The Last Round of Scholarships Given for 2024!

We gave out 48 scholarships this year, which is a new record!

Waiting to check out at the supply store La Regalia in Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia.

The first of the scholarships was given to the students living in or close to Leticia.  The water level was so low that it made river travel from the village of La Libertad difficult.  These students completed their shopping in late August.

Maide, one of our first scholarship students.  She has graduated and will pass her scholarship to her younger sister next year.

The second shopping trip was in late September.  This trip included the village students in the scholarship program the previous year.  We rented a 35-foot wooden boat from the neighboring community, Puerto Triunfo.  We thought this would work out well, as we didn't have good access to the river from La Libertad.  Unfortunately, the boat was in poor repair.  Water entered the boat during the trip, making it difficult to bail it quickly enough to avoid soaking people.

As a result of this trip, we decided to build our own cargo boat to transport students and building supplies.  This presented several other issues, which we hope to cover in a future blog post.

Three of our students.  Two of them missed much school during the pandemic.  The scholarship program provides a strong incentive for them to return to classes.

Two of our Letician students.  They go to school in Leticia and spend some weekends and holidays in La Libertad.

Leslie and her father.  This is her first year in the program.  She is entering kindergarten.

A brother and sister in the scholarship program.  They live on a raft in the harbor of Leticia and attend school in the city.

Cristian with his parents.  They are in the store El Remate, in Leticia.

Our director waiting for the students to bring their items to the cashier.  All funds are handled by designated people.  All receipts are saved and serve as proof of the purchases.

Camilo, a teacher in the village school, with his son, who is in the scholarship program.

Nicol waiting to see if they have the clothing in her size.

In this photo, most of the kids are finished shopping.  In all, it takes about three hours for the group to finish.  When everyone has returned, we go back upriver.  The trip starts at 5:30 in the morning; by the time they get back to the village, it is usually around 4 pm.

Our newest scholarship students did their shopping in December after they left on school vacation.

The time during the pandemic was exceptionally difficult for our students in the scholarship program.  The schools closed between one and three years due to health regulations, troubled construction projects, and mismanagement.  During the pandemic, one of the education department's solutions was to have the teachers deliver class instruction by cell phone text or instant messaging apps.  As almost none of our students had cell phones, or internet, or cell phone service, and at times, no electricity, this did not work.  At least 10 students left school and the scholarship program during this time.

This blog post ends with a picture of hope.  One of our scholarship students, who has been in the program for four years, graduated from school and has been accepted into a police academy training program.  This is precisely what we want the scholarship program to achieve!

Thank you to all our sponsors who helped make this program a success!

Would you like to sponsor a student during 2025?  Our scholarship donation page is now open.

Second Year of Sanitary Pads for the Young Women of La Libertad

Once again, this year, we partnered with His Handiwork Guild.  This organization is based in Long Beach, CA.  They made and supplied 150 sanitary napkins for us to bring to the women of La Libertad.  This is up from 100 pads last year.  This is a very popular program with the village women.

Everyone loves the colors and prints of the pads!

The locations where they provide pads.

Packing up the pads.

The dedication volunteers making the pads.

Giving the pads on our return to the village.

A warm THANK YOU to all the people of His Handiwork Guild for their important work!

The United Nations and Colombian Chancellery come to La Libertad!

Clean Water, School Roofs, and Community Development

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and The Colombian Chancellery visited La Libertad on December 5.  FAO is an agency of the United Nations that leads efforts to defeat hunger.  The Chancellery, or The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is responsible for Colombia's international relations.

Waiting at the water treatment plant.

School roof repair!

Wood-burning cook stoves.  One was delivered to each house.

The FAO installed a water treatment plant in the village four years ago.  In combination with the Chancellery, they are upgrading the water treatment plant and repairing the school's roofs, and they have provided cook stoves to each household.  To publicize the work, the organizations brought the national TV station, Señal Colombia, to do a live broadcast from the village.  They interviewed our mayor, Alirio, to discuss what was happening and the importance of clean water.

Meeting by our guest house and the internet connection.

We are getting ready for the televised, live interview.

Alirio, pre-interview.  This was his first time on TV!

And now, live from the Amazon!

We, Amazon Pueblo, made much of this possible by sharing the project's internet connection with the broadcasters!  We also talked about other works, like drilling a well and the health care center, which we hope they will help to fund.

