1. Sumak Helena Siren Gualinga was born on February 27,2002 and is an Ecuadorian environmental and human rights activist from the Kichwa Sarayaku community in Pastaza, Ecuador.
18 Facts About Helena Gualinga
1. 2.
Helena Gualinga was born on February 27,2002, in the Indigenous Kichwa Sarayaku community located in Pastaza, Ecuador.
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Helena Gualinga's mother, Noemi Gualinga is an Indigenous Ecuadorian former president of the Kichwa Women's Association.
4.
Helena Gualinga's father is Anders Siren, a Swedish-speaking Finnish professor of biology in the department of geography and geology at the University of Turku.
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Helena Gualinga spent most of her teenage years living in Pargas and later in Turku, Finland where her father comes from.
6.
Helena Gualinga attends secondary school at the Cathedral School of Abo.
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From a young age, Gualinga has witnessed the persecution of her family for standing against the interests of big oil companies and their environmental impact on Indigenous land.
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Helena Gualinga has stated for Yle that she sees her involuntary upbringing in such an agitated environment as an opportunity.
9.
Helena Gualinga has become a spokesperson for the Sarayaku Indigenous community.
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Helena Gualinga's activism includes exposing the conflict between her community and oil companies by carrying an empowering message among the youth in local schools in Ecuador.
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Helena Gualinga actively exposes this message to the international community hoping to reach policy-makers.
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Helena Gualinga describes that those elders have become aware of climate change regardless of their lack of scientific background.
13.
Helena Gualinga held a sign that read "sangre indigena, ni una sola gota mas" outside of the UN headquarters in New York City at a demonstration with hundreds other of young environmental activists during the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.
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Helena Gualinga spoke about her concern on the Ecuadorian government authorizing oil extraction in Indigenous land.
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Helena Gualinga expressed her disappointment towards world leaders' lack of interest to discuss topics brought by Indigenous peoples to the conference.
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Helena Gualinga founded Polluters Out with Isabella Fallahi and Ayisha Siddiqa which aimed at fossil fuel industries.
17.
Helena Gualinga is the protagonist of the documentary "Helena Sarayaku Manta", which documents her life and activism related to teaching the Sarayaku ways of living.
18.
The film was directed by Eriberto Helena Gualinga and premiered on March 18,2022 at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.