The Tandana Foundation Blog

My first trip to the U.S.: A cultural exchange experience

Traveling to the United States was a dream come true. This trip was not only my first trip abroad – it was also an unforgettable experience thanks to the cultural exchange organized by The Tandana Foundation. I went on this unforgettable adventure with a group of colleagues who belong to this prestigious foundation. During the trip, we visited places steeped in history, culture, and unique landscapes: Durango, Mancos, Zuni, and Arizona. Each place left me with profound lessons and memories that I will treasure forever.

7 years later, I’m still witnessing the impact of my volunteer trip to Ecuador

My name is Vanessa Escobar, and I participated in a volunteer trip to Ecuador in 2018 which was organized by The Tandana Foundation. While on the trip, I worked alongside a group of my peers and two professors from Colgate University, as well as the Tandana staff and community members we met onsite.

Showcasing the indigenous Kichwa Otavalo culture at immersive event in Colorado

Last month at the Sunflower Theatre in Cortez, Colorado, The Tandana Foundation hosted an exciting event – The Eagle and the Condor Flying Together – that immersed attendees in the indigenous Kichwa Otavalo culture of Ecuador. The Kichwa Otavalo are one of Ecuador’s indigenous groups most successful at maintaining their cultural identity and traditions.

The indigenous community of Agualongo endeavors to record and share its own knowledge, stories, and voices

To begin to understand one another, we must listen, share, and be heard. But who would venture to speak, when no one has cared to listen?

Bridging the gap: Student life and culture in California and Ecuador

It may be hard to understand how the daily routines differ for North and South American students, but it’s something I’m learning and appreciating first hand. From meals to hobbies to family, each unique aspect of our lives makes up a broader cultural experience, of which no two places are quite the same. Yet are our lives truly so different?

In November, Tandana Foundation to join hands at Cincinnati event for a healthier future in Ecuador and Mali

The Tandana Foundation is inviting new and old friends to join hands in support of realizing the dreams of communities in rural Mali and highland Ecuador for important healthcare projects at a celebratory event in Cincinnati on Nov. 14.

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All about the volunteer trips to Ecuador this year

As the last volunteer group wraps up, we wanted to check in with Omar Flores, The Tandana Foundation’s Program Manager in Ecuador, on what volunteer groups have been up to on trips in 2025.

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Miami University faculty members reflect on their experiences and learnings from a trip to Ecuador with Tandana

In early August, we (five faculty members from Miami University in Ohio) traveled to the highlands of Otavalo, Ecuador. The goal of our trip was to explore potential interdisciplinary study abroad programs with an experiential learning focus, so we asked The Tandana Foundation to expose us to a range of potential opportunities for future students. We stayed with wonderful host families in the rural community of Yambiro, engaged in mingas (community work projects) at a water treatment plant and a school, and learned about Kichwa culture and traditions, tilapia farming, indigenous justice systems, and so much more.

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Through perseverance, a scholarship recipient is supporting her community’s tailoring needs

I’m Aminata Wodiou, from Idieli Douh, in the township of Dourou. My father is a local mason and my mother is a housewife.

Helping those who want to climb to go far

Amid ongoing insecurity in other regions of Mali, The Tandana Foundation partners with the community on a program for students of displaced families who are now living in Bandiagara. Tandana’s displaced students program provides educational and food support to families so the students could attend school and settle into their new city as well as provides training and resources for the parents to pursue income-generating activities so they could better support their families.

Tandana to bring university scholarship recipients from rural Ecuador to U.S. for first-of-its-kind program with local and indigenous communities

In September, five university students from highland Ecuador will be traveling to Southeastern Colorado and Northwestern New Mexico as part of a new service learning and cultural exchange program organized by The Tandana Foundation, a nonprofit organization that partners with communities in remote regions of Ecuador and Mali.

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Urgent need: Tandana works to build shelters for displaced families in Mali

After already fleeing their homes due to ongoing insecurity in other regions, hundreds of people who have sought refuge in Bandiagara, Mali, are now living without shelter for their families.

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Delivering exemplary results: News from the Sal Health Center

After opening its doors to the first patients four years ago with support from The Tandana Foundation, the health center serving 9,000 residents in the Sal Sector of Mali is fulfilling its purpose.

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It’s not too late: Restoring the environment and improving food security in Mali

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.

An inspirational journey: Representing my ancient and living culture in the U.S.

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.

The experience of travel and friendships

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.

Two Bills, one unique story of intercultural friendship

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.

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Tandana strives to build health center in Mali in honor of longtime friend

The Tandana Foundation recently lost a very special member of its family, Susan Napier.

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Engineering that matters: Helping communities achieve their dreams

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.

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Extra courses help displaced students catch-up and earn top marks

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.

The literacy program is teaching much more than reading and writing in Mali

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.

Lessons in translation from a Remote ESL Intern

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.

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Ready to achieve her dreams thanks to a new hearing aid

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.

Words of gratitude for women’s menstrual kits

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.

Community members share the impacts of the USAID cuts on services at the Sal Health Center

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.

Small NGOs need support following USAID cuts in Mali, says Tandana’s Founding Director

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.

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Workshop introduces Whitman College students to the Andean worldview and Kichwa Otavalo culture

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.

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Extraordinary encounters in Ecuador

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.

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The circle was us

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.

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My path to becoming Tandana’s new Board of Trustees President

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.

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A letter of thanks for scholarship support in Mali

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.

Tandana organizes classes to help students from displaced families catch up

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.

My inspiring and impactful encounter with Tandana

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.

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From Ecuador to Ohio: Learning about another indigenous people

My visit to the United States was certainly a tremendous experience.

Fleeing violence, finding confidence and hope

The following story is from Ambajugo Kassogue, a grandfather whose family receives support through The Tandana Foundation’s displaced students’ program.