Costa Rica Indigenous Tribe to break ground on women-led bridge build and ancient traditions revival

For years, Boruca elders, youth, and Só Cagrú volunteers have crossed the river by foot. In the rainy season, rising waters cut off access. The new bridge will provide safe, year-round connection to the land.

Só Cagrú supports the empowerment of indigenous women through solidarity trade and combating violence, hunger and poverty, taking advantage of organic agriculture and ancestral knowledge.

Futuro Nativo helps launch the "Cacao Ranch Project" for the Boruca to preserve culture, connect community, and empower indigenous women

BORUCA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, PUNTARENAS, COSTA RICA, June 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In less than two weeks, a steel-beamed bridge will begin rising across the ravine leading to the Só Cagrú Community Farm in the heart of the Bruncajc–Boruca Indigenous Territory. This marks the first step of the Cacao Ranch Project—a living expression of Indigenous resilience, cultural revival, and cross-cultural collaboration.

For years, elders, youth, and volunteers have crossed the water by foot to access the community’s sacred 4-hectare plot. In the rainy season, swollen waters cut off access entirely. The new bridge ensures safety and year-round connection to the heart of the project: the land. Yet the bridge is only the beginning. Over the next several months, Futuro Nativo will be fundraising on behlaf of Só Cagrú—an Indigenous women-led organization founded by Boruca artists— to construct six traditional palm ranchos and plant 3,000 cacao trees. These structures will serve as cultural classrooms, processing centers, and places of refuge for the community to pass down ancestral knowledge and revive the traditions of Boruca land care, foodways, and architecture. Futuro Nativo, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bridging Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and supporting the Cacao Ranch Project through fundraising, project management, and relationship building.

“We are bringing people back into right relation with the Earth through connecting with Indigenous communities,” said Philippa Attwood, Founder and Executive Director of Futuro Nativo. “This project is both literal and symbolic. It’s a bridge into deeper understanding, shared responsibility, and collective healing.”

Founded in 2000 and officially organized in 2010, Só Cagrú is composed of 14 families—primarily led by women—who steward art, agroecology, and cultural preservation on their ancestral lands. Through forest protection, spiritual ecology, fair trade, and food sovereignty, Só Cagrú builds a future rooted in Boruca wisdom. Though construction of the bridge begins soon and will take two weeks, the full project—including the traditional ranchos and cacao plantation—is still seeking funding. A celebration is anticipated once all project components are complete and funded.

To support the next phases of this historic project, planting cacao and building traditional Boruca ranchos, donations may be made through Futuro Nativo's Só Cagrú dedicated campaign page. Contributions directly fund cultural revival, environmental regeneration, and Indigenous women’s leadership.

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About Só Cagrú
Só Cagrú is an Indigenous women-led organization based in the Bruncajc–Boruca Territory of southern Costa Rica. Their mission is to revitalize Boruca culture through agroforestry, arts, community education, and intergenerational knowledge-sharing.

About Futuro Nativo
Futuro Nativo works to support Indigenous sovereignty, cultural preservation, and regenerative development by building bridges—literal and symbolic—between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities worldwide.
https://www.futuronativo.org/

Philippa Attwood
FUTURO NATIVO
+506 8934 2535
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