupa for donating their time training, and to all of the Village Earth individual donors who helped make this possible!

The following map shows the transmission of the radio stations throughout the region. The four communities who received the radios were elected during a previous Village Earth workshop of indigenous leaders. As you can see there are still some gaps to fill in the region, and more communities in the region are asking to join the radio network.

For more information, on do-it-yourself radio check out: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8336941/Micropower-Broadcasting-Primer

Latin Dance Party/ Art Show Fundraiser

Join us for a "Journey to the Amazon: Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice in Peru"!

A fundraiser to support Village Earth's projects with indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon.

Latin Dance Party - Learn to dance salsa and other traditional Peruvian dances!
There will also be speakers, an art show, craft sale, and silent auction with arts and crafts by Shipibo artisans of the Peruvian Amazon. There will be lots of cool art and crafts for sale including hand-made jewelry!

Food and drinks will be provided by the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant! Their famous margaritas will be available!

Wednesday, April 23
7:00 - 8:30 pm (Dancing & drinks 'til 10:30pm)

Location: Agave Room (Above the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant in Old Town)
149 W. Mountain Ave.
Fort Collins, CO

Ticket Prices: $15 students; $25 non-students (All proceeds go to support indigenous community initiatives in the Peruvian Amazon!)
(TICKETS IN ADVANCE ONLY)
Available at www.villageearth.org or 970-491-5754

For more information, please contact Kristina Pearson at kristina@villageearth.org


Visit our sponsor - the Rocky Mountain Chronicle



PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Kristina Pearson
kristina@villageearth.org
491-5754

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOCAL NON-PROFIT ALLIES IN THE STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE AMAZON

April 15, 2008. Fort Collins, CO: The Amazon basin in Peru is quickly being sold off to oil companies, industrial-scale agricultural production, and loggers. “We indigenous peoples only want tranquility and happiness this is our development as said by our elders,” said Shipibo leader Limber Gomez who visited Fort Collins last August 2007. One Fort Collins non-profit has allied with indigenous communities in Peru to stop the sale of the Amazon and offer alternatives to the unsustainable path of development pursued by the corporations and the government. Village Earth, founded by long-time CSU professor and Peace Corps developer Dr. Maury Albertson, is making a difference.

Village Earth has been working internationally with indigenous communities to help them determine their own sustainable development initiatives. In Peru, Village Earth is working with native communities on many projects from clean water to opening an indigenous bank where entrepreneurs can take small loans to start businesses. With current concerns about global warming, awareness is increasing that sustainable development initiatives are extremely important in the Amazon since it is an area of global environmental importance for its roles in mitigating climate change.

Village Earth is offering the Northern Colorado community an opportunity to be a part of these important efforts. Wednesday, April 23 7:00-8:30pm Village Earth will have a Latin Dance and art show event “Journey to the Amazon: Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice in Peru” to raise funds for their various projects in the Peruvian Amazon. The event will be held in the Agave Room above the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant (149 W. Mountain Ave.). Tickets are $15 students; $25 non-students (Tickets are available in advance only.) For more information, contact Village Earth (491-5754) or www.villageearth.org.

_________________________________________________________________________

April 12, 2008

Dear Friend of Village Earth,

As a supporter of Village Earth YOU have the opportunity to make a difference. Join us for a fun evening of dancing and art in solidarity with Shipibo communities of the Peruvian Amazon. The Peruvian government is increasingly privatizing the land and resources of the Amazon rainforest. Traditionally held communal lands, non-titled indigenous lands, and forest areas of immense biodiversity will be sold to private landowners and foreign corporations under the new Ley de la Selva (Law of the Jungle). Many indigenous peoples and environmentalists are claiming that this law is just a facade to open up the Amazon to logging companies.

Help us stop the sale of the Amazon!

A note from Shipibo leader and Village Earth friend, Limber Gomez (pictured above, a member of the Organization for the Defense and Development of the Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, ODDPIAP):

“Facing the threatening law Nº 840, called the “Law of the Jungle”, the indigenous peoples of the Ucayali region of Peru are in the process of uniting to discuss this turn of events, as well as the new alliance between the regional government and Peru Petro (the state-run oil licensing agency), so that we, the indigenous peoples, can form a regional front in the Ucayali.

Today more than ever before, we the indigenous peoples of the Ucayali are defending our lands and territories. We are not going to permit the contamination of our ecosystem and the environment by transnational corporations. The transnational corporations come with the story that they will give work to indigenous peoples when they enter our territories. Already we have been through this experience of lies and genocide many times before.

First comes our health and second our development. An old Shipibo elder has predicted that if we allow the exploitation of our resources, in time, Peru will convert to a desert as told by our concerned elders.

We indigenous peoples only want tranquility and happiness, this, this is our development as said by our elders.”

How does this concern you?

The destruction of the Amazon and the indigenous communities who call it home affects us all. With current concerns about global warming, awareness is increasing that the Amazon is an area of global environmental importance for its roles in cleaning the air and mitigating climate change. As well, the preservation of the wealth of species and cultures is invaluable to humanity.

“Thank you, Village Earth. You are helping us to make history”

- Cecilio Soria, (pictured above with his grandmothers) Shipibo
leader and host of the renowned radio program Indigenous Voice

Therefore, we invite you to be a part of helping the indigenous peoples of the Amazon determine their own futures and “make history” by attending this fundraising event:

Journey to the Amazon: Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice

This event will take place Wednesday, April 23 7-8:30 PM (drinks and dancing ‘til 10:30). The funds we raise at this event will be to support the many projects we are working on with indigenous communities in Peru.

For just $10,000, we can accomplish the following project activities this year:

• For $1000 - We can facilitate the second annual indigenous tribunal bringing community chiefs and indigenous leaders together to discuss their integrated development plan for the region and the defense of their forests in partnership with the new Shipibo organization ODDPIAP;
• For $4000 – We will set up and maintain an indigenous-run service center in Pucallpa, Peru where indigenous community members can get access to resources for their various projects. This service center will also be home to an indigenous bank from which ODDPIAP will begin a micro-loan program to promote small enterprise development;
• For $1000 - We can implement a clean water project using a new ceramic sand filter prototype that will be produced locally and will provide clean drinking water to remote indigenous communities in our continued partnership with the Engineers Without Borders Professional Chapter (Fort Collins);
• For $2000 – We can set-up and train local leaders in the operation of a community-based radio station in one remote indigenous community in collaboration with local community-based radio station KRFC. They can then broadcast throughout the region news and information in their own language and under their control;
• And finally for $2000 - We will bring two Shipibo leaders to attend the PPSD training here in Fort Collins this May 2008.

So please call (491-5754) or go online today (www.villageearth.org) to get your tickets (TICKETS AVAILABLE IN ADVANCE ONLY – Please RSVP by Friday, April 18)! Please invite your friends!

• Tickets for students are $15
• Tickets for non-students are $25

We hope to see you there! It’s going to be a fun event where you can learn different Latin and traditional Peruvian dances and enjoy food from the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail at kristina@villageearth.org, or call us here at the office 491-5754. Thanks for your continued support of Village Earth!

KRFC Radio Program - Shipibo, The River of Life

To listen to the recent radio program on KRFC FM, independent community-based radio in Fort Collins, Colorado, click on the file link below:

Track01.cda

Limber Gomez, a Shipibo leader, was invited to do an interview on KRFC. He speaks about the hopes and challenges facing the Shipibo people, as well as about the community-based indigenous radio project they hope to do. For more information about this radio project, check out the below blog posting titled: Shipibo Radio Project

Below: Limber Gomez on his recent visit to Fort Collins.