Seeds (Condensed)

Watch the video below to explore some of the online features and tools of the Seeds Course.

First and foremost, we are grateful and could not have done this course without the teachings, guidance, and blessings of our elders. We were gifted with meeting our teachers in person in 2018 and supporting them to do workshops, film screenings, and gatherings in the U.S. Northeast. Alejandrina Calancha Monge, Zadir Milla Euribe, Alberto Manqueriapa Vitente, and Jose Huaman Turpo (in the order of the picture below) come from Indigenous communities and lineages from the Andes and Amazon of what today is known as Peru.

They have dedicated their lives to connecting with, supporting the thriving of, and sharing of the ancestral wisdom of their lineages. We see ourselves as ancestral stewards in relationship to them; as part of a continuation and as supporters of their work. We could not have done this Seeds course without them.

In addition to being guided by our elders, we are truly blessed to be connected to and to support the creation of ethnographic documentaries of Indigenous communities in South America by Jose Huaman Turpo and Alejandrina Calancha Monge. The Mysteries of the Andes film series seeks to accomplish something that has not been done before: to document the stories of Andean and Amazonian communities from a holistic perspective. It will be a collection of nine memorable films, three of which we mention and refer to in this Seeds course. We are currently working on the 4th film on ancestral music from across the Andes.

Finally, we would like to acknowledge the song that is played during the title screens of our videos. We are grateful to Gustavo Santaolalla, musician and producer, for the song Desandando el Camino. You can find the song with the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XyexoTKoHI

This team of teachers created the Seeds Program in 2018 after spending time with their elders during the spring. They have run in-person cohorts every year since then and are excited to bring you the material in a more accessible online format. Here's a bit about them in the order they appear:

• Fhatima is a daughter to immigrant parents from Mexico and the Philippines. She started doing community organizing in 2011 as part of the Faith in Action (PICO) national network and continued building organization through Movimiento Cosecha. In 2017 she transitioned to Ayni Institute to support and learn from the elders in South America, and has been using her skills as a trainer, facilitator, and coach to co-create teachings that build towards a reciprocal world. She is also grateful to be able to more actively focus on her connection to Mother Earth and to explore guiding communal ceremonies.
• Rodrigo has worked at the Ayni Institute since 2016. His drive to support the memory program stems from his journey of being an immigrant who has been unable to visit his home, Peru, since he was four years old. Rodrigo graduated from Clark University where he studied International relations and was named a LEEP fellow. For three years he worked supporting Central American youth with their asylum cases. He has worked as a volunteer organizer at Movimiento Cosecha assisting in the campaigns and assemblies. He was also a featured guest writer on immigration in the Nation Magazine.  
• Carlos Saavedra is a community leader that works to bring a vision of reciprocity into the world. He has been a community organizer in the immigrant rights movement for the last 17 years, building and co-founding organizations such as the Student Immigrant Movement (SIM), the United We Dream Network and Movimiento Cosecha. He also believes in a long term vision that in order to bring justice into the world we must renew our world cultures and religions to be closer to Mother Earth and Reciprocity.