Spring/Summer 2024, Jungle News: Tourism returns, email to the president, sanitary napkins, graduation, and craft fairs!

As our director prepares to return to Colombia in July, we have our Summer update on what has happened with Amazon Pueblo.  Please enjoy reading about our adventures, and thank you to everyone who has made this possible!

In the Amazon

Preview of LaSelva (ESPECTACULAR!), a video of life in an Amazonian village

In March of 2024, I received a message from Gustavo (our main contact in the village) that a person had emailed him and wanted to volunteer in La Libertad.  That person, Paul Chelmis, is a traveler and videographer from the States.  He loves to tell stories through his videos.  Paul stayed in La Libertad for a week, living, learning, and filming.  READ MORE and see the video

Beyond the Tourist Trail: A Week of Raw Amazonian Life

We are happy to share good news from the jungle! Now that we have stable internet (thank you to our donors), we finally have sustainable tourism to help support our mission's educational goals in the village.

Last April, Paul joined us to volunteer in the village. He found out about La Libertad through a website we maintain for Gustavo. Paul is a professional... READ MORE

Our email to the president of Colombia

For people who may not have seen it, we have started a social media campaign to call attention to the deplorable state of the school in La Libertad.  As part of the campaign, we emailed various government members in the Amazon and Bogota.  Here is what we said: READ MORE

Adventure returns to the village: Visit us in the jungle!

Our internet connection made this visit possible.  It allowed us to help connect, plan, and support the trip.  We connected our guide in the village with our guest, translated, and helped to coordinate his visit.

Tourism in La Libertad has been very slow since the pandemic, but it is returning!  We thank Stefan, from Germany, for visiting us in the Amazon.  Please READ MORE and enjoy these pictures of his trip.

Sanitary Pads for the Young Women of La Libertad

Thank you to HIS Handiwork Guild, the Long Beach-based group that makes and donates washable reusable sanitary pads.  Muchas gracias, Nancy and Irene!

At first, we didn't know if the women would like and use them.  It turns out that the villagers... READ MORE

Seven Years of Perseverance Pays Off with Graduation!

Congratulations to Maide!  She has been in our scholarship program since 2018.  She attended elementary school in La Libertad and high school in Leticia, Colombia.  After graduating high school, she... READ MORE

In the US

Amazon Pueblo: How we procedurally became, and continue to be, a nonprofit organization

A step-by-step accounting of what we have done!

After helping a friend who is planning to start a nonprofit, we thought it might be interesting or helpful to others to know how we did it and what we continue to do to keep our nonprofit organization up and running.  Here is our story.  READ MORE

Craft Fair Fundraisers

Join Us for the Thomaston 4th of July Craft Fair, 2024!

When: Thursday, July 4th, 10 am – 1 pm

Where: Next to the town office and police station, Valley Street, Thomaston, Maine 

What: Sales of indigenous handcrafts, Colombian emerald jewelry, and more!

Why: To benefit the education of indigenous students in the Colombian Amazon.

Please visit our website to LEARN MORE about the fair.

Student Scholarship Program

We are happy to be approaching 50 scholarships for the 2024 school year!  That is up from the 38 scholarships we presented in 2023.  Each student receives $130 to aid with school shopping.  Thank you to all of our sponsors!  To learn about the scholarship program, please READ MORE.

Artisans of La Libertad

As an added bonus to our newsletter readers, here is a link to the video of the Artisans of La Libertad, which shows a bit about how they make their handcrafts.  Thank you, Paul, for this awesome video!

Visit the Amazon!

Would you like to visit us in the Amazon?  We have volunteer opportunities and a more traditional tourism program.  Please visit our website to LEARN MORE.  Do you know someone who likes to travel?  Please forward this newsletter or the info below to them.  Gracias!

Preview of LaSelva (ESPECTACULAR!), a video of life in an Amazonian village

In March of 2024, I received a message from Gustavo (our main contact in the village) that a person had emailed him and wanted to volunteer in La Libertad.  That person, Paul Chelmis, is a traveler and videographer from the States.  He loves to tell stories through his videos.  Paul stayed in La Libertad for a week, living, learning, and filming.

Below is a preview of the first half of a video he is making to help tell the story of our part of the jungle, La Libertad, Amazonas, Colombia, for tourists or volunteers.

