Introducing: Amazon Partnerships Foundation

No, I am not suffering from a contaminated Clifbar-induced coma. Just writers block. Actually, that is a lie, I don’t have writers block: I just haven’t had much motivation to blog lately. I admit I have a lot on my mind as I try to wind up my Peace Corps service and transition back to life stateside.

So, one thing that has kept me busier of late (and a topic that I have been meaning to blog about is) Amazon Partnerships Foundation. I am proud and honored to be part of the Board of Directors for this incredible new organization.

A really amazing woman that Jer and I have had the opportunity to work with, Mary Fifield, founded the organization and has asked me to serve in an advisory capacity. Amazon Partnerships Foundation provides small grants and project management support for initiatives designed and implemented by local communities here in Ecuador´s Amazon region. Some of the projects include the construction of rainwater catchment systems and dry composting toilets. Some of my faithful readers will remember that Jer, Mary and I have worked together to install the tanks and toilets in Kichwa and Waorani communities. These are low-cost, environmentally friendly initiatives that provide basic drinking water and sanitation—things that you and I take for granted, and are a basic human need—to remote indigenous communities.
Be sure to check out the website (look for the cameo of yours truly on the dramatic and inspiring flash intro) and please consider making a contribution to this critical cause via the website. I am trying to help raise $5,000 to support the first year’s operations and am hoping my faithful and generous blogstalkers will help me out. Click here to donate (POR FAVOR!!!!).
Keep reading for more about APF:
Amazon Partnerships Foundation is based in the Ecuadorian Amazon province of Napo. The Napo River, one of the largest in the country and a major tributary of the Amazon River, traverses this rainforest region. Widely recognized for its biological diversity and importance to the global climate, the Upper Napo basin is also a popular destination for year-round kayaking and whitewater rafting.
Over the years this area has suffered from two simultaneous crises: severe environmental damage and disempowerment of the indigenous Kichwa people, whose traditional practices for maintaining a balance between human activity and nature played a critical role for generations in conserving the watershed and rainforest. Through global economic pressure and the influence of Western culture, large areas of Napo province have been overhunted, much of the primary rainforest has been cut down, river levels are dropping, and the watershed is threatened with run-off pollution from mining and oil operations. At the same time, the Kichwa people, who make up nearly half of the population, have been systematically discriminated against, marginalized, and impoverished.

Executive Director Mary Fifield and others (like me) saw an opportunity to reverse this trend and founded Amazon Partnerships Foundation in 2008. Our mission is to empower indigenous Kichwa communities that value environmental stewardship through expression of their nature-based culture. We provide small grants and project management support for projects designed and implemented by communities. Through the exchange of ideas between Kichwa and Western traditions, we envision a new awareness for sustainable living based on equality among people in harmony with the natural world.
Inspired? Please support Amazon Partnerships with a gift today!