Dikaro Stories

A traditional day in the Waorani culture with the fisherman Nongue

Bogui Coba

The Waorani have the knowledge to use natural resources to provide for their necessities and they also use natural resources when hosting a traditional celebration. Nongue starts his day on the Kawimeno (Yasuní) River fishing with a fishhook in a canoe with cedar oars made my hand. He catches a type of catfish that he will eat with cassava root and green banana. Later, Nongue accompanies Diyinca to hunt with a blowpipe and arrows made from a specific type of palm tree. The tips of the arrows have been coated with venom. They hunt squirrel and spider monkey. Then they bring the animals home so that my mother, Nementoke Wareca, can remove the fur and smoke the meat while her grandchildren learn this tradition from watching her. In the afternoon of the same day, Gome Enomenga works in his traditional house cutting a type of hollow cane plant to make a musical instrument to be used for a celebration that night. During the celebration, the people drink chicha (traditional drink), dance, sing and play the musical instrument made from the hollow cane plant that plays like a flute.

Festival of Peach Palm fruit chicha

Coba Tocari

The people from the community of Dikaro are traveling to the community of Yarentaro for a celebration of Chontaduro chicha, a traditional drink made from mashed Peach Palm fruit mixed with water. With my story, I want to illustrate how the people from Dikaro travel to dance, sing and drink chicha in a typical celebration of Peach Palm fruit. This type of celebration is unique to the Waorani people, which is why it is important to share it with people who do not yet know the Waorani culture.

From sunrise to sunset

Guicawe Ciaga

I want to show how one day passes in the community of Dikaro in Yasuní and the jungle around the community. There is a lot of mist in the early morning and sometimes rain. Later, it can turn very sunny. In the afternoon, sometimes we travel to another community (Yarentaro) by bus. When we arrive, streetlights illuminate the roads, just as they do in Dikaro.

A dream for the future

Karewa Tocari

My story is about the work of the students of UEDO Dikaro High School. I want to show how the students work together on their reforestation project. The boys make a roof for the greenhouse to protect the young trees using natural resources collected from the jungle nearby. The girls prepare bags of earth for planting seeds and cultivating more plants. This project was started after many trees were cut down in the region by oil companies and by Waorani community members to make farming plots.

My grandmother’s life

Karina Boya

My grandmother lives traditionally in the Waorani culture. She goes into the jungle to collect Ungurahua palm seeds that Waorani boil, peel and mix with chicha (a traditional drink) made from cassava root. Also, my grandmother gathers Chambira palm leaves to make chigras (woven bags), hammocks, bracelets and other traditional crafts. I want to show how my grandmother lives so people can see how happy life is in the Waorani community of Dikaro and the plentiful resources the jungle provides.

Living harmoniously in Waorani territory

Timpo Omehuai

People from the three provinces of Pastaza, Napo and Orellana held a meeting in Dikaro to discuss the future of the Waorani territory and to create an official order to protect the ancestral laws of the Waorani people. The lawyers who work for the Waorani nation explained how to simultaneously maintain the ancestral laws and the current official laws in order to protect the territory and the people. Many of the attendees present at the meeting were dressed in traditional Waorani vestment, including crowns made from palm tree leaves, and had painted their faces with achiote, a seed of a small tree native to the area. The meeting started in the morning and lasted all day until five in the afternoon. At the end, the women danced to celebrate a successful meeting. Yeti, a member of the community, spoke with the chief, Araba Omehuai, to clarify how the new official order will work so that everyone can live in peace and liberty.

Traveling by bus

Wine Omehuai

The Waorani people from Dikaro go to the fair each Saturday to buy supplies that they cannot hunt nor grow nor buy because there are no supermarkets nearby. Community members have to wake up at three in the morning to travel by bus three hours to arrive in Pompeya South. Then they cross the river to get to the fair in Pompeya North to eat breakfast and buy food such as tomatoes, meat, sugar, coffee, oil and salt. Also, they buy other necessities like clothes, shoes, sport shoes, pants and tanks of cooking gas. When they finish buying supplies, they cross the Napo River again to Pompeya South. From Pompeya South, they take a bus to return to the community of Dikaro in the afternoon.