Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema
The Kichwa ecological framework describes living habitats, the ecologies they serve, and the relational positions people occupy in tending them. Three primary terms — Wasi, Sacha, and Yachay — form the backbone of this schema and also name the second, third, and fourth degree stages in the CoALA and the Hampina Path program. See Glossary — Quechua-Kichwa and Office Terms for quick-reference definitions of all terms named here.
Core Ecological Terms
Wasi
Wasi is Kichwa for a human or animal habitat that supports the wider ecology (Sacha) in some way. A Wasi is not defined by ownership but by the functions it serves. It exists because of a Rikchay — a calling to meet needs in the wider ecology — and it is held by people who stand in distinct relational positions to it.
Sacha
Sacha is Kichwa for the conscious local ecology that provides the living context for both human and non-human Wasikuna (plural of Wasi). Sacha is honored through Earth-honoring ceremonies on every Earth Day of the Office's program calendar. Assembling a Sacha Needs Assessment is an active area of work, currently requiring Rimanakuy with Indigenous elders who carry traditional ecological knowledge of the area.
Yachay
Yachay is living knowledge — specifically, the practice of keeping knowledge alive within the communities that discovered it: oral, transmittable, and integrity-preserving. Yachay is not static content but a living relationship between knowledge and community. A Yachay Needs Assessment is also in formation, requiring its own Rimanakuy process.
The Three Relational Positions
Every Wasi is held by three layers of relationship:
Wasiyuk (keeper)
The Wasiyuk (plural: Wasiyukkuna) are the dedicated people who keep the Wasi so that its Rikchay is realized in the wider ecology. They are often granted permanent housing within the Wasi because of this relationship — the closest approximation to ownership in the Kichwa language. The Wasiyuk's four functions are:
- Listen for the emergent needs of the Wasi as it is called to meet its Rikchay for the ecology.
- Categorize and define those needs so they are easy to find solutions for.
- List those needs so that Wasi Runa can find their own Rikchay to support the Wasi with their Kunan.
- Educate and train Wasikamayuk on how to support the Wasi.
Wasikamayuk (steward)
The Wasikamayuk (plural: Wasikamayukkuna) are stewards (kamay) who support the Wasiyuk in various ways. They receive increased access to the Wasi, including housing where there is capacity. The Wasikamayuk's four functions are:
- Listen to the emergent needs of the Wasiyuk or Wasiyukkuna.
- Offer suggestions to the Wasiyuk of what they think the Wasi might need.
- Offer support in how the Wasi realizes its larger ecological purpose.
- Coordinate Ayni ceremonies to acknowledge the Wasi Runa for their contributions.
Wasi Runa (beneficiary-contributor)
The Wasi Runa are the community of people who both receive benefit from the Wasi and show gratitude through tangible acts of service in Ayni ceremony. Their four functions are:
- Receive the unique community support offered by the Wasi.
- Review the list of Wasi needs and determine which ones call to them as Rikchay.
- Find solutions to those needs and offer them to the Wasi during Ayni ceremony.
- Participate in Rimanakuy and Minga as they feel called to offer deeper support of the Wasi.
Kunan and Rikchay
Two additional terms underpin how people engage with Wasi needs:
Kunan — current personal capacity. Kunan is not fixed; it shifts with the resources a person has access to, their level of mastery and experience in an area, their health and physical conditioning, their bandwidth to hold more, and their present interests and passions.
Rikchay — calling; the function a person or place serves that supports the wider ecology. A Wasi has a Rikchay (its reason for existing within the Sacha), and individual community members each have a Rikchay (the needs that call to them given their Kunan). When multiple people find Rikchay in the same area, they may convene a Rimanakuy and Minga to discover how to work with their collective Kunan to be jointly responsible for meeting the need.
Five Dimensions of Modern Wasi Tending
Tending a modern human Wasi requires listening for habitat needs across five dimensions:
| Dimension | Description |
|---|---|
| A. Physical Habitat | Material space, infrastructure, supplies, land relationships |
| B. Digital Habitat | Online platforms, systems, documentation, archive layers |
| C. Relational Habitat | Community connections, trust, communication pathways |
| D. Spiritual Habitat | Ceremonial container, energetic integrity, ancestral alignment |
| E. Stewardship Architecture | Role structure, accountability rhythms, governance design |
Each dimension may have further subcategories depending on the nature of the specific Wasi.
Mapping to Office Roles
The Kichwa schema describes relational functions, not job titles. The table below maps each position to the Office roles that carry that function. These are parallel vocabularies — the schema names what a role does ecologically; the role names name who holds the work operationally.
| Kichwa Position | Relational Function | Corresponding Office Role(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Wasiyuk | Listens for emergent needs · categorizes · lists for community · trains stewards | Registry Keeper · Office Habitat / Resource Steward |
| Wasikamayuk | Listens to keeper · surfaces needs · supports ecological purpose · coordinates Ayni acknowledgments | Community & Membership Coordinator · Follow Through Keeper · Circle Keepers |
| Wasi Runa | Receives Wasi support · finds Rikchay in listed needs · offers solutions in Ayni · participates in Rimanakuy / Minga | Community members broadly; Community Research Keepers and Community Research Stewards in the active-contributor layer |
| Rimanakuy facilitator | Convenes / facilitates community-research consensus ceremony | Medicine Wheel Cycle Facilitator (research mode) |
| Minga facilitator | Convenes / threads time-bounded working bands post-Rimanakuy | Follow Through Keeper (most natural) · Hampina Program Lead · Community & Membership Coordinator |
The Earth Stewardship Program is the primary pathway through which Wasi Runa engage the Office's ecology in an ongoing, relational way.
Wasi, Sacha, and Yachay as Degree Stages
Beyond their ecological meanings, Wasi, Sacha, and Yachay name three of the four degree stages in the CoALA and the Hampina Path program. The full progression is:
- Hampina — first roots (Associates-level; time of beginning)
- Wasi — habitat (building a dwelling within the ecology)
- Sacha — conscious ecology (moving into living relationship with the wider whole)
- Yachay — living knowledge (becoming a keeper and transmitter of what has been learned)
This naming is not metaphorical decoration: the degree stages enact the same relational logic as the ecological schema. A learner moves from receiving (Hampina) through building a place (Wasi), into ecology-wide relationship (Sacha), and finally into knowledge-keeping that serves future communities (Yachay).
HWSY — Hampina Wasi Sacha Yachay (the Middle Sister organization) takes its name from all four stages together, reflecting its role as a living sanctuary for the full arc of this knowledge.
Sacha and Yachay Needs Assessments
Both Sacha and Yachay currently have active but early-stage needs assessments. The present plan for each is to convene a Rimanakuy and Minga process — for Sacha, with Indigenous elders who hold traditional ecological knowledge of the local area; for Yachay, with those who can help develop an appropriate knowledge taxonomy. These assessments are considered necessary before the Office can build out a fuller sub-category map under either dimension.
Type: concept · Also known as: Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema