Mothers in the rainforest are prepared for a special mission: the spiritual and emotional protection of the community for the future as they are caregivers.

Why do mothers have this task? Because their traditional role within Amazonian cultures is to educate the next generations. Just as an artist shapes clay to create a masterpiece, they shape children every day to see them grow into great adults.

When age turns their hair gray and they become grandmothers, they transition from caregivers to the community’s teachers. They teach how to preserve cultural identity, passing on the most essential knowledge and skills of their ethnic group. For example, they teach how to protect the territory, how to transform raw materials into art, and how to preserve their community’s culinary identity.

It is no exaggeration to say that a community’s identity today has been built upon the vision of the mothers of the past.