Project manager Debbie Eraly of BOS+ visits Gareno, one of the biggest Waorani-communities in the Ecuadorian Amazone. This is her report.

Gareno is one of the biggest and most accessible communities, this has his consequences (for example regarding oil extraction). The people involved in the project got together with the neighboring communities for technical training about cacao. This project ended in 2016 and was supported by the Flemish Fund for Tropical Forest. It was performed by the women’s organization AMWAE in cooperation with the local organization Ecociencia.

The most important job during the visit was to improve the fermentation of the cacao, an essential step in making qualitative chocolate. Locally collected wood from dilapidated houses was used to make simple boxes. Inside the boxes were covered with banana leaves and next they were stacked per three. The young men of the village were very enthusiastic and made 70 of those boxes every day.

Both young and old are giving instructions. Those are noted by our agricultural engineer and cacao specialist Manuel in corporation with the local promotors of AMWAE. Besides the techniques of good fermentation; the drying method of cacao, the maintenance of the plantations and the application of a natural microbial fertilizer fluid were established. After learning all the techniques and methods, all the groups went to neighboring fields to test and practiced what they just learned. Everything happens happy and agitated, and like always in their own Waorani-language. I have never met any other group where they laugh as much as the Waorani.

In the meanwhile, the other part of the team tries another level: the sky. A drone was used to follow the evolutions that the project has made and to check the claims of zero-deforestation, always delicate when working with commercial interesting crops. In every village (3) the drone makes a in advance programmed flight. The strange and curious item gets a lot of attention.

The tapping noise of the box making process sounds in the background while the drone is making a buzzing noise above the fields.

Debbie Eraly, February 2017