Who are the Quechua?
Native Americans of South America who trace their lineage directly back to the Incan empire. The Quechua culture is rich and separate from that of the mainstream Spanish influence culture of Peru. The Huallaga river, along which Chipaota is situated, is a river that goes through the rainforest and to date has the largest number of uncontacted Native American tribes. Why do they need our help? Right now, the women of the Quechua tribe harvest Piassaba fibers from the Piassaba tree of the rainforest and sell them in the local market at Tarapoto. The Piassaba trees are being over harvested and the women have to travel 2-3 hours on foot to reach the trees in order to harvest the fibers. This is the primary source of income. How are we going to help? Nourish volunteers are going to do two things. The first is work on a nursery of Piassaba plants in order to create a secondary rainforest from which the Quechua can harvest fibers. This will help conserve the primary rainforest and prevent def
