A people of the
Ucayali river.
Around 35,000 Shipibo-Konibo people live in some 150 communities along the Ucayali, in eastern Peru. Their language is spoken fluently by adults and, increasingly, not learned by children. This is an archive of it — the words, the designs, the plants, the stories and the present — recorded with the people who hold it.
UNESCO’s Atlas lists Shipibo-Konibo as definitely endangered — not for lack of speakers, but because it is no longer the norm for children to learn it at home. The elders hold the most vocabulary, the most song and the most knowledge of the forest, and they are the ones with the least time. That is the whole reason this project exists, and why it is happening now rather than later.
Six things
we are recording.
The language
Shipibo-Konibo, of the Panoan family. A 43-lesson course and a growing dictionary, recorded word by word with named speakers.
Kené & the pots
The geometric design tradition, made mostly by women — and the ceramic tradition underneath it that the market forgot.
Ráo — the plants
What a plant is for, what a song is for, and the idea underneath all of it: every plant has a mother.
The stories
Fire, the sun starting to move, a giant eagle killed with a man made of clay — each with the name of who told it.
River life & history
River people, not jungle people. The seasons, the food, and a thousand years compressed into a dated timeline.
The present
Land defence, the Guardia Indígena, oil palm, and a river fished out from under the people living on it.
Recorded with named speakers,
this year, on the river.
Recording began in 2026 with communities along the Ucayali. The first words came from a speaker in Comunidad Nativa Callería. Speakers are credited by name in the course, and every recording goes back to the community it came from.
Three ways in.
I’m going to Peru
Medical screening, what to ask a centre, and what the tradition is not.
A living culture should not be reduced to a ceremony, a pattern, or a product.
This project exists to document and share Shipibo-Konibo language, art, medicine, memory, and contemporary life — while giving credit, authority, and material benefit to the people carrying that knowledge.
What your support actually pays for.
The Community Garden Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3). Buying the course and supporting the foundation fund the same things:
- Recording equipment in the hands of Shipibo speakers
- Transcription and translation, paid rather than volunteered
- A permanent copy of every recording for the community it came from
- Escuela Uno, the art school we built in the Peruvian Amazon
- A named share of every course sale returning to the Ucayali
Prepare before you arrive.
Get the free preparation kit:
- Ten Shipibo-Konibo phrases with audio
- The first chapter of our dieta guide
- A direct checklist for evaluating retreats and facilitators
Opens your email. We answer everything.