I am the Executive Director and Founder of four separate institutions (www.funedesin.org, www.yachana.com, www.yachanagourmet.com and www.yachana.edu.ec - website under construction) that are committed to improving education, healthcare and conservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
I moved to Ecuador twenty years ago to work with rainforest communities as a consultant to the oil companies. In 1991, I founded the non-profit organization FUNEDESIN (the Foundation for Integrated Education and Development), and later our two non-profit companies, Yachana Lodge and Yachana Gourmet, to help finance FUNEDESIN's community development and conservation projects in the rainforest. In 2004, we set out to create the Yachana Technical High School, an innovative education program to benefit indigenous and mestizo youth from remote areas of the Amazon region. The high school program is designed to equip local youth with vocational skills and practical knowledge that are relevant to the realities of rural life in the rainforest.
Business management and administration are essential skills in the 21st century, and the Yachana Technologies business initiatives are an integral part of the high school's innovative design to be as self-sustainable as possible. There are 62 students enrolled this year. The high school will graduate 60-80 students per year, starting in 2007. The Yachana Technical High School is the only one of its kind in the country, and is a model for sustainability and human development in rural areas around the world.
I am proud to be part of an initiative that is so unique, and am even more pleased to be able to share our work with you and to learn from others' experience.
Come visit us in the Amazon rainforest and stay at our award winning Yachana Lodge eco-destination for a once-in-a-lifetime jungle adventure!
With a Yachana Technical High School student on our Yachana Reserve -
Pointing out an ancient ceramic pot accidently excavated by a bulldozer where a road has recently been built through the middle of our Yachana Reserve (3,700 acres of Protected Forest within the Buffer Zone of Gran Sumaco National Park, a UN designated Man and Biosphere Reserve)
