Amazon Pueblo Jungle News, Winter 2025

 

Scholarships, historic water level, internet, and build, baby, build! Sunset at the port of La Libertad What is this post? 1) This is to catch everyone up on what's going on with the project. 2) We are holding a virtual fundraiser (a live internet broadcast from the jungle village of La Libertad) on Saturday, March 15.  We will give more detail in a later email. 3) We are using a new service called MailerLite to send this and future newsletters, messages, and blog posts. MailerLite automates many processes (we hope it does this well) to make sending emails easier. If you no longer want to receive news from us, you can unsubscribe with the link at the bottom of this post. The link in each session will give you more information about each topic.  Feel free to follow it. MailerLite

Project Info

Governance Problems in the Community We spent our first months waiting while the community solved a governmental problem. The current mayor was, without authorization,  using funds from the community to build a separate tourist community about two kilometers north of La Libertad. Luckily, the old mayor noticed what was happening and called the community's attention to the problem. The community voted out the corrupt mayor.  We were happy to learn that La Libertad is working to improve their governance. A study on good village governance

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

Scholarship Program, 2024 Our scholarship program has made significant strides. We completed the first round of 28 school-shopping trips in September, followed by six more in October and early November. On November 26, we completed 14 more, bringing the total to 48 scholarships given in 2024, a significant increase from the previous year. This growth is a testament to our positive impact on education in La Libertad. On Saturday, March 15, we will be officially starting our scholarship drive.  Our goal is to increase the number of scholarships in 2025 to 50.  Please join us in helping to change a life! Scholarship blog post

Working with the community- Pastor Jorge We have been working with Jorge, a pastor in the community of La Libertad. His daughter is in the scholarship program. He has been responsible and friendly. He helped us collect information about scholarship students and shop for school supplies. His beliefs in education and the betterment of the community align with ours. He may help to supervise the distribution and school supply trip later this year. Example of pastoral care in an indigenous community

Low Water in the River This year's unprecedented lack of rain has led to historically low water levels in the river, posing significant challenges. However, we have adapted to these conditions, walking over a kilometer further than usual to transport materials. To easily transport tons of blocks, gravel, and cement, we must wait until the river reaches its highest level, typically in March or April. Our ability to adapt to these challenges demonstrates the resilience of our project. Historic low water levels

Internet in the Village The introduction of the internet has brought about significant changes in the village. It has provided reliable communication with the outside world, enabling work calls and emergency messages to family and friends. However, it has also led to some negative consequences.  Many youths and some adults have been excessively using the internet for entertainment, leading to a lack of focus on schoolwork and household chores. We are working to address this challenge. Our Internet connection speed is sufficient for a house. The cost is $80 a month. Depending on area usage and weather, this provides a speed between 20 and 200 Megs. We can easily have up to 30 people connected at one time. This leads to a slowdown and an unusable Internet connection. People who need to make necessary calls and messages are upset. The parents seem unable to monitor or control the behaviors of their children. Starting in November, we used technology to help fix the problems caused by the technology. We have configured the router to connect to people who have registered with us. When unregistered cell phones, tablets, or computers use our router, they are blocked. Second, we have reduced the speed of everyone's connection to 2 megabytes. This is necessary to ensure everyone can access the internet for essential tasks like email, messages, web surfing, voice calls, and video calls. This is not fast enough to play popular online games, watch videos, or use data-heavy applications. Additionally, we have installed Wi-Fi range extenders, which help with connection speeds. The "Digital Gap"

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 a United Nations agency that leads efforts to defeat hunger. The Chancellery, or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is responsible for Colombia's international relations. The Chancellery built and oversees the rainwater treatment plant next to the village school. We help support the plant operator by loaning tools, our internet connection, and our troubleshooting knowledge about solar-powered operations. The two organizations are also providing the funds and logistics to repair the roofs on the village school buildings, have given each family wood-powered cook stoves, and have plans to build concrete walkways throughout the village to travel more quickly and reduce erosion. Benefits of clean water

Solar Power Upgrade We are upgrading our solar power system from 12 to 48 volts to provide 24-hour internet to our barrio in the community of La Libertad and a small security system in the guesthouse. This is a significant upgrade. We bought the solar panels and lithium battery from the store Energy Sun in Leticia. The guesthouse roof will only support three panels. More than three will cause excessive building stress.  Therefore, we also plan to build a concrete solar energy station/building. Energy Sun store in Leticia

Building Maintenance Our wood buildings have a lot of rot, termites, and powderpost beetles. Replacing softer woods with harder woods, painting, and fumigation will help slow, but not stop, the decay. This is another reason why we need a dedicated concrete and block solar energy building. Powderpost beetles

Kitchen and Storage Expansion The kitchen is growing! Now that more tourists and volunteers are coming to La Libertad, we have expanded the kitchen by two meters. This will allow two groups to store food and cook without getting in each other's way. The upgrade also takes care of more rot problems. Woods for construction

Volunteers We are starting to have more interest in the volunteer program. Before the pandemic, we would have four to five volunteers per year. During the pandemic, zero. We have had five people during the last six months, including a mother and her son. The boy attended school for a week in Macedonia and La Libertad! Visit/Volunteer in our village

Power Tools We now have Makita cordless power tools. They are battery-operated. We recharge them with our solar panels. The tools significantly increase our productivity! Makita power tools

Community Boat The community and the project needed a new cargo boat. This will let us take all the scholarship kids and some parents shopping on a one-off trip.  It is 50-feet long and will support up to three tons of cargo.  We can also bring the supplies (gravel, cement, rebar) we need for construction, whereas previously we needed to take multiple trips or use many boats. We bought the materials to build the boat. The community provided the wood and labor.  The cost for this boat was a little over $1,000, a value we expect to be well-spent! The death of our old cargo boat

Craft Fair Goods We picked up a new collection of bloodwood and other handicrafts to sell at craft fairs this year and next. The woman in the picture is Pastor Jorge’s wife. She helps to make and sell crafts. The man is Ben, our project director. Palosangre "blood wood"

Need to Fundraise

We will hold a virtual fundraiser from the village of La Libertad on Saturday, March 15, 2025.  It will include demonstrations of our work, videos, interviews with former volunteers, scholarship students, parents of the students, and maybe a project director or two!

