Peru
Edgar Sermeño Durand grew up fishing and diving on Peru’s southwest coast. With a love of nature and adventure, he went with a friend to explore the remote wildernesses of the Peruvian Amazon and to meet and learn from the Ashaninka people. It didn’t go well, at first, the tribe believing they were assassins sent from the local logging companies to push them off their land. But Durand became close friends with the Ashaninka, and used the webcam on his tablet device to bear witness to the tragic injustices suffered by the Ashaninka people of Hawai Nuevo Amanecer and helped them take their story to the national Congress in Lima. Now, the Peruvian Forest Service contemplates how to grant indigenous peoples land concessions. Durand is currently in Mexico working on a Fulbright research project evaluating coastal fishing co-operatives.
Edgar Sermeño Durand went on an adventure to explore the pristine jungles of his native Perú. Through an encounter with the local indigenous Ashaninka people, he instead bore witness to fierce injustice, and began a journey of discovery that changed his life – while trying to save theirs. The courage of Edgar, Mauro Pio Peño, […]