Natividad Mutumbajoy

She is a native Ingano woman in Colombia, South America, widow of the late Ingano shaman, Don Roberto, who has tirelessly worked to foster mutlilingual education, involving Ingano language, in the trying circumstances of abject poverty and an ongoing year civil war. With the support of the Amazon Conservation Team, she has promoted the study of the Inga language through a school, Escuela Yachaicury, she and her community created in the remote hamlet of Yurayaco, Caquetá department, Colombia.

The Yachaicury School has been formally recognized by Colombia’s Ministry of Education. In addition to her work with the school, she also produces an Inga language radio show that is broadcast in the region; the radio station is wholly indigenous-run and is also out of Yurayaco. Further, she is a stalwart of the Ingano cultural renaissance that is taking place well below the radar in the foothills of the Colombian Amazon, having been one of the guiding lights leading to the creation of the Inga-self-governing association involving five Ingano communities.