Scholarship Program 2025 Donors give scholarships to specific students. We try to keep the same student and donor combination year after year. It is nice for the donors to see their students grow!  We are starting the scholarship campaign on March 15.  In April, we will do the school shopping with as many students as to whom the patrons give scholarships. Need: $7,,000 Sponsor a student

Health Care Center Other than reorganizing 100 bags of sand, we did not done any work on the health care center in 2024. We had budgeted $500 to have it plastered. But, we had a community discussion and decided that the money was needed to build a 14 to 15-meter (50-foot) boat. We had $500 budgeted to build an 11-meter boat for cargo and transportation, which was inadequate for large village trips. The four million we supplied ($1,000) is for materials. The village provided another four million labor to cut, carry the wood, and build the boat. Need: $500 for plastering this year Donate to build the health care center

Storage Shed Expansion We hope to expand the storage sheds to store gasoline, life vests, and earth-moving equipment efficiently. This will also solve rot problems. If not this year, then next! Need: $500 Donate for the shed expansions

Solar Power Building We hope to build a small four-meter by six-meter concrete and block building to house all of the electronics and a roof to support up to six panels, which is the maximum our current configuration can easily handle.  (We started to level the ground last week.) The building will solve several other problems. It will help to keep the electronics cool. It will allow us to clean the solar panels more efficiently and safely. We will not have to worry about future rot in a wooden roof. It will give us a secure place to store other equipment.  This is the most expensive and labor-intensive work left for this year, 2025. One reason it is best to do this now is the availability of the cargo boat. We must transport about three tons of gravel, cement, and steel. If we wait until another year, the boat may not be available or seaworthy for the heavy cargo.  Need: $2000 to start the construction in concrete Donate to help build the solar power station

USAID At least $35,000,000 of aid is being discontiuned in the Colombian Amazon because of the dissolution of the USAID agency. While it does not directly affect our program in La Libertad, it will affect the surrounding area. The aid money was used to support stopping illegal timber harvesting and mining, as well as water, food, and education programs, and to increase good governance. We will do a blog post when we have more verifiable facts. USAID in the Colombian Amazon

Project Creep Even though we try to avoid it (and we really do try), project creep affects our work.  "Project creep", or "scope creep", refers to the uncontrolled expansion of a project's requirements or scope during its development, often leading to added features, functionalities, or tasks that were not initially planned, potentially impacting project timelines, budget, and resources if not managed effectively. Wikipedia  Our project’s mission is to support education in La Libertad. This is mainly done through scholarships and adequately administering the scholarship money/buying. Nevertheless, other things “creep” into our program. These things genuinely help the students and education in the village in less direct but significant ways. Additional things: Maintaining a stable internet connection Computer, tablet, and cell phone maintenance Solar power Access to potable water Access to transportation Building maintenance Health center construction Volunteer and tourism support Helping to find solutions for the villagers and Leticians asking for help with problems We do not take full responsibility for each of these things (financially or organizationally), but we do try to help where needed and when possible. Many things need to line up and be operational for students to succeed in school. It is best to give some examples: The internet allows students to access the web to do schoolwork. It also provides communication with family members and employers outside of the community. Additionally, it helps to seek help during an emergency. Well-working electronic devices allow access to the internet and may be used as educational tools. Twenty-four-hour solar power enables an always-on internet connection. This also gives a place to recharge battery-powered devices. We are looking at a long-term solution to the problem of no potable water during drought. We believe this will be an artesian well. Due to difficult geologic conditions, this part of the project needs research and interagency cooperation. We will slowly work on it to have a functional and adequate well in the future. We helped publicize the village school's terrible disrepair in a sweeping social media campaign in the Amazon. We believe this contributed to the funds being appropriated to repair the school. When students or their parents are sick, education takes a back seat. A place where basic first aid and supplies can be kept and administered can prevent minor problems from becoming serious health concerns. A health center is also an adequate location for visiting healthcare providers to stay, administer services, and keep records. Tourism helps provide money to the villagers to help maintain the buildings. Volunteers donate their time and services to help us complete our mission. How to manage scope creep

Blog Posts

Over the next few months, we plan to have more regular blog posts. When we are doing things, it helps when we can show it!  MailerLite, our new newsletter and email system, should make this easier. After this year, we believe the project is in good shape with the internet connection, solar power, the local government and school system improvement, and the other people we have to help in La Libertad (Pastor Jorge, Gustavo the tour operator and the main village contact, and our occasional volunteers in the village). Thank you for reading! Please send us your thoughts and comments. Adios, Ben Angulo Amazon Pueblo Project Director

This is test 1 of our new automatic newsletter service

Hi. This is a test.  This is only a test.  It should publish the newsletter automatically from this blog post!

Cutting massive, 50-foot-long planks for the new cargo boat!

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!