The journey of Dorothea

For the culture of Yagé (Ayahuasca)

It is not a new chapter of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, but simply the experience of a German nurse that decided that it was her vocation to stay in Colombia and work for its indigenous population, in a way that few Colombian nationals have done. Her dedication is not limited to the Tikuna, the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon Trapezium, but has extended itself to different cultures of tribes that live in the Andes region, after a initial first contact that was realized in Pasto, with the Cofan Dureno community in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Colombian area of Bajo Putumajo. Now Dorothea has embarked on a new crusade, one to find funds to save the culture of Yagé or Ayahuasca with the help of Uniandinos. The objective of the project is to create a market for ecotourism in order to generate the funds to construct malokas ritual centers and to cultivate the plant in order to guarantee the subsistence of the source of this ancestral medicine.

Much has been said about Yagé, and through ignorance and unscrupulous commercial eagerness of some, it has often been presented as a drug. In reality, it is a sacred plant that can provide a spiritual experience by calling on the users’ inner power for meditation and facilitates a cleansing of the body and mind.

It is also important to make clear that Yagé should only be administered by experienced traditional healers (Taitas).

Adriana Tobón B.