Tepichi Talashi Celebrates 30 years of Intercultural and Indigenous Resistance

With great enthusiasm Wayuú Tayá's Tepichi Talashi School celebrated the 30 years of Intercultural and Indigenous Resistance. Most of the children attended wearing traditional Wayuú clothing to honor this special commemoration.

The event begun with the singing of the National Anthem in Wayuunaiki and a warm welcome from the coordinator of U.E Nerio Emiro Semprun Polanco.

Some of the different activities that took place during the celebration included: singing in Wayuunaiki, a parade where children were wearing typical Wayuú outfits, a presentation of the Yonna Sukua Wayuú, a presentation of Wayuú traditional houses and a presentation of the different Wayuú clans.

Representatives from the Mara Education Zone were present as well as special guests from the Intercultural Department

Friday's at Tepichi Talashi - Traditional Wayuú Dress Day!

Every Friday at Tepichi Talashi, children look forward to wearing their traditional Wayuú outfits to school. Girls wear colorful cloths called Wayuusheein, made from cotton and boys wear traditional hand women straw hats and sandals!

Wayuú cloths are generally loose fitting, being very comfortable for women to wear and work in. The style of the Wayuusheein varies, some are v-neck and some are square neck but all of them are balloon shaped around the waist. They all have a cord or belt on the inside which ties in the back, making the front look fitted and the back look loose.

Tepichi Talashi has taken on this new initiative as a way to incentivize the children to maintain their traditions and admire where they come from. Wayuú indigenous people have worn these outfits for hundreds of years; they are colorful, full of life and happy just like they are!

We believe that tradition is a very valuable practice as it represents everything that is passed along from one generation to the next.

Vaccination Day at Tepichi Talashi

On October 6, 2009 workers from "Las Cruces" Hospital came to Tepichi Talashi Preschool to vaccinate students and residents from "La Popular". The medical personnel focused primarily on vaccinating Tepichi preschoolers and students from the "Neiro Emiro Semprum Polanco" school as well.

The immunizations give out were:

• Polio
• Hepititis
• Trivalent Viral (measles, rubella and parotitis)
• Pentavalent (hepatitis B)
• Yellow Fever
• Toxoid
• Diphtheria

Amongst laughter, tears and extreme heat, it was possible to deliver immunization to members of this very poor community!

"La Popular" learns about the H1N1 virus

Social worker Zumilda Fernández gave a talk on H1N1 virus to the community members of "La Popular". Parents, teachers and students gathered at Tepichi Talashi School to learn about the influenza virus. Some of the topics discussed were:

• What is H1N1 influenza virus?
• What are the symptoms?
• How to prevent the spread of H1N1 virus?
• How to treat a person dignosed with the virus?
• What complications might someone with H1N1 have?

All questions presented by the community were addressed by the social worker. Directions were given for the closest medical center in case any member of the community suspected having contracted the virus. The indigenous community of "La Popular" learned of the severity of the virus and what each person should do to prevent it.

Hector Rojas hosts 4th Annual Fundraiser benefiting the Wayuú Tayá Foundation

On October 1st, 2009 our friend Hector Rojas organized his 4th annual fundraiser event benefiting the Wayuú Tayá Foundation. This year the event took place at George Grubb's beautiful new Chelsea apartment. The guests were welcomed with a signature cocktail in honor of the Wayuú indigenous people - "the Wayuutini", a ginger infused martini courtesy of Walter Allen. Guests enjoyed delicious food catered and donated by Company (Company- a reason for catered events) while looking at beautiful imagines of Wayuú children displayed all around the space and projected on the wall.

The proceeds raised at the event will be used to build the "Hector Rojas & Friends Computer Lab" for Tephishi Talashi - Wayuú Tayá's preschool and elementary school. As part of the "Technology for Wayuu Education Project", the computer lab will be the place to enhance Wayuu children's' writing, reading and language skills in both Spanish and their native language, Wayuunaiki, in addition to strengthening their identity as indigenous people it also encourages leadership within the community.

This year Hector raffled 75 different items ranging from Balenciaga Tote Bags to Juddi Kupperman's jewelry, making the night an unforgettable evening! The raffle was simple - each ticket was $5 or you could get 3 for $10. Some other raffle items included books from Hechetter Book Group and Harper Collins, William Sonoma kitchen and home gifts, Bliss, Sergio Davila, El Cocotero and Scarpetta restaurant gift certificates, New York Dog pet baskets, and Wayuú Tayá Susu bags to name a few. These bags are a signature staple of the Wayuú culture, they are hand woven, one of a kind artisanal bags that take over 20 days to make. The bags are made at "Shakumajaya" Women's Center and sold by the foundation as a way to generate income for the community. The center also offers workshops where Wayuú women receive seminars on family planning, nutrition, education and hygiene.

