Posted onTuesday, October 24, 2023|Comments Off on Giving Back: Oaxaca Learning Center Scholarship Funded by Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC
We have just established a Friends of the Oaxaca Learning Center (FOLC) named scholarship fund that will support underserved Oaxaca students to further their university education. Our goal is to help encourage young people and advance their communities. We’ve been working on this over the past several months with FOLC board president Bob Anyon and Jaasiel Quero, Oaxaca Learning Center executive director. Some of you may remember Gary Titus, a transformative visionary. He co-founded the Oaxaca Learning Center (OLC) with Jaasiel in 2005. Gary passed away in December 2015 following a progressive illness, but his legacy continues.
Oaxaca is the second poorest state in Mexico following Chiapas. Access to even basic education is limited, especially in rural communities. Advanced education is almost unheard of, even in villages within driving distance to Oaxaca city. We aim to change this paradigm.
Eric Chavez Santiago, co-owner of Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC, and I decided that we wanted to do even more to give back to the communities where we bring visitors and support artisans directly. We want to encourage the next generation to further their dreams. As educators, we know how important a university education can be for creating possibilities to further economic opportunity and stability.
Please note this is for the Oaxaca Cultural Navigator Scholarship Fund!
We have agreed that OLC will select the most deserving student(s) and manage the award. From time to time, we will meet with the award recipient(s) to learn more about their personal hopes and dreams, to recognize them for their accomplishments, and to share this with you, our readers.
The Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC Scholarship Fund will support students and/or tutors who:
Are from areas where we have artisan relationships, including but not limited to Tlacolula de Matamoros, Teotitlan del Valle, San Marcos Tlapazola, San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Ocotlan de Morelos and surrounding villages, Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, Santiago Matatlan, San Pedro Cajonos, San Mateo del Mar, The Mixteca Alta and Triqui communities, Pinotepa de Don Luis, and San Juan Colorado.
Demonstrate academic excellence and a will to complete their education and graduate.
Are university or high school students.
Are committed to giving back to their communities through advocacy, capacity building, and social justice.
Some students participate online because their communities are some distance from the city, where the Center is located.
The scholarship fund would also include the extra training and support students need with job skills, resume writing, practical skills, transportation and incidentals to be determined by OLC staff.
We have established this as an annual expendable fund that can be renewed each year.
Our Hope! Contributions to this scholarship fund are tax-deductible in the USA when made through the Friends of the Oaxaca Learning Center, which is a USA 501(C)3 not-for-profit organization. We hope and encourage you to augment our efforts to give back to Oaxaca communities by making a 2023 Donation — just in time for year-end giving! Your gift can double or triple our impact and make a difference in more than one student’s life! Please note your gift is for the Oaxaca Cultural Navigator Scholarship Fund!
$50 supports university acceptance prep course
$140 funds a month of classes, tutoring & workshops
$550 covers scholarships for meals and transportation
$1,500 funds classes, tutoring, & workshops for one year
$5,000 supports two tutors´ annual salary
Thank you for all your support over the years. Your loyalty has helped make this scholarship fund a reality.
After I wrote about and linked Alex Szerlip’s comprehensive article, Vintage Tech–Tyrian Purple, I asked immigration attorney Patrice Perillie how the fundraising effort to get the Mexican Dreamweavers Cooperative to the Santa Fe Folk Art Market this summer was going.
Patrice is the advocate for Mexican Dreamweavers and has set up a USA non-profit organization to accept tax-deductible donations.
Why Mexican Dreamweavers needs your help:
Mexican Dreamweavers supports the indigenous Mixtec women and men of Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca, to preserve their cultural heritage of back-strap loom weaving, harvesting and applying purple shell dye to native-grown cotton. This gift helps transport them to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market to sell their work on a global scale. So important for survival and continuity.
78-year-old purple snail dyer Habacuc shows Nancy color intensity
What is most important to Oaxaca’s weavers and dyers?
To bring what they make to market. Without buyers, artisan craft will not survive. Artisans tell me this wherever we travel in Mexico. They ask, help us sell our work. Bring us to the USA. Bring people to visit us. Often, they do not speak Spanish and cannot communicate their needs beyond their indigenous language of Mixtec, or Zapotec or Ikoots without translation.
In this case, the Cooperative demonstrated their amazing talent by being accepted into the highly competitive Santa Fe International Folk Art Market — a juried show. We can help them get there. They must fund their own travel expenses that includes hotel, food and transportation for several people.
Many women in Mexico are named Guadalupe in honor of the Virgin, Our Lady of Guadalupe, who many say was Aztec high-priestess Tonantzin and Earth Mother, adapted to the religious needs of New Spain.
Our Guadalupe is a woman in her early forties with thick, luscious long black hair that hangs down to her waist. Most of the time she wears it braided with ribbon in the local Zapotec style. Lupe is a widow and mother of three boys. Her youngest is age eight. She has aspirations for all her children to go to and complete university.
Lupe was just diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery to remove the tumor. Depending on biopsy results, the follow-up treatment will be either chemotherapy or radiation. We are waiting to hear. As I write this, I am waiting for flights that will take me back to Mexico today. As soon as I get to Oaxaca, I will be able to find out more.
