From the Bolivian Amazon

From 12 to 15 June, I had the grace to participate in the XI FOSPA, the Pan-Amazonian social forum, held in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia.

There were 1,200 delegates from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Guyane, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, with the aim of analysing the complex reality of the Amazon and building proposals for a new development model that preserves life.

There were 4 thematic axes: Amazonian populations, mother earth, extractivism, and women’s resistance.

I signed up for “Amazonian villages” to get to know more closely the reality of our environment, with whom we share our life and mission. I met people who spoke different languages, dressed in ancestral costumes, with multicoloured faces and with emotional expressions for the encounter. Indigenous people, peasants, quilombolas, Afro-descendants, some foreigners who work with the Amazon for the Amazonians.

There were many slogans and “war cries” that stood out for the defense of life, of cultures, of the most vulnerable… It is a call and a voice in the face of the clamour of the earth and of the peoples.

Building a sustainable future is a challenge that involves listening to the communities.

The conclusions showed the need to walk together, to live in communion and fraternity. The Church was present illuminating with the “torch of the Gospel”.

Missionary blessings, Lucia rmi