Young & Fierce – Nina Gualinga

She is a young Kichwa woman of Sarayaku, a small indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon. And she uses Instagram as one of her platforms for environmental justice.

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Miedos de una madre cuando se abren las carreteras en la selva: Realmente no lo quiero pensar pero cuando estoy a solas el miedo me abraza…No se cuánto tiempo más durara esto no sé qué color tendrán los árboles ni las flores ni el río. Hijo, no sé cuánto cuánto tiempo más podrás correr descalzo sobre las raíces de los árboles de la selva no se cuánto tiempo más podrás bañarte en los ríos, comer frutas, tomar chicha, pintarte con Wituk y jugar con todos los niños. Cuánto tiempo más podremos ir a dormir en nuestra chozita junto a la selva y sus animales… la noche llena de música y ritmos de selva, estrellas y lunas y lluvias y truenos, relámpagos y magia…sin tantas cosas innecesarias. Ay hijo cuánto tiempo más tenemos para ser realmente libres? 🌸 • Feats of a mother when roads are being built in the Amazon: I really don’t want to think about but when I am alone this fear is all around me…For I don’t know how long this will last. What color will the trees and the flowers and the rivers be? Son, I don’t know how much time you have left to run barefoot over the roots of trees and bathe in the river, eat the fruits, drink chicha and okay with all the children. For how long can we go back in to sleep in our little palm hut in the forest with all the animals and the night full of music and rhythms of the forest, stars and moons, rain, thunder, lighting and magic…without so many unnecessary things. Son, how much time do we have left to be really free? #NoMasCarreteras #SelvaViviente #Sarayaku #AmazonBaby #DerechosIndigenas #amazonia #pastaza

A post shared by Nina Gualinga (@ninagualinga) on Jan 5, 2018 at 7:07pm PST

Her goals?

To defend the local and national efforts rights of indigenous people in all the territories of Amazon.

At 24 years old she has created a movement with over than 21 thousand followers on her Instagram account with her famous campaign and slogan “Keep the Oil in The Ground”.

Nina fights against oil companies (and nations) exploiting the land for fossil fuels, damaging the forest and all who live there, animals and humankind.

From her website for the Hakhu project, the mission is clear:

“The biggest problem we face in the Ecuadorian Amazon is the continuing extraction of natural resources and the fossil fuel industry. These practices lead to further deforestation and force our now marginalized communities to move away from their ancestral territories where they face discrimination and poverty as new, and often unwilling, urban dwellers. Through enabling community-based economic initiatives we think that we can help to change this destructive cycle and generate positive social change while protecting our territories and the planet. In order to accomplish our mission, we wish to work integrally, from the bottom up, in four fundamental areas: Education, Health, the Generation of Sustainable Income, and Advocacy.

Hahku, which means let’s go in Kichwa, is an organization that is dedicated to promoting sustainable development projects in league with small indigenous communities within the Ecuadorian Amazon. The idea of founding The Hakhu Project came from years of working in advocacy with indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Our communities face imminent threats from transnational companies and governmental departments over the demand for, and extraction of, our natural resources. We have collaboratively created a grassroots indigenous organization in order to directly implement local programs and projects to help mitigate these threats.”

We love her because of the beautiful #mujeresamazonicas she shares on IG, empowering women of the Amazon to create a better world for us all.

IG profile: ninagualinga
Website: https://hakhu.net/