Hi Friends and Family,
As you may recall, I have been working to develop a non-profit with my good friend Cecilia Von Holck for the past 3 years, called Friend of SELVA Vida Sin Fronteras. This is from our website:
We are Friends of SELVA Vida Sin Fronteras-U.S.A. a not-for-profit formed on March 1, 2019 in the State of Texas and qualifies as tax-exempt under Section 501 (c) (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Our organization is focused on assisting the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Rainforest to have a viable and sustainable future. We intend to create an awareness of the need for preserving and protecting the Amazon Rainforest and it’s indigenous communities through education, ecotourism and other means of support. We are linked to SELVA Vida Sin Fonteras-Ecuador and their supporters in Holland to achieve our goals.
Building a non-profit has been quite a journey, including the one we took to the Ecuadorian Amazon River Basin last year in March. We have a FB page https://www.facebook.com/friendsofselvausa.org and a website Friends of Selva Website, where you can read about the journey and our efforts to support the People there, and the work of Cecilia's sister, Mariana Almeida. There is special need currently, due to the COVID outbreak, and the everyday poverty of the Amazonian People. Their food and water supplies have been altered due to the destruction of the rainforest, and they are reliant to some degree on assistance. The government is beginning to help, slowly, but many organizations such as ours help fill in the gaps. For 30 years, Mariana has been providing food and medical clinics regularly. Her track record for fighting corporations is phenomenal, and she is tiring, but still active. Recently she was able to stop the degradation directly across the river from the Amazon Reserve for Peace, where we took a group of 14 to last year. Mining excavations were changing the course of the river and this was beginning to wash away part of the Reserve property. Mariana took them to court and won.
This recent post was sent out by Cecilia, and we have decided as a group to begin to do more online education through emails, and postings on the sites. Please let me know if you prefer not to receive these updates. I will respect your wishes with no judgment! If you want to help us help them, follow the gofundme link in her email, or click here: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/indigenous-communities-in-the-ecuadorian-amazon-rain-forest-need-support-to-survive-covid-19 All the money raised at this time is going directly to Mariana's organization in Ecuador.
The Earth is capable of regenerating and continues to feed us, clothe us and give us shelter. Because of the desperate attempts to gain profit from precious resources, the Amazon, a living organism that has many attributes toward our health and well being, is being destroyed. Please send love and light to these communities along the Amazon, to all the trees and sentient beings. They have no human voice, but I hear them loud and clear.
Judy Fasone, Trager® Practitioner
Last week Mariana Almeida with Selva Vida Sin Fronteras-Ecuador along with The Forest Trust and POR TODOS (For All) along with YOUR donations, distributed food and Shaman of the Secoya-Siekopai Justino Piaguajeto, expressed thanks for he now has enough food for at least 2 months to his 6 communities of approximately 1600 indigenous people. As of today the Siona communities have now about 40 cases of Covid-19 and 2 indigenous leaders have died from the disease. Five additional communities also received food and supplies.
From an article dated May 5th, 2020 in Reuters by Alexandra Valencia:
A large number of Siekopai have presented symptoms related to the outbreak but, after they sought help from a government health center in nearby Tarapoa city, doctors told them they just had a "nasty flu," community President Justino Piaguaje said.
When the first of the elderly died in mid-April, Siekopai leaders urged Ecuador's government to fence off the community and test the inhabitants but have received no response, he said. "There are barely 700 of us. In the past we were victims of this type of disease and today we don't want history to be repeated," Piaguaje said in a meeting held via social media on Monday.
I ask each of you to please make a donation. For those of you who have already generously made a donation, I say thank you so much. For those of you who have not yet taken the opportunity I ask you please take the time to do so.
We have collected $1150 and $1000 was sent last week. Many donations did not make it to our Charity GoFundMe platform but directly to our Charity PayPal or came by check. Adjustments are being made so donations will appear on the Charity GoFundMe platform. Please make your donations to:
Did you know that it was indigenous people from the Amazon Rainforest taught modern medicine about QUININE, a muscle relaxant and the first effective medicine to cure Malaria. TUBOCURARINE is a derivative of curare, which is obtained from the bark of a South American climbing vine and used by indigenous people, now used in modern medicine by anesthesiologists.
Together we can work together to provide food, and PPE to these marginalized and unique people who are also the Guardians of the Amazon Rainforest. Again please donate on this site:
Be safe, please wear a mask for your own protection and others around you.
Blessings,
Karen Cecilia von Holck, Founder of Friends of Selva Vida Sin Fronteras-USA