Noya Rao school in the Amazon

Shipibo children at the Noya Rao school

I just got back from a few days spent visiting our other educational project being put together by our Shipibo friends in the western Amazon basin.  It is located three hours upstream by boat on the Ucayali river from the jungle city of Pucallpa in the village of Ceilan.
The idea is for it to be a complementary program to supplement, but not replace, the rather inadequate state school in the village.  Consequently classes are held in the afternoons and feature some elements of Waldorf alternative education together with an attempt to revive core parts of Shipibo culture which are in danger of being lost.
It was great to arrive and see the children all dressed in their Shipibo traditional clothing, even the boys who had on hand-painted cushma tunics with some youngsters sporting feather crowns as well.  Women and girls wear the traditional embroidered skirts and iridescent blouses quite a lot, but the cushma is only rarely used by boys and men nowadays.
I had with me on this visit two companions from the 'Friends of Waldorf education' organization based in Berlin and they really liked what they saw in this brand-new initiative.
Our two Shipibo teachers, Maria and Alberto are keen to attend a seminar on Waldorf education to be held next year in Lima.