Fernando Lezama, the man of visions
Following the path of a vision, Fernando found his destiny
Fernando Lezama is a traditional doctor who began to walk the path of ancestral knowledge as a child. Since then, he has dedicated his life to service. He works to awaken awareness in himself and others — that in order to live in harmony, it is necessary to respect and love all living beings. Following are the steps of a Taita who has been guided by the voice of his ancestors in order to perpetuate life on the planet.
Photo by Carmen Villegas
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
I came to the jungle when I was 5 years old. It was a divine place. Nature was in a wild state and the few human beings who lived there did so in complete harmony with the animals and the enormous trees that sheltered us. Every day was a celebration. The crystalline rivers flowed down the mountain and filled the atmosphere with freshness.
I used to get lost in the forest to get in touch with nature and learn from it. I saw the animals in their daily lives, masters of balance and mindfulness. My neighbors were wise people who managed the territory, guided by the spirituality born of their ancestral knowledge and their permanent contact with the power plants that Mother Nature has given us, to see beyond what our human eyes allow us.
Why is everyone talking about the rainforest?
The jungle is the most sacred place we have. The indigenous tribes are clear about this, and that is why they respect it and live in harmony with it. They have transmitted, from generation to generation, the way to live there without unbalancing its precious fabric.
Undoubtedly, it is the most complex design that nature has created and its balance is manifested in the entire planet. As we have already seen, the great losses that occur in this territory are reflected everywhere. As we lose more and more hectares of forest, all the systems of the planet deteriorate.
The forest is the nervous system of the Earth. In addition to water, animals, and trees, it is home to metals such as gold, lithium, and platinum, which are conductors of energy and radiate vitality to all corners of the world.
Although I have only traveled one path, that of the sacred medicine of yagé, it has taken me to many places. Thanks to that, I can say that none is as majestic as the Amazonian foothills, where the clouds crash to drop the water that feeds this ecosystem and travels, in streams, until it reaches the Amazon River. This river flows endlessly into the Atlantic Ocean and reaches the coast of 98 countries. Everything is interconnected, distances mean nothing. We are one family and we inhabit the same planet. What we do here will have an impact there and vice versa.
It is the principle of rhythm, in which everything ebbs and flows, and to avoid the destruction of the world we need to find the balance again.
Is the rainforest in danger?
“It’s hard to appreciate the importance of the rainforest because it seems so far away, but it’s vital to the survival of the planet as we know it.”
More than twenty years ago, I had a vision. With the eagle's sight, I could see the entire jungle and understood we were destroying it. The path brought me back to Putumayo. I started conservation and awareness work in the area. This led me to meet Jhony Lopez, the most committed environmentalist in the region. For many nights, we sat, under the shelter of the power plants, looking for a solution that would allow people to coexist with the jungle, without destroying it, moved by a purely economic necessity.
The question was simple: How to save the forest? And the answer we found was both simple and complicated. We must dedicate ourselves to conserving animal species and forests, as well as regenerating deforested areas. But for this to be a long-term solution, it is necessary to develop a green economy that benefits native farmers and indigenous communities, who are the ones living in the territory, so that all of them can make a living caring for the forest and protecting all the species that live in it.
For decades, cattle ranching and agriculture have eroded this biome. The sale of timber has savagely reduced its size and the oil companies have no scruples when it comes to raze all its manifestations of life, in order to continue with their business. Due to the lack of resources in the area and the neglect that successive governments have perpetuated in the region, the natives have no choice but to be part of this devastation.
But if we create a new job that allows these people to subsist, taking care of the territory they love and know like the back of their hand, we have no doubt what decision they will make.
The first steps
I belong to the Pijao indigenous community. I carry their ancestral knowledge in my blood. Throughout my training as a traditional doctor, I have had the good fortune to study with grandparents from the Cofán, Coreguaje, and Siona communities. All these ancestralities converge in me and I know that each of these communities preserves the knowledge and the desire to protect this essential territory. We are all driven by the same vision: to return to the origins of our ancestors, when humans lived in harmony with nature.
During these last twenty years, I have discovered that we indigenous people are not the only ones who are willing to give our all for this magical biome. The Tigres del Alto protection trail and the association El Salado de los Loros bring together more than 1,500 people who have united their lands to create a reserve where hunting and logging are prohibited. We are twenty-three villages working for a common cause: to protect the forest from poachers and prevent the entry of multinationals that want to exploit the riches of the ecosystem at any cost.
Over time, we saw that we needed reinforcements to achieve our dream: to create the largest reserve on the planet to protect this indispensable natural treasure, which belongs to all humanity. Thus Savimbo was born.
A company with a heart
“The time will come when the eagle of the north and the condor of the south will fly together in the same sky (...). If the eagle and the condor fly together again, wing to wing, the world will find its balance again”
I met Drea Burbank at a medicine retreat for Cofan Taitas. The connection was immediate, as it was clear that we shared the same ideas: the importance of the rainforest for the planet and the lack of awareness that humanity has of it. We got to work immediately. Jhony brought all his knowledge about the Piedmont and the animal footage he had already recorded, thanks to his camera traps, which showed the good health of the area's biodiversity. I already had in mind the company's structure that would allow us to activate the region's economy, around the care of the entire ecosystem. Drea brought her scientific and technological background and her experience in the world of entrepreneurship so that our ideas could be developed on a large scale. Together, we created a machine with a heart that seeks to expand human consciousness about what is truly important: rescuing biodiversity at risk due to the consequences of progress that advances without limits or respect for the environment.
Savimbo is an activist company that looks out for the common good, leaving aside individualities. Our main objective is to activate the economy of the region so that all its inhabitants can abandon the practices that deteriorate the environment and dedicate themselves to applying the knowledge they carry in their blood to care for and multiply the life that throbs in the body of our great mother: nature.
The first thing we built was trust. Month after month, we have demonstrated our integrity and our honest desire to work for the locality and for the rainforest. Today, more than 200 families have already joined the different conservation, reforestation, and ecotourism projects, with excellent results. Our reserve is growing, as is our work team, made up of local men and women. Because, in addition to our environmental work, Savimbo is also a school. If the native people learn to do the work themselves, they will not need Savimbo to continue it and will be able to transmit this new knowledge from generation to generation, perpetuating the love and respect for nature, as well as the awareness of the treasure they have in their hands.
The value of a living tree is incalculable because it keeps in its body the whole universe. Galaxies of living beings run through it, from the roots to the last leaf of its crown.
The future is in everyone's hands
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”
The work of saving the rainforest cannot be silent. We must go out into the light to infect the entire planet with our passion. We want to open the windows, take out banners, use megaphones, invade the networks. We want to invite all of humanity to be part of this project. We want to be the multinational of the environment and reach every screen in the world with a practical way to put a grain of sand in the conservation and expansion of the rainforest. We want people from every corner of the Earth to press a button, not to buy a new piece of clothing or a new technological accessory, but to plant a beard, a walnut, or a strawberry tree. That we all sponsor a jaguar and all the species that shelter under its umbrella.
Here we already have our hearts set on this task, but there is room for everyone. The more of us there are, the greener our future will be.
And if we take care of the forest, if we protect the trees, we will have in our team the true sowers of this biome: the animals. They are the propagators of the seeds. Thanks to their habits, the forest grows and regenerates. Thus, we will have succeeded in turning the vision into reality. All species united, working in harmony, for a planet that is greener every day; for a rock that travels through space, overflowing with abundance; for a tiny blue dot that is infinite at the same time.
Written by Fernando Lezama. Fernando is a founder of Savimbo and an important chaman in the Putumayo area.