On July 23-31 the Pachamama Alliance led it’s fourth annual Jungle Mamas journey deep into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. Founded in 2006, the Jungle Mamas program has been working in collaboration with the Achuar Nation of Ecuador to develop a model of addressing maternal, infant, and community health in a way that is culturally appropriate, empowering, and sustainable. The program is designed to eliminate all preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth of Achuar mothers and babies, and to improve community health by empowering Achuar women and communities with the tools needed to be their own agents of change.

This collection of photos chronicles the seven-day journey from Cafe Cultura in Quito, along the Avenue of the Volcanos, to the edge of the rainforest, into the Achuar Territory to Sharamentsa— an indigenous community of 120 people— and back out of the forest back to Banos and then back to Quito where the journey began.

To read more about the program, click here. You can also watch the documentary “The Heart of Everything: Jungle Mamas – Changemakers in the Amazon” below.