Awas Tingni

Awas Tingni is an indigenous Mayagna community of some 2,400 members on the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua, in the municipality of Waspam in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. Awas Tingni is located near the junction of the Rio Wawa and the river Awas Tingni in a densely forested area. In Mayagna, Awas Tingni means "Pine River" and denotes both the town and the river by which it is situated. Awas Tingni was named due to the large pine forest in the area, similar to the pine barrens of the mid-Atlantic United States.

In 2001 the Mayagna won a landmark case against the government of Nicaragua in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held that they had a right as indigenous people to their collective land. In December 2008, the government completed a process of demarking and titling the land, giving them title to a total of 73,394 hectares.

This area along the Atlantic Coast, called the Miskito Coast, of Nicaragua, is thickly forested and isolated. It has long been a traditional territory of indigenous peoples. The Mayagna community of Awas Tingi has about 2,400 members in the municipality of Waspam in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region.

The population of Awas Tingni is relatively young; there are about 500 members of the community (roughly 1/4 of the population) under the age of five. The community has one primary school, which has split sessions, or classes for two separate groups of students: one group of students attends classes in the morning and another group attends classes in the afternoon because the school is so crowded. A secondary school serves about 30 students.

In addition, Awas Tingni has one Moravian church and one Baptist church. The number of churchgoers in Awas Tingni is now so great that the two churches lack sufficient space for all the congregants.

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