TPP grantees generate change by utilizing the resources, knowledge and cultural traditions that already exist in communities around the world. They see the beauty in the land and talent within people that can be used to propel communities to new heights.
Through wildlife conservation, sacred arts, and educating locals with the excellence that exists in their culture, the TPP grantee projects in this week’s blog empower individuals from within.
Thank you for following their journey!
Hana Ma, Yoshie Lewis, Gogee Self – No Monkey Business
Do you know where your coconut milk comes from? No Monkey Business is a long-term campaign, centered around reducing exploitation within Thailand’s coconut industry, and improving the lives of all involved.
Our first step is creating a professional documentary, to raise awareness about the issues of relying on macaque monkeys for harvesting and the under-paying of farmers, as well as exploring the topics of Speciesism and Economic Inequality. We are working with an established director, and are currently raising funds for it.
Chaska Rojas B, Paloma Abregu, Jorge Diaz – Lenguas Entre Mundos: Resistencia Linguistica En El Ampiyacu
Peru has 48 Indigenous languages, most of which are not known to a majority of Peruvians. Four of the most endangered indigenous languages – Bora, Huitoto, Ocaina, and Resigaro – exist in the Ampiyacu river basin in the Amazonian Loreto region, where Jorge Diaz lives. For this project, language activists Paloma Abregu and Chaska Rojas-Bottger, have joined Jorge in his community to learn more, and document, what it means to have a language that is highly endangered.
Marcos E. M. Santos – Community Library Of The Sitio Do Apicum
The Community Library of the Sitio do Apicum will be held in the homonymous community, in the municipality of São José de Ribamar, Maranhão, Brazil, and aims to awaken the pleasure of reading among community members. Additionally, the library aims to promote literacy among children, young people and adults, allow discussion and transmission of scientific knowledge, prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia among the elderly, and contribute to building a critical community, aware of their rights and duties.
It was designed to combat the high rate of illiteracy among the residents of Sitio de Apicum, the lack of prospects for a better life – especially among young people who are content with rural life or indulge in crime – and the low number of people who enter into higher education. With the subsidy granted, textbooks, classical and contemporary literature will be acquired, which will compose the collection of the library.
Jaime Benedicto, Mestre Roxinho – Project Bantu Philippines
Project Bantu Philippines uses the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira Angola to educate and empower some of Manila’s most vulnerable young people. Due to their dire circumstances, Filipino children must constantly fight for basic human needs like food, water, and safe shelter. This continual struggle combined with poor access to education, health care, and other important social services – as well as an abundance of drugs, alcohol, sex and violence in their communities – leads young people to develop undesirable, antisocial behaviors that can result in risky, potentially dangerous choices.
Through the music and movements of Capoeira Angola, Project Bantu helps these young people learn important life skills and develop key behavioral and social resources that will make them more successful in life.
Semia Onlus And Semia Angels – SEMIA Wildlife Rehab Center Orphaned Deer Enclosures
Semia Onlus is a group of friends who rescue and rehabilitate wildlife in Montespertoli, Tuscany, Italy. Their goals are to rehabilitate local wildlife, share the love of nature transmits every day, and educate people to respect the Earth and every life on it. “Animals are pure souls that make smiles arise in sad, stressed, and troubled people.” A grant from The Pollination Project will help in constructing a new enclosures.
Tamara Blazquez Haik Photography – Fauna De La Ciudad De México
Fauna de la Ciudad de México is an educational and conservation project that was started by conservation photographer Tamara Blazquez Haik. It aims to document the wildlife species still surviving in Mexico City, one of the largest and most polluted cities in the world, in order to educate citizens on their non-human neighbors, how to protect them and their habitats, and how to help these species thrive. This project is especially aimed at children, however all citizens should learn about the importance of conserving and protecting these non-human citizens.
Fauna de la Ciudad de México aims to break the apathy that plagues humankind towards nature, which is the biggest enemy to biodiversity loss. If people are not educated and do not know about these species and their troubles they cannot be expected to help or get involved. I hope this project can educate and inspire them to act before it is too late and all life in this city is lost.
Including human kind. The grant will allow me to document even more species, as some of them live in hard to reach places of the city and require special equipment to document them.
I will also create a special photo book, with all the species gathered, information about them, how to help and get involved and hopefully distribute this book through schools. I will also be able to create exhibitions in public spaces that will showcase that Mexico City is alive and teeming with wildlife in urgent need to be protected and also, create ludic materials for talks and activities with children and schools.
Katrina Zavalney, Aranya Solutions Susan – Stories Of Solutions
Katrina Zavelney is a seasoned community organizer who founded Aranya Solutions to help bring resources and support to meaningful livelihood projects in Nepal, Africa and other underserved communities around the world. They have partnered with community-based organizations and Rotary International, providing leadership training to help create the next generation of changemakers, regenerative agriculture programs and consulting services for organizational development.
Katrina is bringing her services to Oakland to support a Stories of Solutions workshop series to help share the amazing success stories of Arana Solutions and other community resilience organizations, and to develop a co-working office space for climate solutions practitioners in the East Bay.
