Glossary — Quechua-Kichwa and Office Terms

Alphabetical reference for Runa Shimi (Kichwa/Quechua) and Office-specific terms used across this wiki. All spellings follow the source documents. Where a term has a dedicated wiki page, a wikilink is provided. Terms that appear in multiple senses (ecological schema, degree stage, Rimanakuy path) are listed together under one entry.

A

Alli Kawsay

Community well-being understood as a living field of relationship rather than a fixed program. In Office practice, Alli Kawsay is organized into seven pathways through which participants may tend community life: Celestial Rhythms, Shared Workspace, Educational Journeys, Land and Habitat Stewardship, Community Gatherings, Sacred Intimacy, and Indigenous Sovereignty. See Alli Kawsay.

Ayllu / Allyu

The web of relations — community gathered in relationship with one another. As one of the four core Rimanakuy paths (spelled Allyu in the Runa Shimi source), participants begin with lived experience in circle, sharing and listening to understand what is forming between them. The compound Ayllu Yachay appears in the formal invitation to the Circle of Community Research Keepers and is defined there as "the web of relationships which hold space for knowing."

Note: Both spellings — Ayllu and Allyu — appear in source documents and are preserved as found.

Ayni

Sacred reciprocity. The Kichwa/Runa Shimi ethic that transforms gratitude into collective care for the sources of life. Ayni is not payment, obligation, or transactional exchange; it is the ongoing practice of giving back to what sustains community — as when a person nourished by a tree cares for the tree so it may bear fruit for others. The Office enacts Ayni through ceremony (Sky Day Ayni Ceremony), role structure, and contribution practices. Patriarchal resource gatekeeping is understood as an interruption of Ayni. See Ayni.

H

Hampina

(1) The Associates-level stage in the CoALA and the Hampina Path degree pathway — a time of first roots, structured as sixty 6-day medicine wheel cycles and organized around seven essential curriculum questions. (2) The first element in HWSY (Hampina Wasi Sacha Yachay), naming the HWSY — Hampina Wasi Sacha Yachay Middle Sister organization. In the full CoALA degree progression: Hampina → Wasi → Sacha → Yachay.

Hampikamayuk

Appears in Office terminology and is preserved untranslated in Office conventions. Not yet defined in the source documents available to this wiki. Definition to be added when source material is available.

K

Kamachik

Shared guidance, agreements, norms, or best practices that help a community function in a good way. A Rimanakuy may be held around Kamachik to explore what guidance is needed, what patterns support life and relationship, and how expectations can arise from shared understanding rather than imposed control. Especially relevant for councils, organizations, ceremonial spaces, and land projects. See Rimanakuy and Minga.

Kichwa / Runa Shimi

The Indigenous language of the Kichwa/Quechua peoples of South America, referred to interchangeably in source documents as Runa Shimi ("the language of the people") and Kichwa/Quechua. The source language for most terminology used across this wiki. The Office honors these terms untranslated.

Kichwalana

A name or ceremonial title appearing in source documents as an attribution for a contributor to the Office's 2026-05-12 South Day Rimanakuy and subsequent materials (e.g., "per Kichwalana," "Kichwalana's voice recording on 2026-05-12"). Not further defined or translated in available sources.

Killka

Relationship with an expression of knowledge — one of the four core Rimanakuy paths. In a Killka gathering, participants enter into relationship with a piece of writing, an image, or another research artifact; they notice what arises in them, hear the story of how it came to be, and return to it in relationship to allow new understanding to emerge. See Rimanakuy and Minga.

Kunan

Current personal capacity: the resources, mastery, skills, experience, health, physical conditioning, bandwidth, and interest a person has available at any given time. Kunan can change across cycles. A Minga requires sufficient collective Kunan across at least three people to be sustainable; if membership drops below three, the Minga disbands. See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema.

L

Llaki

Sorrow, grief, or emotional heaviness; a state of pain that may need to be witnessed and held in relationship rather than rushed or resolved. A Llaki Rimanakuy creates space for what is heavy to be spoken, witnessed, and held in community — naming what hurts, honoring emotional truth without debate, and moving from isolation toward shared presence. See Rimanakuy and Minga.

M

Mashikuna

Friendships, close companions, or intimate relationships; the relational spaces of closeness, trust, and care. A Rimanakuy may be held around Mashikuna to support reflection on how relationships are being lived, what intimacy requires, what boundaries or honesty are needed, and how friendship and closeness can be brought into greater alignment.

Minga

A time-bounded working band of at least three people that forms — typically after a Rimanakuy — to research and take direct action on community needs. A Minga may be organized for a medicine wheel cycle (6 days), a lunar cycle, or a season. It disbands if membership falls below three or when the agreed period elapses. A Minga can be re-established for another term after a new Rimanakuy is convened. A successful Minga not only researches the means for meeting needs but also takes direct action in meeting them. See Rimanakuy and Minga.

R

Rikchay

Function or calling that serves the wider ecology; the reason a Wasi exists. In the Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema, Rikchay names both the ecological function a Wasi is called to fulfill and the personal calling a Wasi Runa may recognize in themselves when reviewing the list of Wasi needs.

