There are now 36 villages across the Wadouba Township of Mali that have joined the Olouguelemo Environmental Association and are working together on climate change adaptation and regeneration initiatives.
Continue reading “It’s not too late: Restoring the environment and improving food security in Mali “
I am Margarita, a member of the Kichwa Otavalo indigenous community, and I live in Panecillo, Otavalo, Ecuador. I work with The Tandana Foundation, an organization with a presence in Ecuador, Mali, and the United States. For many years, I have shared my time with foreigners who come to our communities as volunteers. I always heard people say, “We come from the United States, which is in North America.” Since then, I have felt a mixture of curiosity and joy when welcoming people from other countries into my home, to teach them about my traditional clothing, our stories, and our culture.
Continue reading “An inspirational journey: Representing my ancient and living culture in the U.S.”
Denise Roell is a friend I just met, but her sincerity in offering her friendship makes her feel like a longtime friend. My friend Denise told me how, despite being older, she does not believe it has been an obstacle to combine academic work and agricultural work. At one point, she told me that she has a farm where they have many cows and the way they maintain it.
Continue reading “The experience of travel and friendships”
There is a tradition in the Dogon region of Mali by which babies are given names of an ancestor that has passed on or one that is still alive. Sometimes, this is done when a baby is born following the death of a close relative or important friend.
This was the case in a very special story from The Tandana Foundation’s family.
Continue reading “Two Bills, one unique story of intercultural friendship”
The Tandana Foundation recently lost a very special member of its family, Susan Napier.
Continue reading “Tandana strives to build health center in Mali in honor of longtime friend”
Growing up, I always wanted to be in a place that nurtured and cultivated change, whether I was aware of it or not. As a child, I often volunteered around my community from mundane tasks at the library to helping out at the food shelter. I tried to give my time to all things. As my youth subsided and college rolled around, I found it challenging to participate in service activities and struggled to find the meaning and purpose behind the degree I was pursuing. When I was introduced to the ETHOS program offered by my school, I took a leap of faith and opened myself up to an opportunity that would expand my worldview.
Continue reading “Engineering that matters: Helping communities achieve their dreams”
Due to ongoing insecurity in other parts of the country, thousands of people, including many children, have fled to Bandiagara, Mali. To support these families, The Tandana Foundation launched a program for displaced students that provides school supplies, food aid, and other resources to help them transition to their new location.
Continue reading “Extra courses help displaced students catch-up and earn top marks “
The literacy and numeracy program supported by The Tandana Foundation has grown to include students in 79 villages around Bandiagara. The program teaches women to read and write words in Tommoso and recognize numbers and do calculations. These skills boost their confidence, independence, and success in economic activities.
Continue reading “The literacy program is teaching much more than reading and writing in Mali”
As I dialed the number to call my student Mariuxi for the first time, I was filled with anxiety. Anxiety about whether I would be able to sufficiently communicate or explain a whole language in an entirely different one. And then Mariuxi answered the phone. During that first call, though there were starts and stops – times of confusion and times of certainty – we were able to convey the essentials. Spanish and English flowed in a complex dance of syllables, enunciations, and pauses. Over time, we would grow together.
Continue reading “Lessons in translation from a Remote ESL Intern”
In October 2024, in one of the mobile medical clinics supported by The Tandana Foundation, we visited the community of Moraspungo in the parish of Quichinche. There I had the opportunity to see Nayry Flores Cachimuel again. Now 14 years old, she was born without the ear canal in her left ear. Her mother noticed she couldn’t hear when she was 4 years old. At the age of 8, she was referred to the San Vicente de Ibarra Hospital. The hospital did not have a solution to her problem, so they referred her to the Baca Ortiz Hospital in Quito, which specializes in children. Unfortunately, the specialists explained to her family that she was born without an auditory canal and that it was not possible to do any surgery to help her, so she could only use a hearing aid to help her hear. They provided her with one, but it did not last long.
