About Us
Educating children. Protecting rivers. Conserving culture.
Mission Statement
Yaku Churi – Meaning “children of the river” (in Kichwa), is a free kayak school for Kichwa Indigenous youth from the banks of the Upper Rio Napo, also known as the Jatunyacu (Big Water). Focused on children ages 8 – 12, our program aims to provide an academy to train in whitewater kayaking, raft guiding, sustainable carpentry, and conservation in an embodied after school program. Our goal is to involve children along the Jatunyacu, so that they get involved in this world of whitewater, kayaking, sharing, learning and, above all, joining forces to protect our river. We are beginning our project with a cohort of fifteen students in the year of 2024.
Who Are We?
We are children from several communities, Serena, Jatunyacu, Shandia, Santa Rosa, San Carlos, Ichiurcu, united by the Rio Jatunyacu. We were born on this river, we are now connecting with the river in a new way through the sport of kayaking. Learning the importance of taking care of nature and our river, so that our families can continue to live in a dignified way of life in the Amazon.
Our Family
Yaku Churi is a multifaceted project created by Ecuadorian paddler Diego Robles, a local pioneer in the sport of whitewater kayaking in Ecuador. Diego while achieving some of the highest levels of the sport of whitewater kayaking in Ecuador, has continued to stay true to his roots. His focus has always been driven by sharing the passion that he loves with other local people in his hometown of Tena. As we have grown, we have received help from many generous collaborators throughout Ecuador and the larger international whitewater paddling community. Including our sister club in North Carolina USA, Need More Outdoors. Other support has come from Boofsessions, Jackson Kayak, Endless River Adventures, Small World Adventures, and world renowed expedition kayaker Ben Stookesberry.
Our Future
As we continue to grow as a program, we are looking to secure long term funding to develop in a sustainable and equitable way. The gear has all be donated by four partners, but we continue to lack annual funding to make sure that the children get transportation to the river, food, and proper support with their academics. It is our goal to continue to have a new series of cohorts each year, where the students will soon be able to help one another achieve their dreams.
Where We Are From
The Jatunyacu is a principal headwater of the Amazon River, the largest river on earth which forms the most vital ecosystem on earth, the Amazon Rainforest. Kichwa people have lived peacefully along the banks of the Rio Napo for thousands of years. However, today the river and its communities are facing major impacts due to resource extraction and subsequent environmental degradation. The Upper Rio Napo has developed into one of the largest areas for alluvial gold mining in the country of Ecuador. Alluvial gold mining is an environmentally unfriendly process of gold mining, that strip mines lush jungle villages to make way for open mines that put mercury into the river. The miners on the banks of the rivers act with impunity, to take every ounce of gold out of the fertile soils and leave rubble in their wake.
Today, the Yaku Churis are also the guardians of the river, because we need our healthy rivers to practice our sport, healthy rivers for the development of our life, healthy rivers for life in general, healthy rivers for coexistence with our community. We do this with love, because love is wanting to bless all existence of riverine life in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Our Students
Jair
Maikel
Latika
Our Founder
Diego was born in a world of free flowing and clean rivers in the Ecuadorian headwaters of the Amazon. When Diego was 13, he saw whitewater kayaks for the first time. That day their captains paddled through massive rain swollen waves on the Big River (Jatunyaku). When he approached them on shore, he met kayak instructor Dan Dixon. Dan ended up teaching Diego, and many other locals, setting the stage for the first generation of expert Ecuadorian whitewater kayakers and professional river guides.
Having literally grown up on the river, Diego was a natural at kayaking and was soon paddling the most challenging rivers in Ecuador where only foreigners had paddled before. Diego’s mom Lidia was diagnosed with a rare gastrointestinal cancer now common along Amazonian tributaries polluted by reckless petroleum extraction. Diego’s mom Lidia was his biggest supporter and loved to sit on shore and watch him paddle. She fought for a long-time to stay alive and to help Diego follow his passion of becoming a nationally licensed river guide and paddling some of Ecuadors tallest waterfalls including the legendary Salto Hollin and 60-foot Salto San Miguel. Sadly, in 2019 Lidia passed away.
His inspiration to donate so much time and energy to others comes from Lidia and her limitless kindness to others, her love of the natural world, and indigenous cultures. In her honor, Diego is dedicated to protecting his beloved Amazonian rivers and its people from the environmental damage that led to his mother’s untimely passing.