My story of the Awicha Community of Pampajasi (La Paz, Bolivia)

Abstract

The Awicha Community of Pampajasi (La Paz, Bolivia) proposes a model of ageing in community that protects the rural Aymara fabric and reproduces the community system of the ayllu in a hostile urban environment that mimics, acculturates and transforms. Its proposal for community living is based on the Community of Urban Aymara of Pampajasi (CAUP), allows for intergenerational coexistence, the protection of traditions and the accompaniment of the community social psychology approach. In the following pages, I share my interpretation of their story, based on my encounter with the Awichas themselves (participant observation, individual and group interviews) and the lessons that can be learned from this experience of community life.