Continue reading “Ready to achieve her dreams thanks to a new hearing aid”
The Tandana Foundation has supported women to learn to run a menstrual kit workshop in the Bandiagara Region of Mali. The reusable sanitary kits are made using sewing machines and sold at an affordable price to local women and girls.
Continue reading “Words of gratitude for women’s menstrual kits”
After a rollback in U.S. government foreign aid, funding for programs that delivered needed medicines and health care in rural Mali were slashed. That includes in Bandiagara and the surrounding villages where The Tandana Foundation has long-time community partnerships.
Continue reading “Community members share the impacts of the USAID cuts on services at the Sal Health Center”
In an op-ed published by Context, Anna Taft, Founding Director of The Tandana Foundation, argues the upheaval caused by the U.S. funding cuts in rural Mali shows the urgency of the work of privately funded non-governmental organizations.
Last fall, members of The Tandana Foundation led a workshop exploring the Andean worldview and philosophy as well as the Kichwa Otavalo culture and language at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.
I’ve always been a plant person. Growing up, my best friend was a silver maple. I’d spend lazy afternoons laying under an old hackberry, making dandelion crowns and searching for shapes in the clouds above. And on laundry day, I always received a talking-to for having an assortment of acorns, hickory nut husks, and other tree bits in my pockets. (If I’m being honest, this continues to be an ongoing issue into my forties…some things never change.) If you ask me what my favorite tree species is, it will likely depend on the day. I have too many favorites! However, there is one species that is always at the top of the list: Asimina triloba.
Mama Cotacachi and Tayta Imbabura, affectionately referred to as “mother and father mountains,” are sacred Ecuadorian symbols of love and protection. On the land between their peaks, we came together to plant food and flowers. Like the seeds and sprouts, we too began to grow.
My journey with The Tandana Foundation began in 2014 when I led students on a 20-day cross-cultural experience in Ecuador as Director of the REACH Program, a youth development nonprofit providing college-track lifeskills for underserved, first-generation youth. It is a daunting task to combine youth development and international programming, to create an experience that is authentic, impactful, and safe.
Continue reading “My path to becoming Tandana’s new Board of Trustees President”
Fatoumata Ambapil, who received support through The Tandana Foundation’s Ash B. Varma Scholarship Program in Mali, wrote a letter to share her academic success and express her gratitude for the financial assistance.
Continue reading “A letter of thanks for scholarship support in Mali”
As more families arrive in Bandiagara, Mali, to escape insecurity in other parts of the country, The Tandana Foundation continues to expand its support of school-aged children and their parents through its displaced students program.
Continue reading “Tandana organizes classes to help students from displaced families catch up”
I met The Tandana Foundation team members Housseyni Pamateck (Mali Program Manager), Moussa Tembiné (Mali Country Director), and Anna Taft (Founding Director) at a Tandana gala in Columbus, Ohio, as an offshoot of the graduate student work I do on campus at Ohio University. I thought it would be a relatively tame and routine night of event photography. They surprised me by leading the entire room in a few traditional dance moves and dozens of guests in a conga line. It was my first glimpse of a team greater than the sum of its parts.
Continue reading “My inspiring and impactful encounter with Tandana”
My visit to the United States was certainly a tremendous experience.
Continue reading “From Ecuador to Ohio: Learning about another indigenous people”
The following story is from Ambajugo Kassogue, a grandfather whose family receives support through The Tandana Foundation’s displaced students’ program.
Continue reading “Fleeing violence, finding confidence and hope”
The program initiated by The Tandana Foundation for displaced families in Bandiagara is a very welcome initiative, says Hamidou Yalcouyé, coordinator of the displaced students program.
Continue reading “Sharing the impact of Tandana’s displaced students program”
Through the Dr. Ash B. Varma M.D. Scholarship Program, The Tandana Foundation has supported 41 students in rural Mali to attend professional school. The program is a win-win: the scholarship recipients are able to pursue their educational goals while their communities benefit from the skills they gain.
