In We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People, Nemonte Nenquimo, the fearless Indigenous leader and environmental activist from Ecuador’s Amazon, delivers a memoir as lush, fierce, and essential as the rainforest itself. Co-written with Mitch Anderson, the book captures both the intimate story of one woman’s awakening and the collective fight of an entire people to defend their home against exploitation and erasure.
Born into the Waorani tribe, one of the last Indigenous nations to be contacted by missionaries in the mid-20th century, Nenquimo’s childhood was steeped in oral storytelling, plant medicine, and the rhythms of forest life. She describes a world where every tree, river, and animal carries meaning. That world is abruptly disrupted when missionaries enter her community, bringing with them the promises of salvation and the hidden agendas of colonial control.
The early sections of the book, as reviewer Kate O’Shea points out, are emotionally difficult to read. Nenquimo recounts the abuses she endured in missionary schools with devastating clarity. The scenes are painful, but they are vital to understanding how deeply Western intrusion wounded her people not just physically, but spiritually and culturally. It takes immense courage for her to confront those memories, and even greater strength to transform that pain into purpose.
The memoir is divided into two distinct parts. The first chronicles Nenquimo’s early fascination with the “civilized” world of missionaries, their polished clothes and promises of salvation. The second follows her reclamation of identity as she returns to her ancestral home and becomes a leader in the movement to protect the Amazon. As Katy Williams notes, this structural divide mirrors Nenquimo’s personal journey: from assimilation to resistance, from confusion to clarity.
What makes We Will Be Jaguars extraordinary is its insistence on Indigenous self-determination. Nenquimo doesn’t want outsiders to “save” her people. She wants them to listen. Her activism rejects dependency and focuses instead on empowerment teaching her people how to use technology, law, and global advocacy to defend their own lands. It’s a powerful inversion of the colonial dynamic that has long plagued Indigenous struggles.
The book also reframes one of the most widely told missionary stories of the 20th century. As reviewer Courtney Nolt writes, those who grew up hearing about the martyrdom of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot in Ecuador will find Nenquimo’s account deeply unsettling. From her perspective, the missionaries were not heroes, but colonizers who stripped her people of their language, culture, and autonomy while opening the door for oil companies to devastate the rainforest. Her retelling demands that readers confront uncomfortable truths about the cost of “civilization” and the damage done in the name of faith.
Beyond its political power, We Will Be Jaguars is a work of lyrical beauty. Nenquimo’s descriptions of the Amazon are breathtaking dense, humid, and alive with ancestral voices. Her storytelling feels sacred, pulling from the oral traditions of her elders and weaving them with modern urgency. Each page feels like a prayer for the planet and a plea for humanity to remember its connection to the earth.
While the transitions between sections can feel abrupt, the emotional throughline remains strong. Nenquimo’s voice is one of conviction, sorrow, and fierce love. By the time she describes leading her people to a historic court victory against Big Oil protecting more than half a million acres of pristine forest you understand that her story is not only about survival but about sovereignty.
Final Verdict:
We Will Be Jaguars is one of the most powerful and necessary memoirs of recent years. It is both an indictment of colonial violence and a celebration of Indigenous resilience. Nenquimo’s story demands to be read, remembered, and acted upon. This book is not just about the Amazon it is about all of us, and the choices we make for the world we share.
👉 Get your copy of We Will Be Jaguars here: https://amzn.to/3KNppgm
