Her sister, Patricia, and daughters, Nina and Helena, are much more recognizable as defenders of the rights of the Indigenous Kichwa people of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadoran Amazon.But within her community, there’s almost universal recognition that Noemí Gualinga is the one person everyone can turn to for help.Known as the “mother of the jungle,” she’s been particularly busy this year, helping her community deal with the double blow of the COVID-19 pandemic and a major flood. There was a time when Noemí Gualinga, a leader of the Indigenous Kichwa Sarayaku people of the Ecuadoran Amazon, used to sit out on the stoop of her old house and wait for strangers to show up and ask for help. They would always come. Mothers without work or victims of violence would come to ask for rice, noodles, eggs or whatever Noemí could offer. The sick came to look for medicine. In August 2020, Noemí moved to another house in Puyo, a city in the Ecuadoran Amazon with chaotic streets and ramshackle houses that reverberate with heat during the day and shiver with cold at night. From her new home, she keeps asking where help is needed, especially now that COVID-19 and a violent flood have endangered her people.