URL: http://www.amazonteam.org/index.php/250/Shamans_and_Apprentices_Colombia
Shamans and Apprentices: Colombia
The Shamans and Apprentices Program is an outgrowth of ACT's work with the Unión de Médicos Indígenas Yageceros de la Amazonía Colombiana, known by its Spanish acronym, UMIYAC. This seven-tribe union of traditional healers developed from an ACT-organized and historic first-ever encuentro de taitas ("gathering of shamans") for the Eastern Andean Piedmont in 1999. The gathering was organized in response to the recognition that only through a concerted effort between the tribes of the region could the various indigenous groups of the area hope to reverse the steady decline of their societies and habitat.
Over the course of its development, UMIYAC, with assistance from ACT, has sought to reassert the prominence and continuity of their spiritual and healing traditions by establishing formalized training between elder shamans and apprentices. In many cases, capable apprentices resided in communities with no remaining elder shamans. In such instances, experienced elder healers of UMIYAC, regardless of ethnicity, brought these students under their tutelage. Ongoing support from ACT and our supporters has allowed these relationships to continue and flourish.