Wayuú Tayá would like to thank Hector Rojas for his generosity and compromise towards the foundation, not only as an active board member but also for his commitment to our mission of helping improve the lives of Latin-American indigenous people while maintaining and respecting their beliefs.

Like in previous years, Hector's friends were kind enough to donate their time and money. A special thanks to Prudence Design for the flowers, Stephanie Rubin for the Prosecco, and last but not least to Stephen Radigan.

On September 14, Nathaly Dance Group presented Tiempos de Paz(Times of Peace), as part of their "Cultural Family Sunday Series" at the Lia Bermúdez Theater in Maracaibo, Venezuela. The presentation was dedicated to several local NGO's like Fundación de Médula Ósea (Bone Marrow Foundation), Fundación Amigos del Niño con (Cancer Friends of Kids with Cancer Foundation), Fundación Niños del Sol (Children of the Sun Foundtion), Fundación Innocens and Wayuú Tayá Foundation.

The theater was filled with families that danced to Flamenco, Arab Music, Salsa and Reggeaton. The performers were mostly children of different ages. The initiative had another component to it, collecting toys and clothing for children in need. At the end of the performance, Mayte Marín and Laura González from Wayuú Tayá  received 3 bags filled with clothing for the children at Tepichi Talashi School. These will be distributed during the holiday season at the end of the year.

"Peace begins with a smile" by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was the most repeated phrases that morning.

The Tepichi Talashi Program of the Wayuú Tayá Foundation is taking the necessary steps towards the prevention of drug use inside and outside of the classroom.  Together with the National Antinarcotics Office ONA, workshops are being offered for preschool and elementary school teachers, so that they can be better suited to adequately prevent drug use in the community.

The first step of the training process includes an evaluation of the most frequent drug problems present in the community, as well as the risk factors that affect such problems. The results obtained are then used to increase knowledge on the nature and the severity of the problem, as well as to select the best prevention program applicable.

A community evaluation can help determine additional steps to educate the population before a preventative effort is launched.  A revision of the current programs will determinate the existent resources, the deficiencies to cover the basic necessities and also to identify other potential resources. Lastly, we can also benefit from the experience of community organizations that provide youth services. A meeting with leaders from such organizations can prepare the scenario for capturing ideas and resources that can help to implement and sustain the programs.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
In order for drug prevention initiatives to work, we believe it is important to have community involvement:

• Identify the specific drugs being consumed and the problems created in the youth and adolescents in the community;
• Build upon existing resources and drug prevention programs;
• Develop short term goals related with the selection and implementation of preventive strategies as well as scientifically proven methodologies;
• Set long term goals to ensure that the necessary resources will be available;
• Inclusion of constant evaluations from the prevention program.

With the help of the community, the staff and teachers of Tepichi Talashi and the ONA, we will create a drug free environment for our children.

Registration at Tepichi Talashi School has begun! For the start of the new school year on September 15, 2009, we will be expanding our education program to 190 Wayuu children, opening 70 new spots at our preschool and 120 at our elementary school.  While working with Venezuelan Department of Education, we will be giving them access to bilingual education (Wayuunaiki and Spanish), proper nutrition, and offering primary health services.  Our programs look to always maintain a balance between school, home and the community. We provide basic and initial education, taking into consideration the roles played by the child's family and community - as they both are crucial to the education process. In no way do we expect to substitute the family; we look to integrate and further it's impact by joiining efforts and providing the children with new experiences.

The objectives of the basic and initial education we provide are grounded upon the fact that youth development should be approached integrally, taking into considerations their own skills, aptitudes and attitudes and necessities.  School becomes the mediator of what a child is in its natural environment and what he/she learns from the family and from the community that surrounds them. That is why at Tepichi Talashi we always encourage the family members to actively participate in school projects and initiatives, keeping in mind the preservations of their indigenous cultures and beliefs while focusing on activities such as music, drawing, knitting, poetry, reading, and traditional indigenous singing, among others.


The Wayuu children were the focus of the sixth annual Wayuu Taya Foundation Gala held on June 17th at the Stephen Weiss Studio in New York City.

Throughout the event, images taken by photographer Jenny Woodman and videographer Gabriella Nunez were displayed on the walls and stage of the location. In addition, paintings created by Wayuu children, together with local artists, were displayed and sold both in silent and live auctions - to the delight and admiration of the audience.

The event was co-hosted by legendary fashion icon and Urban Zen founder Donna Karan and the emcee was model and television personality Padma Lakshmi. This year, four humanitarians were honored for their outstanding charitable work. First on stage was New York philanthropist Henry Buhl,founder of the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless. He was introduced by Countess LuAnn de Lesseps. The next honoree was Khaled Al Muhairy,
the Dubai based entrepreneur and philanthropist who has built an
international school in his community. He was introduced by actor
Olivier Martinez. The evening's third honoree was businessman and philanthropist Stewart Rahr, President and CEO of Kinray Inc. He was introduced on stage by Padma Lakshmi and Russell Simmons. He stunned the crowd with a surprise donation to the foundation, which will be used to build more schoolrooms.

