The Tandana Foundation is a non-profit organization that offers support for community initiatives in Ecuador's Otavalo Canton and Mali's Bandiagara District as well as intercultural volunteer experiences. Its community initiatives support community members in Mali and Ecuador as they work toward their dreams of education, health, food security, water resources, environmental conservation, and income generation. Its volunteer programs provide visitors to Ecuador or Mali the unique opportunity to be guests rather than tourists, to form intercultural friendships, to participate in a rich indigenous culture, and to make a difference in the lives of new friends.
The Tandana Foundation is not about "helping the poor" or imposing a developmentalist worldview or any particular religion. Rather, our goal is to create and nurture respectful and responsible relationships among people of different cultures. Giving and receiving are inherent parts of those relationships, and contributing to community initiatives is a great way to make friends. We come to learn and to share.
Tandana comes from a Kichwa root meaning "to gather together" or "to unite" and represents the spirit of our work. "Tandana is to unite together, be together, struggle together. This is what you have done and what you are doing. Tandana is not a sleeping word or a dead word. It is a living word," explained our friend Matias Perugachi.
The Tandana Foundation has no religious or political affiliation, and we welcome all to participate in a spirit of respect and joining together.
After graduating from high school in Ohio, Anna spent four months in Panecillo, Ecuador, where she taught at an elementary school and formed the connections that inspired her to start The Tandana Foundation. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Whitman College with honors in Politics and a minor in environmental studies and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Skidmore College, with a focus on Morality in a Pluralistic World. Before founding Tandana, she worked for The Traveling School, teaching Spanish, history and literature to high-school students in the Andes and New Zealand and for Deer Hill Expeditions, leading teenagers on wilderness and community service programs. Anna created Tandana to increase opportunities for intercultural sharing and promote achievement of community goals. For over fifteen years, she has led the foundation in its partnership with communities in Mali and Ecuador. Anna speaks English, Spanish, French, some Tommo So, and some Kichwa.
Sponsored by:
Grayson Kirk Distinguished Lecture Series and Global & Intercultural Studies
