Bárbara Muelas (Misak Indigenous People, Colombia), the first Indigenous woman in the Colombian Academy of Language, has spent her 80 years reviving Namtrik, her mother tongue—one of 65 Indigenous languages that still survive in Colombia despite centuries of colonization. Once spoken only aloud, it is now etched in writing so it will not vanish. Born to terrajeros during a time in which colonizers forced the Misak nation to work in their own land, she saw her people reclaim their territory in the 1980s and knew that freedom also meant reclaiming their language. Mamá Bárbara translated the ethnic chapter of Colombia’s Constitution into Namtrik, believing each language holds a unique way of seeing the world—and that by learning them, we also come to know ourselves, and the threads that bind us all.
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Jacqueline Flores: The Plant Doctor [ENG]
Jacqueline Flores (Asháninka Indigenous People, Peru) thinks that being a plant doctor is not a title—it is an ancient science of direct encounter. One must take the plants, ingest them, allow them to move through the body, and speak. This is a knowledge revealed slowly, through dreams and disciplined diets, where the plants themselves become teachers.As a traditional healer of the Asháninka people—one of the Amazon’s most profound guardians of medicinal plant wisdom—Jacqueline embodies a way of healing rooted in time, reciprocity, and deep attention. She speaks critically of urban worlds that have severed their ties with nature, trading connection for chemical quick fixes that soothe but do not truly cure.True healing, she reminds us, is a slow unfolding. It asks us to relearn how to listen—to the plants, to the forest, to the more-than-human voices that have not stopped speaking.
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Noemà Gualinga: The Languages of the Forest [ENG]
Noemà Gualinga (Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku, Ecuador) is an Indigenous leader and a member of the Amazonian Women Defenders of the Rainforest Collective, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Indigenous women and their territories.Noemà has crossed many rivers — both literal and metaphorical — learning to adapt to life in the city, to other languages, and to unfamiliar rules. She has adapted, but never forgotten who she is or where she comes from. This is the lesson she has passed on to her children.For NoemÃ, preserving and transmitting knowledge — and sustaining the deep relationship with their territory — rests on one essential foundation: protecting and caring for their language. Because it is through language that children come to understand the wisdom of the forest and learn how to care for and defend their roots.
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Grandmother Helen Lindmark: Deep Listening [ENG]
In this episode, Grandmother Helen Lindmark (Sámi Indigenous People, Sápmi) shares her deep connection to the land and the Sámi way of life. The Sámi people inhabit Sápmi—a vast, remote region that spans Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russia’s Kola Peninsula—located within the Arctic Circle and rich in minerals like copper and gold. Because of this, their lands and communities have long been threatened by extractive industries and colonial forces that have sought to suppress their language and cultural traditions. Today, the Sámi are the only Indigenous people recognized within the European Union.Despite these challenges, Grandmother Helen continues to defend the sacred relationship between her people, their land, and the more-than-human world. Through silence and the practice of deep listening to the language of nature, she reminds us of the importance of returning to our roots and recognizing our profound interconnectedness.
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Christine Kandie: Reclaiming Unheard Voices [ENG]
In this episode, Christine Kandie (Endorois Indigenous People, Kenia) shares a deeply personal story of dispossession, resistance, and healing. Following the forced eviction of her people from their ancestral land in 1973, Christine grew up hearing stories of a lake that was like a womb for her community—vital, spiritual, and irreplaceable. In this episode, we follow her journey from a childhood in exile to becoming the founder of the Endorois Indigenous Women Empowerment Network. Along the way, she has challenged layers of invisibility to demand justice, reparations, and recognition. This is a story about the power of memory, identity, and what it means to keep fighting when you are told to forget who you are.
In this podcast series, you will learn from multiple Indigenous leaders, who live on the front lines of the global climate crisis. Here they share their life experiences, knowledge, and urgent advice. They are the ones who are leading the path to a possible future.
It's time to listen to them, it's time to cross the river.
Crossing the River is a podcast from More Than Human Life (MOTH), based at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law and 070 Podcasts.
South Africa