I Love my Guajira!
This Project was conceived out of a simple act of kindness.
Luz Estela Herrera who once worked with one of our founders on a Colombia Wild Birding Tour in the Department of Guajira established a friendship with him thereafter.
Luz lives in the small town of Camarones near the Flamencos Reserve where a community of Wayuu people live. These indigenous communities live in a harsh environment, in very rudimentary conditions and in extreme poverty. The mothers and their children often walk into the town of Camarones to buy basic necessities with the little money they have. On one occasion in 2019, a small child (we later learned his name was Geiler) approached Luz, who was sitting in a small cafe, and asked if she could give him some food. Luz gave the child some and away he went. On a different day, the child saw her again and asked again for some food. Being a mother herself, this broke her heart as she could not bear to see children go hungry. Shortly thereafter she contacted Ernest and told him what had happened and that is when TerrAmada and the project was born.
The project’s initial focus was to provide members of the settlements with nutritious meals, followed by, or preceding a cleanup of plastics and other non-biodegradable in their surroundings.
What we are doing
This project followed met our initial goals. However, we found that there are other factors that are directly or indirectly responsible to its success and that there is some much more that is needed but deeply rooted in the current social and political values.
Our project in La Guajira consists of visiting various Wayuu communities within the Los Flamencos Sanctuary and providing them with quality food, talks, cleanup activities, and the necessary tools and materials to make it happen. Each week a different community is visited on a rotating basis.
Our activity begins early in the morning with a cleanup of the community and the surrounding area. After a hard morning’s work, we then proceed to provide the children, women and elders with a nutritious meal. Thereafter, we have a talk about the environment and the importance of respecting wildlife and may plant trees (water is scarce in this desert portion of Colombia)
After our talk, we have some leisure time with the children and have fun games and prizes for the children.
After three weeks, we return to the community and evaluate the condition of the area. If there is no change, we speak with the elder and try to continue our talks to create much needed awareness and have community cooperation.
We have learned a great deal from these activities and the importance of consistent interactions with all settlements. We intend to continue with the initial goals we set, but have learned a great deal by interacting with each settlement. As we established a trusting relationship with each settlement. We now have a bigger vision to address environmental and social issues.
Thank You!
On behalf of TerrAmada, we want to thank all our benefactors for their support, otherwise this work would not have been possible. We hope to continue to grow with each passing year reaching other communities in Colombia and expanding our activities aimed at improving the way of life of marginalized communities and their environment.
To accomplish this, we need additional support in the form of funding and tools necessary to accomplish this.
