The People of the Clouds Foundation
Puyuk Runa Foundation is a non-profit society for the facilitation of Indigenous transformational education to bring a balance between humans and nature for the purposes of restoration, conservation and protection of all life forms. The goal is to develop a critical collective consciousness towards life and foster land-human relations that result in regenerative development – an Indigenous development that provides returns to all life forms not only for 5 or 25 years; but for 1,600 years.
Puyuk Runa Foundation intends to fulfill this purpose through the following interconnected pathways:
- Strengthening ecosystems – recovering, restoring and protecting land
- Strengthening Culture – preserving & promoting intercultural exchange of Indigenous pedagogy, traditional practices, teachings, and art
- Strengthening the economy – Indigenous-led, nature-based regenerative economic development
The funds raised through the foundation all go towards programming and partnerships that uplift and actualize these three pathways – to help communities on the ground recover land at risk of resource extraction & building physical and social infrastructure to strengthen culture and Indigenous economy.
Why is our foundation called Puyuk Runa? This name was gifted to us from a Kichwa knowledge keeper. It means the foundation in service to the clouds, the spirit of the magic cloud, that cloud which is water.
Strengthening Nature
Recovering and Protecting the Land
We recognize and educate that nature is a natural pharmacy, university and market. Since the land and its relational symbiosis between elements, animals and humans have pre-dated the modern occidental structures of social organization, we seek to foster the understanding that nature has always provided and can continue to provide all of the medicines we need to heal our bodies, minds and spirits; all of the knowledges we need to nourish and grow as human beings and all of the food, and materials we need to thrive and survive on this planet, if – and only if – we take good care of it.
Strengthening Culture
We support communities to value the wise men and women, the guardians of sacred sites (never owners) since the development of this knowledge goes back millennia.
We promote Cultural Preservation and Intercultural Exchange, recognizing and learning about but not exclusive to
traditional foodways;
sacred music;
clay to build and heal;
weavings for clothing and tools; carving; language;
spiritual and medicinal plants; the elements of nature such as water, light, earth, fire and wind; all of these for the growth and transformation of children of good heart.
Strengthening Economy
We seek to strengthen the economy of the Indigenous world, keeping at heart the coming generations. We work on the regenerative and participative development of natural and ancestral Indigenous knowledge, of Indigenous, rural and urban communities of the Jungle and the World, as well as reestablishing the practice of good living (Sumak Kausay) for future generations.
