La Guajira is an example of a universal disaster: the state’s abandonment of the indigenous communities at risk. “It hurts to see them like this, the people in our community are not beggars”, says a young Wayúu driver who prefers to remain anonymous. Stay informed with the latest product additions! All the communities that Equal Times visited (Uchipa, Wayamuichon, Watanalu and Panterramana, among others) are asking these organisations to stay longer. The Wayuu language, or Goajiro (Wayuu: wayuunaiki), is spoken by an estimated 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people. They are only interested in us when there are elections. This Aboriginal people has a series of myths that account for the origin of the Earth and the Guajiro people. Equal Times is a trilingual news and opinion website focusing on labour, human rights, culture, development, the environment, politics and the economy from a social justice perspective. One of these stories points out that the Wayuu were born from the north-east wind and from the rain goddess. Two children from the wayúu community in Alta Guajira. There are also many members of this community that live in Venezuela, but for the Wayuu, the Guajira is a single place without borders. Historical Context. It is a catastrophe: the goats are not only a source of food, they are also a source of power. The Wayuu had never been subjugated by the Spaniards. There are also many members of this community that live in Venezuela, but for the Wayuu, the Guajira is a single place without borders. But 74 families live here, including many young people. The Wayuu have managed to stay unaffected by outside influences and kept the essence of their culture alive and still practice the same customs and rituals. In the 2011 national census, they accounted for 413,436 people. They are the currency of exchange during wakes, they are used as a dowry for marriages, and to resolve questions of honour. The Wayuu are known as the people of the sun, sand, and wind. The heat is suffocating. There is no register to say exactly how many there are, as some live in Venezuela (they don’t believe in borders, the land they walk on is their country), but there are over 250,000 people divided into some 20 clans. The rate of chronic child malnutrition in the department is 27.9 per cent (compared to an average of 13.2 per cent for the whole of Colombia). The Wayuu’s are organized into Mother clans and not their fathers. “We would like our young people to go away to study at university and then come back so that they can apply what they have learnt here” says Damián, at 29 years old one of the youngest Wayúu authority figures, who teaches at the school for the region’s children (it takes some an hour to get there on foot). The wayúu are worried that their children will have to emigrate and the wayuunaiki language will be destined for oblivion. In the last six years, 90 per cent of their animals have died (cows, goats and sheep). In the Panterramana community there is no light, no water, no basic infrastructure. Her team visits families who live in total isolation. For the time being the government has decided to contribute funds to supply water, health and education in Guajira (259 million euros or US$280 million a year). Thousands of women from the deserts of La Guajira, weaving the patterns they dream, crafting the finest Colombian-woven bags. “The key approach has been to involve the local population, teaching them the techniques of resilience and empowerment, and offering comprehensive help” explains Silvya Bolliger, from ECHO, the European Commission’s civil protection and humanitarian aid service that has financed the project, and which includes UNICEF and FAO as members, together with the support of the World Food Programme, Oxfam and Action Against Hunger. She is proud to be Wayúu. Because the politicians are lying to us. Carolina Sáchica laments that since December 2015, when the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decreed some interim measures for La Guajira, over 100 children and adolescents have died of malnutrition. The Wayúu are the largest ethnic group in the country. Actually, the women of this community are in charge of educating and transmitting the ancestral culture to their children using their native language. Warning, your message will only be displayed after it has been checked and approved. He is dirty, he barely speaks Spanish, and he is seven or eight years old. Because of this, many Wayuu have been forced to live in shelters and have seen their ancestral territory reduced due to mining. The Wayuu People have traditionally subsisted thanks to grazing, hunting, fishing and agriculture in places where the arid climate of the Guajira permits. They are located in the arid Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu are an indigenous group located in the Guajira Península in Northern Colombia. Óscar plays with a football, laughs, climbs trees and hides in the scrubland. Together with his friends from the University of Riohacha, the capital (of la Guajira), he has taken part in the protests of the last few weeks. What started as a way for the Wayuu women to artfully evoke the cultural teachings and creative drawings of their ancestors, the practice of weaving multi patterned, colored and shaped mochilas came to being. We benefit the rural artisan communities through this online, small-producers market. The government would rather they solve their own problems. The Wayuu language, or Goajiro (Wayuu: wayuunaiki), is spoken by an estimated 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people. “The measures implemented to date have not had the hoped for impact or results in terms of providing sufficient or good quality food security, health, and access to drinking water,” says the text. The Wayuu had contact with the Spanish conquistadors from very early times. It is forcing them to change, to move away: the lack of water gives them no choice. A central tenet of the Wayuu people’s history is the practice of weaving patterned bags, aptly named Wayuu Mochilas. Wayuu Market is a window for Wayuu people to the world. Wayuu Made was founded with a wanderlust spirit and a simple goal: to bring to the world the designer quality handmade “mochila” bags made by the largest indigenous community in Colombia, the Wayuu people, while creating a sustainable economic option for the women of the Wayuu to provide for their families and communities. Copyright Ka'i Wayuu 2012 - 2018 | Tel: 949-562-8154. They should ask themselves why they elected a bunch of crooks to be their local representatives,” says Luis Guillermo Vélez, former secretary general of the President’s office. UNESCO has recognised the Wayúu concept of the ‘palabrero’, a wiseman who mediates conflicts by peaceful means, as part of the ‘intangible cultural heritage of humanity’. “If this figure is not serious enough for the government to accept its responsibility, what needs to happen?” she asks. “Our ruling representatives promised schools, hospitals, water supplies, roads, but they have done nothing”, says lawyer Carolina Sáchica, who has asked Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to declare the region to be in a state of emergency. The Wayuu maintain and defend their origin and connection to the Guajiro territory through their oral and ancestral traditions. The Wayuu are considered one of the largest indigenous groups in Colombia, totaling about 20% of the indigenous population of Colombia. The indigenous population is young (70 per cent are under 25 years of age) and possesses invaluable riches (between all the ethnic groups they speak 34 different languages). These Rancherias are kept isolated from one another to prevent the mixing of goat herds. The dramatic situation faced by the Wayúu is particularly bloody: their tenacious attachment to their customs has left them trapped in a hostile environment, made worse by a terrible drought since 2011 and the El Niño phenomenon between 2014 and 2015, the worst in four decades. While President Santos talks of peace and prides himself on a modern Colombia that is open to the outside world, Óscar has no idea what his future will be. “We are the most forgotten region of Colombia” says José Ipuana, a 75-year-old Wayúu elder, who remembers always having lived “in need”. A few of them sell shrimps and fish. As matriarchs of family clans, the Wayuu women have assumed leadership positions and as such all family members and the community at large look toward them for guidance in preserving the Wayuu culture. She studied in Barranquilla, a city on the Atlantic coast, more than 300 kilometres from her home. When you sign up to receive the monthly newsletter, you will also receive the latest company news, product promotions, and holiday specials. To reach the region we are in, in the northernmost part of La Guajira, a desert in the northeast of the country on the border with Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea, we needed a jeep prepared to cross dunes and dry forests through remote tracks and to navigate impossibly steep slopes.
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