Ancestral medicines for the village

The Paojilhuasca ancestral medicine center is located in Paraíso, a village deep in the Amazonian jungle along the Itaya river. Five hours away from Iquitos, the nearest city. The center was born with the aim to help the village to develop economically and to provide medical and spiritual care to the inhabitants of this remote area. These are the two main reasons why Don Gardel, ancestral medicine master, herbalist and current head of the village, created the Paojilhuasca center where research and preservation of the ancient knowledge can continue to take place.

Thanks to ayahuasca ceremonies, the center has managed to reduce alcoholism among the village men and increased the sense of community. Many couples have also solved their relationship and family issues thanks to the ceremonies, resulting in less violent environments for the children.

Last year’s pandemic has dramatically reduced the tourist’s participation in the center’s activities, consequently reducing the possibilities to help the locals and to grow.

The center therefore needs your help.

The money will be used for

1. Buying ayahuasca ingredients to cook for the village people. At the moment 9 locals from the village are regularly participating in the ceremonies and we hope to bring more together.
2. To buy a wifi antenna for the children from the village who desperately need the connection to follow the online courses provided by the Peruvian government.
3. To build a sensory deprivation tank to combine this treatment with the medicine plant. This device provides a deep meditative state that can help to reconnect yourself with your inner nature.
4. We would also like to create a gym and martial arts center (all teachers are welcome to give time to the center) in order to involve teenagers and young people from the village in a healthy activity, keeping them away from alcoholism.
5. We want to make more workshops for women where we can teach some skills to make some money and get more independent: jewelry making, natural soap crafting, bakery etc.
6. We want to make workshop on food education, sex education and garbage and recycling, since in these remote area people is not educated in these topics.
7. We want to buy land nearby to build more huts for plant diet.

The center needs all kinds of support, money of course but we also warmly welcome volunteering under all forms. People will always be more important than money in our community. If you want to come and teach, volunteer to help out building, planting… or can offer materials which can come in handy, every little help goes a long way here. You are more than welcome to come and live with us and help within the community. In exchange we offer knowledge on local medicine plants and our medicines: ayahuasca, rapé, kambo..