IPHU Course in Colombia kicks off

With the participation of representatives of the indigenous peoples  from Yukpa, Wayúu, Wiwa, Arhuaco, Kankuamo and Kogi Nations, and activists of PHM Colombia the course of the International People's Health University (IPHU): “Health in and with the Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta” began in Pueblo Bello, Cesar, Colombia. The IPHU Course is bing held from October 7 to 11.

The IPHU course organized by the national circle of the PHM Colombia is made with the support of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Cesar and La Guajira -Dusakawi- and the Social Work Faculty of the Universidad de la Salle.

During the first day of the course “Health in and with the Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta”, topics such as the importance of the value of women, the body and the care of Mother Earth were addressed. Consulting Mother Earth as an exercise of cosmocracy to make decisions based on what she tells us since human health depends on the health of the earth. “Our health depends on the health of Mother Earth” said Ati Quigua, a woman of the Arhuaco People and host of the event.

Six percent of the world's population is indigenous and their territories represent 80% of the world's biodiversity, which is why the defense of territory and the collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as the protection of ancestral knowledge, are a priority.

Discussions included the need to overcome multiculturalism for the construction of intercultural knowledge, as well as the need to heal knowledge, the relationship with nature, power and history.

The participants of the course agree that this experience is only a beginning of moving forward together, this encounter strengthens the ancestral knowledge system taken it to formal education.  United we are stronger in a single thought, it is not a matter of each nation being on its own, we must weave together, each people from its own particularities.