Rimay

Speech, dialogue, or speaking; the spoken dimension of expression and exchange. A Rimanakuy may be held around Rimay to explore how people are speaking with one another, what forms of speech are opening or closing relationship, what conversations need to happen, and how truth can be spoken from the heart without debate or domination. See Rimanakuy and Minga.

Rimanakuy

(1) Speaking from the heart; a Runa Shimi ceremonial practice of consensual knowledge-sharing that cultivates living knowledge (Yachay) through relationship. Rimanakuy does not rush toward answers, extract knowledge, or move people toward predetermined outcomes. It is a space of consent, presence, patience, and emergence. A successful Rimanakuy ends in consensus. (2) The Office offers four core Rimanakuy paths: Sacha (relationship with the living world), Runa (relationship with a person in community), Allyu (relationship with the web of relations), and Killka (relationship with an expression of knowledge). See Rimanakuy and Minga.

Rikchay

See entry above.

Runa

Relationship with a person in community — one of the four core Rimanakuy paths. A person is held in honor within the context of their relationships and shares what is alive and ready to be spoken; others reflect on what arises in them as they listen. Through this exchange, something deeper becomes visible for the person and for the witnessing community. See Rimanakuy and Minga.

Runa Shimi

See Kichwa / Runa Shimi above.

S

Sacha

(1) The conscious local ecology that provides the living context for both human and non-human Wasikuna (habitats). The Office honors Sacha with Earth-honoring ceremonies on every Earth Day of the program calendar. (2) One of the four core Rimanakuy paths — Relationship with the Living World, entered through walking, sitting, noticing, sensing, and listening to what the land reveals. (3) The Masters-level stage in the CoALA and the Hampina Path degree pathway (Hampina → Wasi → Sacha → Yachay). See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema.

Sumak Kawsay

Living well, or living beautifully in right relationship; a way of life rooted in wholeness, balance, and communal wellbeing. A Rimanakuy may be held around Sumak Kawsay to explore what it means to live well, what conditions support wholeness in community, and how people want to orient their lives moving forward. Closely related to Alli Kawsay.

W

Wakcha

Severance, orphaning, emptiness, or being cut off from right relationship; a condition of disconnection or deep lack. A Wakcha Rimanakuy explores where disconnection is being felt, what relationships have been broken or strained, and what pathways of reconnection may be emerging. Particularly meaningful for communities dealing with displacement, cultural loss, family rupture, or disconnection from land.

Wasi

Kichwa for a human or animal habitat that supports the wider ecology (Sacha). A Wasi has a Rikchay (the ecological function it serves), Wasiyukkuna (keepers), Wasikamayukkuna (stewards), and Wasi Runa (beneficiary-contributors). Tending a modern human Wasi requires attending to five dimensions: physical habitat, digital habitat, relational habitat, spiritual habitat, and stewardship architecture. Also the Bachelors-level stage in the CoALA and the Hampina Path degree pathway. See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema.

Wasi Runa

The community of people who receive benefit from a Wasi and show gratitude through tangible acts of service in Ayni ceremony. Wasi Runa review the list of Wasi needs, recognize which needs call to them as Rikchay, offer solutions in Ayni, and participate in Rimanakuy and Minga as they feel called to offer deeper support. See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema.

Wasikamayuk

Steward of a Wasi (kamay = to tend/steward). The Wasikamayukkuna (plural) support the Wasiyuk, suggest needs they perceive, help the Wasi realize its larger ecological purpose, and coordinate Ayni acknowledgments for Wasi Runa contributions. In the Office role schema, Wasikamayuk maps to roles such as Community & Membership Coordinator, Follow Through Keeper, and Circle Keepers. See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema.

Wasiyuk

Keeper of a Wasi. The Wasiyukkuna (plural) hold the Wasi in a way that realizes its Rikchay in the wider ecology — listening for emergent needs, categorizing and defining those needs, listing them so Wasi Runa can find their Rikchay, and training stewards. The Wasiyuk is often granted permanent housing within the Wasi because of this relationship; in source documents this is described as the closest thing to ownership in the Kichwa language. In the Office role schema, Registry Keeper and Office Habitat / Resource Steward carry this function. See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema.

Y

Yachay

Living, embodied knowledge — knowing and acting within the context of relationship. In Runa Shimi, Yachay is not stored in books or held by specialists separate from life; it lives in experience, connection, community, the natural world, and the whole body. Yachay is not something communities possess; it is something they are in continuous relationship with. Keeping Yachay alive within the communities that discovered it — oral, transmittable, honoring ancestral Indigenous knowledge practices — is described as "Ya Chai" in Office materials and is central to the purpose of Community Research Keepers. Also the PhD-level stage in the CoALA and the Hampina Path degree pathway (Hampina → Wasi → Sacha → Yachay). See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema and Rimanakuy and Minga.

Yachaypak

The extensions and applications of Yachay in community — the many ways Rimanakuy and Minga can be organized around different community needs, questions, and contexts. Yachaypak applications span Kichwa-named areas (Minga, Ayni, Llaki, Wakcha, Kamachik, Sumak Kawsay, Mashikuna, Rimay, Yachay) as well as Western-named topics (leadership, conflict, policy, governance, education, grief, family systems, decolonization) held through Indigenous relational method. What changes across applications is not only the topic, but the way the topic is held. See Rimanakuy and Minga.