Ñukanchikmi kanchi - kaypimi kanchi We are - here we are

History::

In the 1990s, after the glorious indigenous uprising, we proposed a community education, based on the values ​​and wisdom of indigenous peasants, and respectful of mother earth. Despite the mobilizations and uprisings, discrimination continued to be too strong in the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We (Laura Santillán Santillán and Fernando Chimba Simba) did not want to put our children in a Hispanic school in which they were marginalized, mistreated, beaten, or discriminated against for thinking, living differently, and for being indigenous. So, we decided to educate ourselves. This dream was joined by several indigenous migrant colleagues who had the same sentiment, and that is how in 1999 we created Yachay Wasi with three indigenous students from Otavalo and Chimborazo (Jumandi, Margarita and Mercy). In the following years, my other son and daughter (Sinchi and Nina) and other fellow migrants joined as well. In 2001 we legalized the school with 30 students, who were indigenous children from migrant families who dreamed of strengthening their indigenous peasant culture without denying the contemporary, but especially not detaching ourselves from our mother earth or Pachamamita, so the upbringing of the chakra Biodiverse school is an obligation in our educational space.

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