This video is about helping to keep an ancient language — Zapotec — alive. This project is based in Juchitan, Oaxaca, in the Isthmus at the southernmost end of the state and is about preserving Isthmus-spoken Zapotec. It combines poetry, art, and film making. Thanks to reader Mary Ann Walsh for sending it our way! Zapotec has many different spoken variations or dialects. Villagers in the Oaxaca valley may not even completely understand each other because of linguistic differences. One thing is for certain, young people, as they migrate to cities for jobs or want to assume more “modern” ways, are giving up the language of their forebearers. Centro Cultural y Academico San Pablo in Oaxaca is also committed to language and culture preservation.
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Oaxaca Earthquake Damage Extensive: Urgent Support Needed
I’m putting out another donation call to help the Oaxaca earthquake victims. The situation is dire along Oaxaca’s southern coast and particularly in the city of Juchitan de Zaragoza.
click here to watch BBC video of earthquake devastation
There are two ways to donate that I know your gifts will go directly to the people in need. They are trusted to know where the funds can be used.
Francisco Toledo is a renown Oaxaca artist-activist who was born and raised in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, that suffered the most severed earthquake damage.
Denise Lechner is a personal friend who has worked with artisan communities along the coast of Oaxaca for years. Go to her Facebook page to see photos of the affected areas.
Report From Barbara Cleaver, Hotel Santa Fe, Puerto Escondido
Our hotel in Puerto has been one of the gathering places for donations: Denise Lechner has been on top of encouraging donations, and then driving them to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
We too have donated, both in money and in supplies, and will do more.
So much damage! In Tehuantepec, Chiapa de Corzo, up in Mixe country….but Juchitan de Zaragoza is a disaster zone.
I encourage everyone that can give anything, to do so. Please.
Thank you.
Friends, if everyone who reads this sends something ( 5$/ 20$/ more if you can afford it), it would make a huge difference.
Some places have even lost access to water, as wells have collapsed or been buried by rubble. This is the largest earthquake to hit Mexico in 100 years…please help if you possibly can.
The news of the extent of the damage of this earthquake is overshadowed by the drama of the terrible hurricanes … but Mexico needs help.
Something on the order of 1,000 houses have been damaged in Juchitan, along with public buildings.
Bad damage ( and slow help ), with many houses down, in San Mateo del Mar (an important weaving village on the coast — near Laguna Superior on the map). I have not yet heard from San Francisco del Mar.
Houses rendered uninhabitable in Tehuantepec; I don’t know how many because it is still hard to get through to anyone, but we were able to talk to one friend. Her wonderful old house is probably beyond repair and she says others, too.
Power out/ many ( but not all) phones out.
Chiapa de Corzo, the wonderful old fountain from the 1500’s, and some houses; again, I don’t know how much.
So many places!
The more I hear, the worse it gets…
We sent supplies with Denise and now we are going to send money so she can buy what she sees is needed.
You can tell your people to have full confidence in Denise..I certainly do.
Hijole…
It was a huge long quake, and there have been so many aftershocks, off Chiapas and off Salina Cruz.
Thank you for putting the information out there, Norma!
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Posted in Cultural Commentary
Tagged donation, earthquake, gifts, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Juchitan, Mexico, Oaxaca, support