Making Space for Maijuna Women’s Voices

creativeactionins
14 minutes ago
2 min read

Deep in Peru’s northern Amazon, the Maijuna are one of the country’s smallest Indigenous groups, numbering only about 500–600 people. In 2015, after years of advocacy, they secured the creation of the Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area, a 391,000-hectare reserve that legally recognizes their ancestral lands. This was a historic victory, giving the Maijuna the power to protect their forests, rivers, and wildlife from outside exploitation.

Yet recognition on paper has not stopped real threats. Illegal loggers continue to enter Maijuna territory, and now a much larger danger looms: the Bellavista–El Estrecho highway. This government-backed project will cut nearly 188 kilometers through the Amazon to connect Peru and Colombia. Experts warn the road could destroy over 15,000 hectares of forest and drive an influx of illegal logging, coca cultivation, and trafficking – threats that fall especially hard on women and girls. Though billed as “development,” Amazonian roads often bring displacement, deforestation, and violence.

Against this backdrop, One Planet, a Peru-based NGO, has been working with the Maijuna for more than 15 years to strengthen their ability to defend their rights and preserve their way of life. In 2024, program officer Pia Desulovich returned to Maijuna territory with a new approach. After training with Creative Action Institute (CAI) in arts-based methodologies, she set out to create space for Maijuna women to share their voices: a first in their history.

At Creative Action Institute, we train grassroots leaders across Latin America to use arts-based tools for guiding workshops that help communities reflect, share knowledge, and confront climate challenges together. These creative processes, like storytelling, painting, and performance, invite participants to express their experiences in powerful new ways. Instead of being shaped by outside questions, people bring their own knowledge and perspectives to the table, making space for insights that might otherwise remain unspoken. Research shows this approach builds confidence, strengthens community bonds, and uncovers hidden knowledge. Just as importantly, the art itself endures as a lasting record of memory, resistance, and vision.

For three days, Pia took the CAI methodology to a workshop with 35 women in the communities of Nueva Vida and Puerto Huamán. At first, many were shy. “I remember the women were very quiet at the beginning,” Pia recalled. But throughout the workshops, the atmosphere shifted.

Stories of sexism, inequity, and resilience began to surface, and by the final day, the women shared laughter, and bonded over common experiences. “Now there is more trust between them,” Pia said.

The workshop culminated in a mural, the first of its kind in Maijuna history. Together they created a striking image of a strong Maijuna woman standing beside a jaguar, surrounded by palm trees, fruits, and woven chambira fiber. “The mural was inspired by their personal stories,” Pia explained. Today, the entire community takes pride in it. Visitors are brought to see it, ask about its elements, and hear its meaning.

Now, as the highway advances, the mural represents the collective voice of Maijuna women, asserting their place in the fight for their land and families. It reminds the community, and those who visit, that they face these threats together.