Performed by Vijali Hamilton and the Shuar Children of the Amazon Refuge School in Ecuador
The International Peace Belt, given to me by Wendy, was the center of our lives as we traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon and lived with the Shuar. Upon arrival we immediately made an altar for the belt and meditated with it every morning and evening. Two shamans blessed the belt in ceremony—Shairy in the Andes on our way to the Amazon, and Don Pedro in the Amazon in trance while ingesting their sacred ayahuasca. We have started a school for the Shuar children ages 3 to 12 years and we now have 30 children. The classes are held in the beautiful schoolhouse built in Shuar style with thatched roof and low bamboo sidings. Donations from Artists For World Peace and friends made it possible. The schoolhouse is on the banks of the Yukias River on the Amazon Refuge a World Wheel project. The last day we were there, as a culmination of our work together, we held a ceremony performance with the school children—I being the Spirit of the Rainforest, and the children the animals and rain. We had great fun dressing ourselves with flowers and giant leaves from the forest to represent each character. The children learned to say who they were in Shuar, Spanish, and English and that they were messengers of peace. I tied each child to one strand of the beautiful peace belt with a natural fiber from the rainforest and we dance together in a circle. As we danced I wound them to me in the center and we ended with gleeful shouts of peace blessing for the world. It was truly an initiation for each child into being peace carriers in their lives. The moment was special for us all!
