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WHO WE ARE

About Your Guide Chicham Chiriap

About the Tour

About the Shuar Culture


About the Chicham Foundation

 

ABOUT YOUR GUIDE CHICHAM CHIRIAP

aChiriap Chicham Ronal was born in the community of Buena Esperanza in the province of morona Santiago, in Ecuador.  Fortuanatly he grew up in a spitually connected family that realized the importance of nature and the forest around them.  At approx. eight years old, in the tradition of the Shuar culture, he participated in a ceremony of 3 days with the shamans at the sacred cascades in the rainforest.  There he had a vision that the shuar call Wimiaku.  In English, this word means a man of vision.  He became the leader and representative of the young Shuar community there in Ecuador.  For this reason, he was invited to the United Nations’ international indigenous peoples convention in New York in August 2001 for the day of indigenous peoples.

Chicham is actually the same name of the organization Leader and coordinator of the association of young shuar culture in the amazon, in the town of Macas, Morona Santiago.

Chiriap Chicham Ronal has participated in variouls cultural and spiritual events here in the U.S.A. with his music, art and dance.  He gave one large event at Sonoma State University with his friend and teacher Ernesto Olmos, a cultural artist from Oaxaca, Mexico, well known in the Bay Area.  Chicham has and is collecting funds by himself, selling his art, doing musical ceremonies, and dance, to establish the a foundation in Ecuador to protect the rainforest and the Shuar people.  Now he working to bring this Foundation here to the U.S.A. as well and legalize it.  So that the U.S.A. and Ecuador can be connected in protecting and supporting this great cause. 

In Ecuador the name Chicham Foundation, was given to the non-governmental nonprofit, that was established there, to recognize the person who lead them to the creation of the Foundation, Chicham, but also because the word Chicham in the Shuar language and culture has many different important significance.  It represents many different forms of communication, and the four directions of the world around us.  These definitions of the word, all signify how the Chicham foundation is trying to connect, and communicate their message of protecting the rainforest and its’ people, to the world.  Chicham and his foundation, are the protectors of the natural earth, and the lungs of the world, the Rainforest.  So far, the Chicham Foundation, with the help of the many families in Macas, Morana Santiago, has purchased 45 hectors of land, to start its projects in ecotourism, protecting sacred plants, medicines, and places in the area, for further generations to enjoy and understand.  In his community, Chicham Foundation, has come to be a Natural Temple of sanction of the shuar culture in he Amazon. 

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Chicham with his band "Cien Caras"

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Chicham with Aztec performers in Sonoma, California

 

ABOUT THE TOUR

seatTo construct the infrastructure and continued operation of Ecotourism using the wisdom of the Shuar world in order to rescue and preserve the Shuar values and knowledge of natural medicine and spirituality.

We are organizing YEARLY 10-DAY TOURS to share our culture and rainforest tour with you. "ETZA Amazon Tours will be an icon of pride for our culture and allow the native villiage to create jobs in ecotourism directly, without intermediaries, permitting us to share our knowledge with other peoples, cultures, villiages and countries of the world. This way we will be able to demonstrate to the world that the Shuar know how to live in nature without altering her cycle of production and recycling. " ~Chicham Chiriap, Sonoma, California

Many thanks ot the Shuar for having maintained and preserved what little is left of the jungle.  Today, the world needs the Amazon as an important part of the lungs for the planet!

We are dedicated to preserving and teaching the Shuar  ancestral knowledge and wisdom, and protecting the Shuar sacred natural temples in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest.

Click here to learn more about the Tour

 

ABOUT THE SHUAR CULTURE

who

Tii Chiriap (Chicham's father and Shuar shaman and leader).

"Every minute 50 acres of the Amazonian region are destroyed. This is the equivalent of 72,000 acres per day, or a staggering 26 million acres every year". Tii Antonio, a Shaman from the Amazonian Shuar community of Numpaim in Ecuador points out. Tii Antonio is a very active leader in his community. He has been invited to represent various indigenous communities from the Amazonian region before the UN, OAS and other international forums. Tii Antonio has also actively participated in politics becoming a mayor and a vice mayor at a young age. He has also served as council member in the region he resides.

Currently, Tii Antonio spends his time promoting the preservation of the rain forest. He also wants to help establish a laboratory and an indigenous university dedicated exclusively to sharing ancestral Shuar knowledge related to bio-mass cultivation of healing medicinal plants. He wants to share his knowledge and that of his people, so that they can find their way towards progress, albeit in an ecologically sound and fair fashion.

 

ABOUT THE CHICHAM FOUNDATION, NON-PROFIT FOUNDATION

kidsThis non-profit foundation has been established in Ecuador to raise money to protect the rainforest. It is resides in the territory of Inisha Nunka, in the Shuar community of the Province of Morona Santiago. It is in the Shuar communities at the sacred waterfalls Numpaim and KonKuim Kutuku, Condor Ridge and others.

This Foundation is recognized as a natural healing temple of the Shuar people of the
Amazon Rain Forest. This organization is non-governmental, "ONG". It does not involve itself in political, religious and/or racial issues.

brotherOur Mission:

The mission of Chicham Foundation is:
- To care for, protect, defend and educate the Shuar community.
- Support the scientific and technological development of the Shuar ancestral knowledge.
- To recover and protect sacred territories such as sacred waterfalls Numpaim and
KonKuim Kutuku, Condor Ridge and others.




Contact us for FUN and ADVENTURE!
Etza Amazon Tours with Chicham Chicham

An eco-tourism journey of healing and knowledge
Culture, traditional food, dance, and music, of the Shuar world.

NEXT TRIP SOON: CONTACT US FOR DETAILS
See Contact page for information

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