Soacha Extension commemorates Indigenous Peoples' Day

Since 1992, August 9th has been celebrated as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, following the first meeting of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. At UCundinamarca, we emphasize the importance of understanding our roots and ancestral culture.

The Soacha Extension is concerned with knowing its ancestral roots and disseminating them, as well as understanding its activities and strong ties with nature; this is done with the development of the Soachuna Identity Cultural Learning Field, connected with the Person, Culture, Nature and Society dimension of MEDIT.

“Indigenous peoples possess a great diversity of unique cultures, traditions, languages, and knowledge systems. They have a special relationship with their lands and have diverse concepts of development based on their own worldviews and priorities,” stated Yolanda Giraldo, leader of the Cultural Learning and Identity field in Soachuna.

The department of Cundinamarca is home to 5,303 indigenous people from the Muisca, Kichwa, and Jeruriwa Yukuna ethnic groups. The Muisca people originated in the Cundiboyacense highlands, with their development centered in the municipality of Soacha.

One of the most representative places for this culture is the Tequendama Falls, which, according to legend, originated many years ago; a god from other lands, called Bochica, stuck a golden rod and broke the Tequendama rock, thanks to this, a great flood became a waterfall and then a stream that would bring prosperity to the Muisca people, who were grateful for this blessing.

“Knowing and embracing our ancestral roots means knowing ourselves, understanding our present and improving our future, caring for life and living in balance with nature,” Giraldo adds.

From the CAC Identidad Soachuna, different activities have been carried out with the university community such as talks and promotion of what we know as the “Green University” which is the space to value nature.

“Soacha has a great ancestral and natural wealth, and from the Environmental Management System, we have also worked to disseminate and promote spaces of interest for everyone, where the university community learns and knows the natural parks,” explained Karin Stefanny Mesa, manager of the EMS at the Soacha Extension.

It is worth noting that the Secretary of Development and Social Inclusion of Cundinamarca presented progress in the development of the Public Policy for Indigenous Communities, a process that has been carried out in coordination with national, departmental, and community bodies. “These differentiated public policies are important to make us visible and allow us to participate in the processes managed by the Governor's Office. We seek to be truly recognized for who we are: ethnic peoples, ancestral peoples, possessors of great knowledge, beginning with our first territory, which is our own bodies, and thus be able to extend this knowledge to others.”.

In the department's government, different initiatives are being carried out, such as the 'Cundinamarca Diversa' program and "Cundinamarca Indígena, Tejiendo Sueños" (Indigenous Cundinamarca, Weaving Dreams), which allows us to increasingly embrace our indigenous heritage.

More news from the Soacha Extension at the News Agency