Communication with nature, the basis of self-communication – Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca
The dark gray clouds that stretch over the tropical rain forest in Baja Bota Caucana in the municipalities of Santa Rosa and Piamonte and the light breeze that descends from the Serranía de los Churumbelos indicate that the summer we have been enjoying for a while is almost over. This afternoon color with the company of the joyful singing of a wide variety of birds, The running of the ants with their load of leaves to their anthills indicates, according to the elders of the region, that the winter season will arrive shortly. which will bring joy to those who work the land and care to those who provide transport services or have to move loads on horseback on steep roads.
The color of the waters with floating dry leaves and the unusual behavior of the streams of rivers such as Mandiyaco, Caquetá, Cascabel and their tributaries report that in a short time there will be a flood that exceeds normal limits and that may cause damage to crops, chagras or the houses that are located on the banks of the river. These changes recall the stories of the day the waters of the Mandiaco washed away the bridge that connects the Mandiaco and Santa Marta Reserves, destroying crops on the plains along its path, in addition to the day the Caqueta River carried away what it found as it passed through the Tandarido and until the day the waters of the Mocoa River destroyed much of the capital city of Putumayo. It is the community members’ form of communication with Mother Nature that provides them with enough information that allows them to prepare to meet the difficulties that may arise.or also to receive with encouragement the joys that come.
There are other communication mechanisms in this region, such as the one that is done with the elder spirits or the invisible beings of nature through the traditional healers, which the Yanacona and Inga peoples call Yachas or Taitas, while the Nasa people do it with The wala. This communication takes place with the support of plants such as coca, tobacco or Yagé and allows you to travel to the past, reach the present and design new times, as well as to cure diseases and harmonize body and soul.. This knowledge in supernatural communication, as it is said in the West, is passed down from generation to generation and is carried out by those who are chosen by the elders after receiving the signal given to them by the elder spirits. This science of communication is not learned in universities or other types of educational institutions, it is learned in daily activities, in dialogue with animals and plants and in this approach they have with the spirits of those who have gone to another space.
In this area, forms of communication such as voice to voice, horn to call the meeting, written messages such as letters taken personally to their addressee, and in some cases with sound equipment, especially in populated areas, are supported. This situation changes with the arrival of what they call “development” through technological advances such as the use of digital recording devices, photographic and video cameras, mobile cellular communication equipment with various applications, the computer and other tools that have made it possible for streamlining the communication process. These means of communication reached the hands of the community members without any information on the subject and therefore were not properly managed. and therefore sometimes, instead of contributing to the strengthening of the organization at the local, zonal or regional level, they become forms of harm due to unconfirmed information or broadcasts without the appropriate analysis. In the unbridled race of companies that offer these services, the change of the same is progressing very fast and it almost surprises the common people who are also running at the same speed to acquire these benefits without considering the affects where we all want to have the best , which the markets can offer.
From the process of formation of the Association of Local Councils of the Municipalities of Santa Rosa and Piedmont, the topic began to be discussed and the possibilities of forming a team to deal with the registration and distribution of the activities that are being developed studied throughout the territory began to be discussed. according to the will of the community. There is no staff with the necessary training, but there are women and men full of enthusiasm and so it is decided to create a team of people to have this task set by their authorities. leaving a team composed of young people from different reserves, whose initial task is training in the management of new information technologies.
The collective is strengthened by participating in events organized by the tribal authorities, where knowledge is acquired in the organizational political part, as well as in the training schools convened by the Communication Program of the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council. Along the way, the collective is also actively involved in the Minga realization of art, cultures in communication, both in a zonal order and in a regional order, where they have made a contribution to the audiovisual register and its dissemination both within communities and through social networks.
The accompaniment of the regional organization, as a result of the agreements in various mobilizations, allowed the provision of some technological tools such as a computer, a drone, a camera and a recording device, tools that the group of young people already know. how to fight first, the most important is the taste that young people have for communication and secondly, the interest in active participation in the training process which takes place both in places close to populated areas and in the most remote regions of its geography with one aspect in its favor and that is the accompaniment of traditional authorities.
The challenge now is to train more community members in this area through educational institutions or the local Guard, to get other people interested in communication and enter our home university to advance training in the academic program of intercultural self-communication and continue to manage the resources to make this small group a great group so that what is happening in Bota caucana is known in other regional, national and international scenarios.
Amidst the technology, lights, cameras and recorders as they watch the waters of the mighty Kaketa River, they feel that although it is true, They now have their tools, they cannot forget what they have learned from their elders and that is to understand the behavior and information that nature provides us.
