Odile Bouisson, a Spanish teacher at two secondary schools in the mountains of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in Saint-André-les-Alpes and Annot, discovered the peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Tchendukua Association – Ici et Ailleurs – thanks to a friend who is an English teacher. Working in partnership with our team, Odile is committed to raising her pupils’ awareness of the culture of indigenous peoples and their fundamental role in preserving what our modern societies have come to call the ‘environment’.

Since January 2021, the Emile Honnoraty and René Cassin secondary schools have been collaborating with Tchendukua. To stimulate their thinking, the Spanish-speaking pupils in Years 8 and 9, accompanied by Ms Bouisson, listened to a talk by Lise Fabbro, a project officer for the Tchendukua Association. These sessions were prepared in advance in class, notably through reading articles and watching documentary films. It was an opportunity for the pupils to reflect on how the indigenous peoples of the Sierra organise their community life, on the education of children through oral tradition, which differs greatly from the way our schools operate, and, more broadly, on the role of indigenous peoples in preserving the planet, referred to as Mother Earth by these communities.

At the end of this experience, Odile Bouisson shared her thoughts with us: “It is essential that today’s young people reconnect spiritually with the sacred nature of life on Earth – all life, human and non-human, the forests, the animals, the water…. I try to pass on my love for Mother Earth to them and to make them realise that we can think differently about our relationship with the Living World of which we are a part. The Kogi people embody a concrete example of a different way of thinking, in harmony with our surroundings. It is vital to inform and raise awareness amongst young people in France about this alternative perspective, so that they may discover other ways of respecting themselves, respecting others and respecting all living things.”

Odile Bouisson

© photo credit: Jean Roche, Camargue, Shikwakala, October 2023.