Pre-Ecuador Preparations: Where We’re At
With the 2023 Campout over, we have come into August counting down to the long awaited Ecuador expedition. The Campout was a huge success, with 755 people camping out across 23 countries worldwide. Seeing such widespread support of our cause brings great hope to us and the SËRA Foundation, having such a fantastic community behind our cause and spreading word of the Siekopai far and wide. We loved receiving your awesome campout photos, and we are currently sifting through them all and getting a handful of shout-outs up on our socials. Seeing photos, videos and stories of such a variety of Campouts reminds us of what makes BCC so special, and with some of our canopy campers raising funds for our cause we’re getting ever closer to our 2023 target of £20,000.
Campout ‘Treepeurs’ France
Multi-level canopy campout!
We’ve also been working to get more video content up online and have set up a brand new YouTube channel. Check it out for videos on BCC, the SËRA Foundation, and more!
As we count down to Ecuador we are getting properly stuck in with our final preparations for the expedition. Two of our team, Sven and Lies, have gone across early with their family to get a lay of the land for us, but also enjoying the beautiful landscapes and unique experiences that Ecuador has to offer. We’re pleased to have some arborist eyes on the ground to see how the weather’s holding up, as this year’s El Niño weather system could bring disruption to our plans. Hopes are high, though, with the weather holding up nicely these past weeks, and despite some unexpected political turbulence they’re having a great time in Ecuador before the rest of us arrive and the real work begins. Their early arrival has also helped us get a bulk of the gear across, and with the help of our contacts in Ecuador we are able to get this to the Siekopai in the coming weeks, saving us some much needed space when travelling, and a lot less to lug (carry) around during our first couple days of the expedition.
Let the adventure begin!
The first members of our expedition are flying ahead of the group to get a head start on the adventure!
The rest of the team; Vicki, Puk, Nora, Bex and Mat, are still super busy at home getting some last minute preparations made and getting an early start on getting packed. We’re well prepared, there’s no doubt about that, and with the astounding generosity of companies supplying us with all sorts of handy gear, from Lifestraws to harnesses, we feel well supported with what we need for the jungle. There’s even an Aeropress or two in our kit to keep the coffee drinkers of the team sufficiently sane while in the jungle. We have a number of people and companies to thank who have shown such enthusiasm in our project and faith in our team who we will give special shout outs to on our socials throughout the expedition.
The bulk of the fundraising left to do now is to meet the £20,000 mark for the Siekopai’s medicinal plant laboratory and expedition. With online sales and fundraising from the event itself we have raised over £16000 making 75% of our goal! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far :)
With our online shop still open and donations coming in we are optimistic that the full amount will be met!
We’ve achieved 75% of our fundraising goal!
With online sales and fundraising from the event itself we have raised over £16000 of our £20,000 aim!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far :)
The Siekopai are busy with preparations too, getting as ready as they can for the morete harvest, and we’re delighted to get regular updates from Jimmy Piaguaje and Bethany Pitts who have worked so closely with us throughout this project. It is important that, prior to our arrival, the community decide who wants to take part in the climbing workshop days, gathering a group of Siekopai men and women to not only learn the techniques required for reaching the morete fruit safely, but also to take responsibility for the use and upkeep of the climbing gear which we shall be leaving with them.
Washing the Morete fruits
Production of the fruits after harvest.
For the production phase of the harvest, the Siekopai have tried and tested their distillation and cold press equipment for processing the morete fruit and dedicated a space for creating the products. They have been able to smooth out some teething problems with the cold-press, and figured out the capacity of fruit that can be processed so that we have as efficient a process as possible once we harvest. Using the new equipment, designed and created specifically for them and their aims is currently residing in one of the classrooms of their forest school and is a significant step being made by the community to merge modern techniques with their ancestral knowledge. They are hugely excited to build on this with the upcoming laboratory and have created detailed blueprints so they can get straight into setting it up once our funds come through. The distillation lab will provide the means by which the community can better utilise their already abundant knowledge of local flora, processing the fruit on a larger scale, and meeting the health and hygiene standards required for distributing the products further afield.
Combining modern technology with ancestral knowledge.
A truly special part of this upcoming exchange of knowledge is how it contributes to the Siekopai’s much greater endeavour to retain the knowledge of their elders. The community’s desire to retain their autonomy sits at the heart of everything they do, and while utilising new and initiative ways of sustaining themselves financially, the Siekopai are set on staying true to their values and retaining the connection with their land. The modern techniques which we are able to provide sit right at home with this approach that they are taking, and the provision of arboricultural techniques will allow them to harvest the morete fruit in a safe and sustainable way year after year.
The community’s desire to retain their autonomy sits at the heart of everything they do.
While utilising new and initiative ways of sustaining themselves financially, the Siekopai are set on staying true to their values and retaining the connection with their land.
The Siekopai have also been preparing a logo for their products, as well as sourcing containers and labels. While only able to sell their products on a smaller, local scale until the laboratory is complete, it is important that we can go through the entire production process and have all the morete that we harvest together ready for sale so that none is wasted. The final stage of this is having containers ready for the product, which will be produced in the latter half of our time there, where the products can be contained and labelled. It will be fantastic to see this whole process, from harvesting the fruit using modern tree climbing techniques, to the final morete products being sealed in containers labelled with their very own design and text.
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***PLEASE NOTE : Our online fundraising shop will be open for sales but orders will not be shipped between the 3rd and 30th of September. We thank you for your patience.***