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ABOUT US

Wichana Foundation was started in the fall of 2019 by Peter Bernstein, Sarah Cox and Urku Deborah May to support community-based programs in Ecuador that benefit the health, education and culture of community members. We raise funds through individual donations, grants and the sale of artisanal crafts. 

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CURRENT PARTNER PROJECTS (2024):

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  • Mojandita Curubi Centro de Salud is a small health clinic in one of Otavalo's indigenous communities. With substantial support from the foundation, this rural mountain clinic can provide medicine, medical and dental care to many poor residents of this community. In 2022, we began a rural home visit program to bring medical care to elders and disabled residents who can't travel to the health center.

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  • Muyumi Kanki Kichwa Cultural Center is an indigenous-led organization in Cotacachi focused on the revitalization of Kichwa culture and language through courses and workshops. They are in the process of creating an independent internet radio station called Visión Intercultural/Kaypimi Kanchik. Programming will include music, cultural, educational and political content mostly for the Kichwa indigenous communities. 

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  • K'allam'p is an indigenous-led organization of Cotacachi that has created a traditional Andean midwifery center for a network of indigenous Kichwa midwives to attend patients, provide education, and train both local and international midwives and other medical professionals. In 2023, K'allam'p began coordinating  medical brigades in the Cotacachi area. K'allam'p also works on sustainable agricultural research projects.

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  • Siona Community of Cuyabeno - through periodic medical brigades, our foundation provides medical and dental care for the remaining 500 Siona indigenous people who live in this isolated Amazon region of Ecuador.

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  • ImbaburaTaytamamakuna Kawsay is a Kichwa runa cultural preservation and education project of the foundation that respectfully empowers local indigenous elders, the runa taytamamakuna. Indigenous cultural activist and photographer Rafael Perez Anrango captured their images and stories in their own Kichwa language.  The Kichwa-English-Spanish and English only editions of the book are available on Amazon, through our website and at our office.

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  • Education for Ecuador is a nonprofit composed of a small group of Ecuadorians and Foreign Nationals committed to assisting underfunded schools in rural Ecuadorian villages in the Cotacachi area. The goal is to be in partnership with local teachers and administrators to identify and remove roadblocks to education.

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  • Place of Hope (Sumak Paktarina Kuska) - our foundation provides a US tax-deductible donation platform for this volunteer-based organization that provides daily meals to dozens of the poorest elders from the city of Cotacachi and the surrounding rural indigenous communities.

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  • It’s About Children - our foundation provides a US tax-deductible donation platform for this volunteer-based organization that provides scholarships to local students, enabling them to complete their high school education.

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  • Our Women's Advisory Committee provides us with guidance from the outstanding women leaders of our partner projects. The members provide one another with mutual support, project analyses, program development and fundraising tools. WAC's guidance for the foundation is vital to our success because it is rooted in its members' intimate knowledge of the needs of the families and communities where they live as well as serve through their community service projects.

 

 

WAC MEMBERS:

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  • ​Yarina Flores of K'allam'p

  • Salome Alvear

  • Rosita Cabezas of Mojandita Curubi 

  • Martha Chavez of Mojandita Curubi Health Center

  • Shayana Vinueza, Wichana Director of Program Development 

  • Koya Valencia of Muyumi Kanki Kichwa Cultural Center

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The Wichana Foundation is a US tax-exempt organization (501(c)(3)) so contributions are tax deductible as permitted by applicable law.

CONTACT

Tel: 917-273-0360 

Email: info@wichana.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wichana.org

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