Continue reading “A new tailor becomes an entrepreneur, bringing much-needed services to his village”
In November at The Tandana Foundation’s Legacy of Hope Celebration, party goers gave many generous gifts to honor the nearly two decades of service and dedication of Hope Taft to the organization and in recognition of her 80th birthday.
Continue reading “Stitched together: The making of a special Tandana present”
The Tandana Foundation’s mission is to support the achievement of community goals and address global inequalities through caring intercultural relationships that embody mutual respect and responsibility.
But what does Tandana – the global nonprofit I launched 18 years ago – really do? Or, perhaps more importantly, how does the organization do what it does?
Continue reading “Tandana’s Founding Director shares lessons learned in new book”
In November, members of The Tandana Foundation engaged audiences at several multilingual book readings and conversations around Ohio. The events were centered around two storybooks based on indigenous folklore – Juanita, the Colorful Butterfly and The Hyena, the Hare and the Baobab – that Tandana recently helped to publish and are now available for purchase.
Continue reading “Tandana book events showcase indigenous culture and language”
The Tandana Foundation has supported dozens of aspiring health professionals and tailors in Mali to attend professional school through the Dr. Ash B. Varma M.D. Scholarship Program. The recipients have gone on to obtain degrees and certifications in fields most-needed in their rural communities.
Continue reading “The latest from Tandana scholarship recipients in Mali”
The following story was written by University of Dayton students who attended the roundtable event featuring members of Tandana.
As a nonprofit, The Tandana Foundation isn’t putting all of its successes on structures built or money raised. Collaboration and relationships are what powers the organization, and that approach has paid off in Ecuador and Mali.
Continue reading “Tandana makes a world of difference with a novel approach”
On Nov. 13, more than 300 students of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, filled the large Heritage Room in the Shriver Center. These were students enrolled in classes offered by the department of Global and Intercultural Studies and they were gathered to attend a talk titled “Transforming Gender Norms: Opening Small Spaces for Big Change in Rural Mali and Ecuador”. But what followed was much more than a regular talk, it was a multi-perspectival panorama shedding light on the deep-rooted challenges faced by grassroots workers of The Tandana Foundation, and more importantly an inspiring account of the engaged methods, ethical negotiations, and big wins the foundation strives to accomplish everyday through small spaces of change.
Continue reading “Hundreds of Miami University students engage with Tandana during campus events”
Sometimes, the most life-changing opportunities come when you least expect them.
My most recent collaboration with The Tandana Foundation happened entirely by chance. In mid-October, Anna Taft, the Founding Director, reached out to me with an email asking if I might be available to work with them. Her trust and the opportunity she extended set in motion an experience that would touch my soul in profound and unexpected ways. My recent opportunity to work with The Tandana Foundation was one of those moments.
Continue reading “Discovering the heart and spirit of Tandana”
When I started this new year, there were sad and happy moments. An excellent colleague finished his contract and had to return home, but I met a new colleague that I would work with to support volunteer groups throughout the year.
Continue reading “Looking back on my year supporting Tandana volunteer groups in Ecuador”
My name is Omar Flores. I am originally from Nicaragua, although I consider myself a global citizen. My professional life has taken me to work in more than five countries and I have been able to work with people from all over the world on sustainable development projects. Travelling and working in Latin America, I found The Tandana Foundation in Ecuador and I have been part of their team, working as Program Coordinator since 2024.
Continue reading “Meet Omar Flores, Tandana’s Program Coordinator in Ecuador”
Hamidou Yalcouyé, from the village of Amala, started out as a trainee and is now the coordinator of The Tandana Foundation’s displaced students program, a program set up to support the integration and success of vulnerable students in the educational system.
Continue reading “Meet Hamidou Yalcouyé, coordinator of the displaced students program”
The following blog shares a letter written by Ivan Cachimuel, who received a scholarship from The Tandana Foundation to attend university. Read on to hear what Ivan studied last year, learned through his internship as a teacher, and why he’s thankful for the academic support from Tandana.
Continue reading “A scholarship student learns what it means to be a teacher”