To join us in the Amazon, please follow this link! 

Beyond the Tourist Trail: A Week of Raw Amazonian Life (WITH STUNNING PHOTOS)!

We are happy to share good news from the jungle! Now that we have stable internet (thank you to our donors), we finally have sustainable tourism to help support our mission's educational goals in the village.

Last April, Paul joined us to volunteer in the village. He found out about La Libertad through a website we maintain for Gustavo. Paul is a professional photographer and media specialist. He is interested in helping with the project. Paul took many photos for Gustavo and us to use for information and promotion. He also helped Gustavo translate prospective clients' inquiries into English and gave him advice on managing his tourism business which launched this Spring on Booking.com!

Please read Paul's review below and enjoy the photographic record of the time he spent in La Libertad.

It was an unforgettable experience, unlike anything I've ever done.

For full disclosure, I originally booked for one night, but I stayed a week.  I've traveled across six continents and never done anything like this.  This visit has meant so much to me; I will write a lot about it.

I'm from the US.  I've visited the Amazon once before but felt it wasn't as "intimate" of a jungle experience as I'd hoped.  It was just one of those 4-day package tours out of Cusco.  I realize now that it lacked the cultural connection, which I found here unexpectedly.  Here is a community just living in the jungle.  I don't know how to put it.  There's no show here; it's real and raw.  And I learned so much.  

Gustavo is one of the baddest dudes I've ever met.  I highly recommend a multi-day jungle tour with him.  The amount of ancestral knowledge he has about his natural habitat is incredible.  I now know which vines contain potable water inside, which plants/fruits/bugs treat dengue or asthma or scorpion bites, how to communicate with friends across a 10km distance via a tree root system (yes, really), and how to weave an entire backpack or build a hut from just coconut palm.  I felt completely safe in the wilderness with him, embraced by it even.  His prices are super reasonable.  It was pretty difficult- the heat here is no joke.  But an experience of a lifetime.

For context, I'm the kind of traveler who likes camping, outdoorsy stuff, pushing my comfort zone, etc.  I think that's an essential note since people have all sorts of different travel goals.  They mean it when they say they're not a luxury resort; it can sometimes be primitive.  It might be outside your comfort zone, but you will feel a new kind of comfort in exchange.  You'll do well here if you are a hiker, camper, outdoorsy, or humble/open-minded traveler.  

With that in mind, you get everything to fulfill your basic needs, and Gustavo's family is lovely and attentive.  I bought groceries in Leticia and took them on the boat with me easily.  The kitchen has anything your standard Airbnb would have, just a little weathered.  A few doors down, there's also a small tienda (store) that sells basic things - rice, oil, onions, canned sausages, etc.  

The other struggle I had was just the heat & humidity.  I wanted to join in some of the daily work like jungle foraging for medicines or harvesting plantain, and it was all SO cool, but there were multiple times when I had to stop because I felt dizzy from heat exhaustion.  It was another learning experience.  I'm in relatively good shape, but these folks are tough.  That all said, even just hanging out in the village is excellent, and you'll always have kids to play games with, a symphony of fauna noises to listen to, or a legendary river to dip in.

Here is one of Gustavo's first tourism reviews from an Estonian visitor on Booking.com.

It's an amazing community found in natural beauty mixed with the experience of how modernization goes along with local communities.  Gustavo received me excitedly, showed me around places, took me hiking in the jungle, and taught me many things.  And his hospitality is just 10/10!  This place is not for every tourist but for travelers seeking an authentic experience with the Amazonas and its people over comfort in one of the most unique and beautiful natural settings.

Here are some tips to make your experience better:

1. Bring your own water.  Resources are hard to get to the community, but it's good to respect that.
2. Be ready to adjust to a few things depending on the situation - e.g., no electricity at night, makeshift showers, etc.  Treat the whole stay as an experience rather than a stay; these things become secondary.
3. If you sit by the river for a while (with your repellent on), you'll see many dolphins!
4. As with any other natural place, always check your shoes, bed, toilet seat, etc before using :)
5. Ask Gustavo for a custom tour and experience, and he'll happily make it happen at a great price.  He has more than 15 years of experience as a guide!

Visit us in La Libertad!  Gustavo's page on Booking.com and more photos (including details of the guesthouse) may be seen at:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/co/resguardo-indigena-yagua.html