Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with the Yaku Churi kids from the outer villages of Tena, Ecuador. Yaku Churi translates to ‘children of the river’ in the local Kichwa language. It was an awesome weekend of experiencing their culture, raising awareness for the increases in illegal damming of rivers here in Ecuador, a river clean up and, of course, kayaking.
The Yaku Churi’s community was founded by local kayaker Diego around three years ago. He has brought in children from local communities that have struggled in their family life, be it from broken homes, lack of parents or getting siphoned out by the increasing issues with drugs in the country and the kids need to make money and survive. Diego has created a tiny village in the outskirts of Tena where he has a kayak lock up (where all of the kids’ kayaks and gear are kept so they don’t get stolen), a communal kitchen, hang out area, some beds and a slalom pole or two in the pond! His goal is to educate the children alongside teaching them valuable skills to make money when they grow up through kayaking and carpentry.
We joined them at four am to join in with a traditional morning drinking ‘Wayusa’. Wayusa is a form of tea, whilst we listened to members of local village singing songs in Kichwa. As the sun came up we shared stories from the river, life experiences and more. We were then introduced to ‘Ortiga’. This is a two part process that involved both tobacco mixed with ginger, turned into a liquid, pushed up the nose with a dropper. After that, you were hit on the back with the Ortiga plant (similar to a stinging nettle) with the aim of instilling discipline, pain relief and as medicine.
Then it was time to go kayaking! We joined the children of the Yakuchuri on the Jatunyaku river, a big volume, class 3 run. The youngest kayakers were around seven years old and, split between kayaks and duckies, absolutely crushed it! We threw kickflips, surfed waves and took time to connect as two communities who otherwise wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for this epic sport.
On Sunday we moved from the Jatun Yaku River to the Pano River. It is a significantly calmer style of river and we spent the morning doing a trash clean up. We towed inflatable kayaks with us to remove as much trash from the section as possible, something the Yaku Churi do once a month. It was super hot that day, the Helios Hoodie saved me for sure and kept me productive despite the brutal sun.
Halfway down the river, we discovered two excavators and dump trucks removing rocks from the river bed. Although marked with municipality logos, they are under very strict rules and aren’t supposed to be working on weekends. We hovered for a little bit and they quickly rushed off with all of the machinery. It was a very sad but truthful reality to witness first hand the damage that is being done all across rivers like this one in Ecuador.
Not only is the illegal mining in Ecuador damaging the rivers, and in some cases, running the river bed dry, we have heard from the Yaku Churi that they are also bringing violence to the villages if people get in their way. It was very humbling to hear their stories and we were stoked to help support them and raise awareness for the problems they are facing here every day.
