“In our community, parents still take their children to receive healing from the machi, or traditional Mapuche healer, and at times, are tasked to find the particular lawen needed for the healing ceremony. This lawen is becoming scarcer in our own community. Our traditional medicine plants are in danger of disappearing, as each year, less and less native plants are growing. The knowledge is also in danger of disappearing, as our families and children are becoming more exposed to western schooling and outmigration. We are making efforts to address these challenges by strengthening the presence of our Native Plant Species: Roble, Coigue, Maqui, Arrayan… all medicine, or lawen.”
Many Indigenous communities face a loss of traditional knowledge. The Indigenous Mapuche Llaguipulli Community is no different in that regard. They are working hard in their community school, The Kompu Lof Ni Kimeltuwe (The School of All Communities) to maintain their traditional knowledge by planting a native tree nursery. This tree nursery will be an educational resource for the community on sustainable native plant management. These programs will also strengthen intergenerational transmission of Mapuche Eco-Cultural Knowledge from elders to youth.
