Warsaw Resident Helps Kichwa in Ecuador
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Staff Report-
Hoover, a 2009 Warsaw Community High School graduate, said the trip “greatly impacted my life, and maybe other people in the community would be interested in getting connected with this work as well. I came this summer to Ecuador to volunteer in conservation work in the Amazon Jungle. I am in my senior year at IPFW, where I am studying communication and business. After graduating, I am hoping to return to Amazon.”
By selling this Fair Trade certified tea, Runa Foundation hopes to better the lives of indigenous farmers and protect the Amazon Rainforest.
Guayusa is traditionally brewed before dawn by indigenous farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon and is used as a tool to interpret dreams and plan the day. Kichwa people believe that this tea protects them from snake bites and other threats in the jungle. Runa now sells tea in both tea bags and a new bottled beverage throughout the United States, and uses this market to increase income in indigenous families and promote sustainable development in the Amazon.
“I have a passion for people and I love serving the Kichwa people here,” said Hoover. “We are continuing to integrate supply chains between Ecuador and the United States, researching and developing new methods to enhance the farmers’ yields, and just finished redesigning our English teaching curriculum.”
Runa’s social programming component focuses on leadership training and community fund management so that farming income becomes communally invested in social development projects planned and overseen by community elected associations in the areas of education, health care and further economic development.
Those interested for more information can visit www.fundacionruna.org[[In-content Ad]]
Hoover, a 2009 Warsaw Community High School graduate, said the trip “greatly impacted my life, and maybe other people in the community would be interested in getting connected with this work as well. I came this summer to Ecuador to volunteer in conservation work in the Amazon Jungle. I am in my senior year at IPFW, where I am studying communication and business. After graduating, I am hoping to return to Amazon.”
By selling this Fair Trade certified tea, Runa Foundation hopes to better the lives of indigenous farmers and protect the Amazon Rainforest.
Guayusa is traditionally brewed before dawn by indigenous farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon and is used as a tool to interpret dreams and plan the day. Kichwa people believe that this tea protects them from snake bites and other threats in the jungle. Runa now sells tea in both tea bags and a new bottled beverage throughout the United States, and uses this market to increase income in indigenous families and promote sustainable development in the Amazon.
“I have a passion for people and I love serving the Kichwa people here,” said Hoover. “We are continuing to integrate supply chains between Ecuador and the United States, researching and developing new methods to enhance the farmers’ yields, and just finished redesigning our English teaching curriculum.”
Runa’s social programming component focuses on leadership training and community fund management so that farming income becomes communally invested in social development projects planned and overseen by community elected associations in the areas of education, health care and further economic development.
Those interested for more information can visit www.fundacionruna.org[[In-content Ad]]
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