Return to Yanomami Territory Summer of 2022: Fundraising Campaign
This is a 3 minute fundraising video for the Good Project's campaign to carry out critical work with the Yanomami next year. It highlights two major objectives: 1) microbiome research 2) installation of satellite communication at the Yanomami schools (in Mavaca). It doesn't mention the other key goal which is deliver an all-electric outboard motor (will discuss later).
Though our goals are ambitious and revolutionary among the Yanomami, I strongly believe that in order to ensure the protection of the Amazon, remote villages (like my family), and ancestral knowledge, we must support Yanomami programs in these important communities. The ones that are at the interface between traditional Yanomami way of life and the Western world.
To be frank, I hope that I never have to fundraise to bring in tons of PPE equipment because of an outbreak of introduced disease, or water filtration devices because their water has been poisoned by mercury or polluted with oil. I really don't want to have to raise money for Yanomami children living in "impoverished" villages or fight loggers from destroying swaths of rainforest around my village in the Upper Orinoco. How about we never let that happen? Let's help build resilience in the Amazon.
I love sharing my stories, photos, videos, and experiences with you because it is a lot of fun. It helps create a global community of love, friendship, respect, and admiration for diverse cultures. But I also try to connect us that when we say, "Save the rainforest," what will come to mind is "let's save ourselves." The Yanomami are not the "other." They are family too and share the same planet. Their way of life innately protects an ecosystem that you and I depend on. We need the Yanomami to be who they are - protectorates of the Amazon. And the Yanomami need us - to prevent the forces of global greed and expropriation from entering their lands. Be it tomorrow or a thousand years from now.
This is no easy task. In fact, it's not a finite mission. It is endless. Therefore, we must make sure that the Yanomami have the tools they need to represent themselves, determine their own destinies, and live peacefully in the Amazon. Our project is not about what metrics we can build to showcase on our website. It's about building a foundation for the Yanomami so that in hundreds of years from now they can continue the just cause, and reshape it; own it. Their world is not static. They are changing, evolving, learning, and adapting.
The Yanomami communities that interface with the outside world are critical in protecting and preserving the traditional customs, ancient knowledge, and the Amazon rainforest. My family depends on these communities for their survival. Let's give them tools and resources so that they can build resilience and autonomy through self-determination and self-representation.
Trust me, someday, there will be a Yanomami body of government in Venezuela. There will be more Yanomami in the health care field and in the school systems. Hell - maybe someday a Yanomami will become the president of Venezuela!
Of course, a big part of our work is to learn, document, and preserve the Yanomami way of life. Through our work at the Good Project, I am able to spend time with my Yanomami family, gain more experiences and knowledge, and then share them with you when I return.
Anyway, these are some of my behind the curtain thoughts on what this campaign means to me at a personal level.
Thanks for reading and watching!
Fundraiser for the Good Project - www.jointhegoodproject.org/expedition2022
Signed copy of The Way Around - https://www.davidgoodamazon.com/product-page/autographed-copy-of-the-way-around