Kue Tuvy - The Ache Guayaki Preserve

Guayakí Yerba Mate is contributing funds and training time to the Ache Guayaki project. This includes a salary for the project manager, a part-time salary for his assistant, plus bringing members of the community to other projects to demonstrate our sustainable rainforest projects in practice. The key drivers are the Ache Guayaki themselves, which is what makes this project so (r)evolutionary.

Kim and Magdalena Hill are the conduits to the western world and Guayaki SRP, along with 5 non-profits, play important roles. Further, we have made a long-term commitment to this project that will bring additional capital to the project as we grow. This additional capital comes not only from our purchase of the yerba mate, but we have also committed $5,000 per year.  When our sales reach $10mm per year, we will pay an additional .1% of our revenues. This is considered intellectual property, but the way trademark laws are written we (or any other corporation) are NOT legally bound to license the use of their name. All of this is in addition to paying 2 to 3 times the market price for the yerba mate. The application of MARKET DRIVEN RESTORATION is that our purchases will generate between $2,500 and $7,500 per year to the community (and more when more mate is planted).

The Ache Guayaki once lived harmoniously in the Atlantic Forest; a region touching North Eastern Paraguay, North Eastern Argentina and Southern Eastern Brazil. Intense deforestation began in the 1970’s and the Ache were confined to smaller and smaller chunks of forest. Eventually, very little of the forest remained and food became scarce as animals habitats were destroyed. Soon, the Ache were forced to find food elsewhere and ranchers’ cattle became prime targets. Eventually, the Ache were viewed as a menace and a massive genocide took place reducing the number of Ache to under a few hundred – mostly children. Today, the Ache Guayaki community of “Kuetuvy” (one of last 6 Ache Guayaki communities) has settled on a 12,000 acre parcel of forest granted to them by the government.

The Ache Guayaki people have a tragic history, one that is similar to many other indigenous people of South America. Many of the indigenous peoples of the world have been forced from their land, beaten, raped, killed and treated worse than animals. This familiar horrendous treatment of peoples has repeated itself throughout history. While it is easy to find fault, it is more constructive to create positive solutions to reverse these destructive cycles and create opportunities for these peoples to find a place in the world of today. The tragedy of losing an indigenous people is a sad reality as their knowledge and connection to the earth’s natural cycles will be forever lost.