Background Information
Who is Querubin Queta Alvarado?
Querubin Queta Alvarado (Taita Querubin) was born in the Colombian Amazon in 1932 in San Antonio de Guamez, in Putumayo. (Taita is the name given to the spiritual leader of the Colombian Amazon spiritual leader and doctors).
He has served as the spiritual guide of his community for many years and founded the Foundation Zio-A'I and has been the president from 2002-2004. He has extensive international experience. In 1997, he traveled to Verona, Italy to share his knowledge of Amazon Medicinal Plants at the Congress Hervora. The same year, he traveled to Seattle to participate in an International Conference on Human Rights. In 1999, he traveled to Bolivia to advise the Indigenous Aimara Communities on organizational strengthening and traveled to Nairobi to participate in the CBD meeting. He also attended the UN Meeting in Sevilla, Spain on Article 8-J of the Convention on Biological Diversity. He has participated several consultation workshop in Geneva one on Health Policies organized by the World Health Organization in 1999 and was a special guest of an Expert Meeting on Traditional Knowledge UNCTAD in 2000. He also participated in an International Conference on Peace, Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Right for Colombia in San Jose, Costa Rica. In 2001 he participated in the seminar on intelectual property rights and biological and genetic resources in Latin America in Cusco, Peru. He is the main contributor of the book presenting the Life Plan of the Cofanes. Taita Querubin and Taita Sebastian, Fundacion Zio-Ai, Wisdom Union, Colombia.
Taita Querubin is the principal indigenous leader and doctor of the Cofan Indigenous Community of the Colombian Amazon. Taita Querubin brings an ancestral knowledge from the Amazon that very few people can dream to be exposed to.
Who are the COFAN?
The Cofan communities are scattered through ten settlements in Ecuador and four Colombia, although they consider themselves members of one single Nation. They have lived by hunting, fishing and gathering for thousands of years in that area. The Cofan nation is one of the world's smallest, with only 1,000 people in 10 communities. Their environment and traditional way of life is currently under threat from western development, particularly by oil companies, fumigations, colonization of territory, and "black oil" exploitation. This has caused massive deforestation (with a subsequent loss of food, medicinal plants & other materials), pollution of the rivers & air and widespread fires. It is also destroying the community's cultural traditions.
The Cofan see the forest as a living entity which is being violated by drilling into the ground. Oil development has also brought with it diseases to which the Cofan have no natural immunity, and poverty is on the increase. The Cofan have lost over 90% of their land and their remaining lands are fragmented, leading to a breakdown in community cohesion.
The community cofan, is undergoing huge struggle to survive. The plan Colombia which aimed to target illegal drug cultivation by fumigating large areas of the forest. leaded to devastating effects on the environment, and consequently affected and still does affects food production, and pollutes the rivers. The plan Colombia did not take into account the significance of the amazon forest for indigenous populations and the global effect.
What is Music for Life?
Music for life is an organisation seeking to rescue, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of ethnic minority groups. Trough music, dance and the visual arts, we seek to engage and enable young people to discover their history, contributing to a more open-minded and tolerant society. Music for Life is the result of years of youth and community work using the arts as a tool for empowerment.
To find out how you can help with our projects with the COFAN community in Jardines de Sucumbios please get in touch: rafael@musicforlife.me.uk
Mobil: 07745168814
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HERMOSA LA CULTURA DE MI ESPOSA Y DE MI HERMOSO BEBE.
luisosornoca 5 months ago 3
HERMOSO!!! lamentablemente no he tenido la oportunidad de tomar con el MAYOR don QUERUBIN pero si con sus hijos :) esa ceremonia fue hermosa y tambien con mi taita don Tulio Muñoz lo unico q puedo hacer es dar infinitas gracias por compartirnos ese hermoso tesoro escondido en las profundidades de mi PACHA MAMA e infinitas bendiciones a mis TAITAS
erikaixkiejeb 3 months ago 2