I would like to start this article by acknowledging the people who made its creation possible. The first is Meliza Andy, a member of the Sinchi Warmi (Quechua for 'Strong Woman', pronounced sin-chee war-me) community. She allowed me to join her as she took a group of indigenous children through the Amazon rainforest, where we learned about what nature provides and how to live in community with it. I have chosen to have her answer the questions directly, because amplifying indigenous voices is an important thing to do when we talk about people who live with the land. Meliza and her community are much more informed than I am about this, and I feel it is important that I get to share their perspective. All my responses to the questions in this article will be real excerpts from our interview, edited only for clarity.
I would also like to thank my transcribing team at Universidad Central. Transcribing is when people record data in a written form, and in this case they have been helping me transcribe interviews I conduct. This article is made possible with the combined efforts of Diana Bolaños, Alejandro Cevallos, Alison Enriquez, Kevin Ederly Nuñez, Ashley Ríos and Josette Monge.
