The Journey of the Rainforest at the Colours of Ostrava Festival

This year, we had the honor of participating in the Colours of Ostrava festival, which we enjoyed immensely. We met many new friends who share our love for the rainforest, and we were pleasantly surprised by how many people understand the importance of protecting the rainforest and preserving the wisdom of its indigenous inhabitants.

Our main objective in participating in this festival was to support the Sachawa indigenous school and kindergarten, which we established for the children in the rainforest to preserve their rich tradition and pass down indigenous wisdom to future generations. In the future, Sachawa also aims to connect indigenous people with residents of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and other countries, so that we can mutually exchange our wisdom and skills. We also spoke about the children who attend the school and shared their stories through photographs. We discussed the current challenges that the rainforest and its inhabitants face and emphasized the importance of educating the new generations of indigenous children so they do not forget their heritage. We also showed people how they can support the rainforest and the cultural richness of its inhabitants, even if they cannot travel directly to the rainforest.

At the festival, we allowed visitors to experience indigenous tradition on-site through the daily consumption of healing Wayusa tea. Thanks to the effects of Wayusa, which connects us with the surrounding environment and helps us express what we feel inside, friendly smiles often appeared on the faces of visitors, and the attendance at our tea house was truly high. We managed to brew approximately 300 liters of this healing medicine and spent long hours discussing the rainforest and other topics that interested our visitors.

At the festival, we also demonstrated traditional indigenous crafts, and visitors could even create their own amulets while Agustin, along with his family, explained the significance of indigenous symbolism. The atmosphere was adorned with beautiful paintings of the Amazon by artist Martina Slavíková (Shakti), delicious rainforest products, incense, and various types of natural medicine brought directly from Ecuador.

This four-day and pleasantly challenging collaboration of the entire team opened up new possibilities for supporting our projects and also brought us financial donations totaling 116,000 CZK. The entire amount will be used for further steps in supporting and legalizing the Sachawa rainforest school and kindergarten.

We would like to express our gratitude to the organizers of the Colours of Ostrava festival for inviting us to this wonderful event and for the excellent organization. From the bottom of our hearts, we also thank all the visitors and neighboring stallholders for their regular participation in our Wayusa tea ceremonies.

In the coming year, we plan to participate in more friendly festivals with our great team, such as Colours of Ostrava.

Below in the gallery, we bring you a recording of Agustin talking about the traditional way of indigenous education, which reconnects children with nature and the wisdom of their ancestors.

"One of the greatest traumas of our time is the disconnection from oneself and the lack of knowledge of one's own roots."