PARQUE YATANA - Childrens’ Cultural & Learning Center Support

SELK’NAM PEOPLES

The Selk’nams are the original descendants and earliest settlers of the Tierra del Fuego Region in Argentina roughly 7,000 years ago.

In the early 1,500’s Magellan and his Spanish/Portuguese Conquistadors arrived in this area beginning a slow and steady inhalation of the native inhabitants and their culture. Only a few native descendants of the Tierra del Fuego region remain in this area where neither of the native languages of Yaganes or Selk’nam are spoken today.  At present, there remains only one full blooded native Yagan speaker left in the world, the 85 year old Grandma Cristina Calderon, who lives in the military town of Puerto Williams, Isla Navarino, Chile (the southernmost city in the world). Their community is an “indian reservation” designated by the government for Indigenous Peoples relocation.  Cristina Calderon’s Yagan language is literally in the Guinness Book of World Records as the rarest language in the world.  We were very fortunate and honored to have visited and to have been photographed with her on several occasions while on Isla Navarino.

In the last two decades almost all of the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego have emigrated seeking a new and better life for themselves.  Conversely, many new ethnicities have arrived from the Andean world, especially Bolivia, as migrant workers into Argentina. The cultural heritage of the Selk’nams has all but disappeared.

OVERVIEW OF EXPEDITION

The Yagan and Selk’nam projects of Chile and Argentina respectively, have been combined into one larger and more effective total project.  The decision to combine these projects into one larger project was made by the Inti Raymi Fund after an extensive three weeks searching for what remains of the four original tribes inhabiting the region: the Selk’nam, Yagan, Haush & Kaweshkar Peoples.  We found no one left of indigenous pure blood.  These findings were sad and disappointing, and we hope the Selk’nam/Yagan Project will serve as a wake -up call to raise awareness for the remaining Indigenous People of the world.  We ask that socially responsible, financially and politically powerful people, will assist us in making a difference.

On this note, the last Selk’nam or Fuegan person of pure blood, Lola Kiepja, died in 1974.  To the best of our knowledge, along with her went the Selk’nam language.  You can listen to her innocent language and chants recorded before her death by anthropologist Anna Chapman in coordination with the Smithsonian Institute.  

Our Video below albeit quite artistic in nature, represents a traditional dance brought over by Europeans along with their Sheep, which caused the beginning of the end of these wonderful Indigenous Selk’nam Peoples who innocently hunted them angering the ranchers.

A three member team traveled to Tierra del Fuego representing the Inti Raymi Fund on recommendations to visit with Monica Alvarado. We overwhelmingly selected her and her associates who would help facilitate others in Southern Chile & Argentina on our Fund’s behalf.  Monica has been the director of Parque Yatana, a public charity operating within a national park in Ushuaia, Argentina for the last eleven+ years, so her selection was both easy and natural.  This incredible woman is an Indigenous Mapuche, an accomplished artist and nurturing mother; an extraordinary woman to say the least.

One of our plans will be to ferry by boat, across the Beagle Channel, Christina Calderon Yagan and others of similar significance and heritage, to the Parque Yatana Cultural Center to re-teach their disappearing languages, keep folk stories alive along with the great spirit of the people who stood proudly as the original settlers some 7,000 years ago to this “end of the earth”.

We found Monica’s mission of re-teaching and helping to revive the Indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego  a brilliant idea.  Since there were no remaining villages able to sustain themselves and make these decisions, it was decided to rebuild the Yagan & Selk’nam Nations emotionally through the Parque Yatana programs.  We have provided a link to the Parque Yatana Web Site below.  If our message resonates with you, we encourage you to contact them and support them directly.

INTI RAYMI’S PROJECT

The Inti Raymi Fund is providing funding to construct a building that would withstand severe inclement weather at the Cultural & Learning Center in Parque Yatana:

– Total contribution: $20,000 ($10,000 for Chile & $10,000 for Argentina).

– Inti Raymi provides funding for The Living Sculpture Shelter, located in the heart of the Yatana Forest.

– The Nature Building and various artistic projects for the children’s engagement in educational works.

– Facilitates & engages with the traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and the Americas.

– Inti Raymi provides funding for attendees of Minca Ancestral Art. This is an annual event with international benchmarks advocating knowledge of native cultures. Its objective is to share the ancient wisdom of native peoples in relation to art, earth and life.

– Inti Raymi shares in the experience of Yatana – Ecuador, the Intercontinental Biennial Conference of Indigenous, Ancestral and Ancient Art, which meets every two years. This opportunity offers an outstanding international reference in ancient art. This wisdom and knowledge is brought back to the Parque Yatana and shared with the children

parqueyatana@yahoo.com.ar

Facebook: Bosque Yatana

http://bosqueyatana.wix.com/bosque-yatana

25 de mayo 510. Ushuaia. Tierra del Fuego.Argentina.

TEL: 0054­2901­425212

Black and white images from roughly 100 years ago, all colors by Inti Raymi Fund