The final honoree was supermodel Christie Brinkley. She was
introduced on stage by her singer songwriter daughter Alexa Ray Joel - who then played out the evening with some of her excellent music. The evening's other musical performer was singer Billie Myers - who performed her smash hit "Kiss The Rain".

Almost 200 guests attended this year's event - the largest so far -
and vowed to join Wayuu Taya founder Patricia Velasquez in
continuing to support the indigenous Wayuu community. Due to the overwhelming support of attendees, the Wayuu Taya Foundation will be able to build a creative center - for music and the arts - as well as provide nutrition and welfare for many more children in the community.

Well known artist gave their time ,creativity and generosity to the
Wayuu children. It was a day filled with smiles ,colors and happiness at the Wayuu Taya School "Tepishi Talashi". The 6 artists worked together with the children on 6 pieces that will be auction at the Wayuu Taya event on June 17th in New York to raise funds for the educational programs and to better the lives of indigenous communities .

"What's important is to discover what's behind the eyes of these
children... but it is not easy, because at first they fill you with their light"

Christmas arrived in Tepichi Talashi, about 400 kids received toys. With so much joy they waited while they ate and played. We would like to thank for the donation of all the toys to the following companies:

VECONINTER ..........................109
POLINTER ...............................25
TECNOSHOP............................193
EMPLEADAS DE LESBIA WONG..10
PETROBOSCAN .......................30
ZF. CONSTRUCCION ...............10
OK. 101 .................................30
PROCTER/GAMBLE ..................250

HAPPY NEW YEAR & THANK YOU!

The Wayuu Taya Foundation completed this year one of the most important social projects in Venezuela.

Sponsored by Technology Company Hewlett-Packard, the foundation provided elementary school “Jesus Redentor” new physical classrooms and installed a computer lab that is being used to launch an education program for indigenous communities’ development

The new “Jesus Redentor” elementary school’s infrastructure was officialy opened on november 28th. This public institution, located in a small village in Mara (Zulia, Venezuela), has been assisted by our foundation since 2006.
Members and Volunteers from Wayuu Taya Foundation in Venezuela attended to the openning ceremony. The Hewlett-Packard General Manager in Venezuela also attended and shared with us the satisfaction to assist a whole school community with a population of 250 children from wayuu etnia. HP donated three new classrooms and one computer lab with equipment and tools for children learning.

The entire school community participated during the opening activities (director, teachers and parents). The children showed their happy faces as they have now a shelter to study and computers to learn and explore the technology world

Sponsored by HP

Hewlett-Packard Venezuela (HP) has been a technology sponsor of Wayuu Taya Foundation (WTF) since 2005. This year HP joined forces with WTF and selected “Jesus Redentor” to be one
of the first Latin American schools to receive a Technology for Teaching K-12 grant. The grant provided resources to create a computer lab with capacity of 20 children and integrate the use of computers and printers into classroom instruction and student learning. HP also provided local funds to build three (3) new classrooms.

The HP contribution included the following components:  

• Three (3) new classrooms
• One Computer Lab
  • 10 HP Laptops PCs for children
  • One HP Tablet PC for teachers
  • One HP Digital Camera
  • One HP Photosmart all-in-one (printer/scanner/copy machine)
  • One Video Beam

In addition, HP Volunteers worked with Wayuu Taya Foundation to install the computer lab and provide computer training to administrators, teachers and students

We are pleased to announce that this past May 13th, The Wayúu Tayá Foundation inaugurated its first Tepichi Talashi Preschool and Women Center in the Mara region of Venezuela. The Tepishi Talashi Pre-school and Women’s Center are both part of The Wayúu Tayá Foundation’s Roof Project.

The Roof Project seeks to create a centrally located network of facilities where-by the members of poverty-stricken communities can benefit from both education, and nutritional care while developing their work skills.

The pre-school and women’s center are the result of more than two years of arduous planning, hard work, and dedication.

The pre-school will service the needs of more than 70 children between three to six years of age and they will receive two meals a day while they attend school.

At the Women’s Center, women from Mara will have the chance to be educated in the areas of family planning and nutrition by a qualified member from the community. These women will be provided with the tools necessary for them to create their handcrafts, which in turn helps to maintain their culture and tradition while providing the means to earn a modest income. The Wayúu Tayá Foundation is currently provide an outlet via its website (www.wayuutaya.org) for the sale of these unique items such as beautifully woven bags.

We would like to express our gratitude to HBO, Intercable, Mobile Space System, HP, FEDE, Mara's Mayor's office and all the people who made this inauguration possible.

In other news, our Third Annual Benefit Gala will took place on June 20th at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. Our honorees were Russell Simmons, Edward James Olmos and Lila Downs.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Click here to view pictures.

ABOUT THE WAYÚU
General information about the Wayúu, family organization and customs.