Beatriz with an Ojé tree
also called Xomi in Shipibo language
Amazon rainforest, Perú
Beatriz is a vegetalista, a traditional healer, with an extensive knowledge of medicinal plants. Most of her knowledge, she says, comes directly from the trees and plants of the jungle.
She lives in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest and is part of the Shipibo-Conibo, an indigenous people living along the Ucayali river (a large tributary of the Amazon river) in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.
The Shipibo-Conibo are distinguished by their extensive knowledge of medicinal plants and their rich and complex cosmology. They keep cultural traditions that stretch far back in time and have kept their ancestral healing practices and rituals alive.
Trees and plants are very central in their traditional healing practices and are key elements to their culture, informing much of their artistic work and rituals. They have a spiritual connection to the rainforest and maintained the knowledge and wisdom on how to live in a reciprocal relationship with the natural world.
Like other indigenous populations throughout the Amazon basin, they are threatened by severe pressure from outside influences such as oil extraction, logging, palm oil cultivation, deforestation, commercial overfishing and narco-trafficking. Global weather changes have caused drought followed by flooding which also threatens the Shipibo-Conibo means of sustenance.
A B O U T B E A T R I ZBeatriz Cauper Garcia is a vegetalista, a traditional healer working with plants. She has a vast knowledge about the local healing plants and trees and the Amazon jungle is her pharmacy. Her father was also a vegetalista and taught her a lot about their ancestral healing practices. Most of her knowledge, she says, comes directly from the trees and plants of the jungle. Beatriz is a loving mother of 6 children and grandmother of 12 grandchildren. She is a keeper of the ancestral wisdom, traditions and healing practices of the Shipibo-Conibo people of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.
Beatriz is standing by a Ficus insipida tree, popularly known in the Peruvian Amazon as “Ojé, Higuerón or Huito” and also called Xomi in Shipibo language. In the fig genus, this tropical tree has majestic roots, a broad and leafy crown and grows along rivers. Its milky sap, a white latex, is used by the people of the Amazon rainforest for its many medicinal uses.
Indigenous women in the Amazon play a vital role in the protection of the rainforest. They are the guardians of the forest and the ones who have nurtured, protected, and defended the Amazon rainforest for centuries. They protect and defend our collective future.
The Amazon rainforest is the most biodiverse place on Earth that houses countless species of trees. The best way to protect the Amazon rainforest is to empower the Indigenous People that have lived there, in harmony with nature for thousands of years, to continue to thrive as natural guardians of their environment. They are protecting and defending our collective future.
“I take care of trees and plants because for me they have a kind and generous energy and a healing spirit. Through them I heal and can help others when it’s needed. Trees and medicinal plants are a very important source for me and they hold something magical.”
— Beatriz Cauper Garcia
Photography by Liv Milani
Voice and music mixing by Joanna Lero
Music credit: Milo Manzana - Alquimia