The cost of the surgeon is 18,000 pesos. That’s about $1,350 USD, a substantial out-of-pocket amount for a weaver who is always working to make ends meet anyway. Then, there will be the cost of treatment. We anticipate that Lupe will not be able to work for a while, so there mayl not be enough to buy food or pay for school tuition and books.
Friends of Guadalupe:
Make Your Gift for Breast Cancer Treatment
Click the PayPal button above to make your gift. It will be deposited into my Oaxaca Cultural Navigator PayPal account and I will convert it to pesos and give your gift to Lupe. If you want to send along messages or prayers for healing, please include this. If you just wish to send money from your account to mine, my PayPal account is oaxacaculture@me.com
Breast cancer does not discriminate and affects women of all ages, at all economic levels and in countries throughout the world. I am certain there are many stories like this one.
Several Oaxaca expat women have pledged to help Lupe with her expenses. If many more of us come together to offer a small gift, we can make a big difference for Lupe and her family and share the cost of her treatment and recovery. Will you join us?
Lupe says she wants to pay back what is given to her by weaving rugs and cleaning houses. We think that’s too much to ask for a friend recovering from this diagnosis and treatment. We believe she needs to concentrate on taking care of herself.
Let us join together to do a small part to repair the world. Thank you, And, can I add your name to the Friends list?
Just want to tell you that yesterday I sold three pairs of earrings in response to the 10k Gold Vintage Oaxaca Jewelry Sale. Plus, we raised $785 in cash gifts! Thank you so much. This amount of money goes a long way in Oaxaca where the average daily wage is 100 pesos or about $8 USD — if there is work.
Several readers wanted to help but didn’t want to buy earrings. They suggested I start a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. Both take a hefty commission if you don’t raise much money. And, there is an immediacy to the family’s construction and home improvement project. The rainy season is starting soon.
So, I invited people to use PayPal to send money that I will convert from dollars to pesos to give to the family.
Want to help with the Home Improvement Project?
Any size gift is important! Send $$ to PayPal. My Account is oaxacaculture@me.com or I can send you an invoice — gift plus 3% PayPal fee.
The response has been wonderful, generous, amazing, and heartfelt. One woman who made a gift said, “I believe hard-working women need to be able to live their lives with windows and shoes. It is a privilege (and a right) that in some few societies women have been able to control more financial resources than in others. I live in one of those societies, but even for us this is a recent development, not reaching back more than few decades. We are all sisters. We need to remember.” Her words express the feelings of many of us.
We know there are many women and families who need help — in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and around the world. It is always important for me to remember I can’t do everything and help every one, but I can think globally and act locally. Each of us can make a difference in someone’s life.
We know the culture! We are locally owned and operated.
Eric Chavez Santiago is Zapotec, born and raised in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.
Norma Schafer has been living in Oaxaca for almost 20 years.
We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
Creating Connectionand Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions ie. hand weaving and natural dyeing. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here!
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma contributes personal essay, How Oaxaca Became Home
We Contribute Two Chapters!
Click image to order yours!
Meet Makers. Make a Difference
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Oaxaca has the largest and most diverse textile culture in Mexico! Learn about it.
When you visit Oaxaca immerse yourself in our textile culture: How is indigenous clothing made, what is the best value, most economical, finest available. Suitable for adults only. Set your own dates.
One-Day Custom Tours: Tell Us When You Want to Go!
Ruta del Mezcal One-Day Tour.We start the day with pottery, visiting a master, then have lunch with a Traditional Oaxaca Cook who is the master of mole making. In Mitla, we meet with our favorite flying shuttle loom weaver, and then finish off with a mezcal tasting at a palenque you will NEVER find on your own! Schedule at your convenience!
October 27, 28, 29: People and Place Photography Workshop in Teotitlán Del Valle with Luvia Lazo, featured in The New Yorker Magazine. Portraits and Street Photography, recipient of Leica Women Foto Project Award Winner 2024. This is an insider's Street and Portrait photography experience. We visit families in their homes to arrange photo sessions, we take you on the back streets where tourists rarely go.
October 30: Day of the Dead in Teotitlan del Valle--Altars and Studio Visits. A one-day immersion into culture, traditions, and meaning in Teotitlan del Valle. In this traditional village, where the native language is still spoken, we take you to meet local artisans who also explain their personal family traditions including who and what is on the altar and why. P.S. We know Teotitlan. We live here!
November 1: Day of the Dead Magic in Mitla--Visit the cemetery with our local host, understand the meaning of the pre-Hispanic altar, help honor the ancestors with offerings, enjoy a traditional meal of mole negro, a feast day speciality in Mitla. A one-day immersion experience.
January 11-19, Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour. Visit five remote weaving villages on the Costa Chica--Pacific Coast. See backstrap loom weaving, natural dyeing with rare purple snail dye, diverse language, culture, food. Discover Afro-Mestizo roots. This is one of our more Amazing study tours! We will not offer this tour in 2026! Don't miss it.
February 6-15:Guatemala Textile Study Tour: Cloth and Culture. Discover Antigua, Lake Atitlan and Panajachel, Chichicastenango Market, and visit Coban where they weave fine gauze cloth called pikbil. SOLD OUT
March 12-17: Deep Into the Mixteca Alta: Oaxaca Textile + Folk Art Study Tour 2025. This is cultural immersion at its best! Following the Dominican Route, we visit potteries, churches, Triqui weavers working in natural dyes, a cooperative in Tijaltepec that makes smocked blouses, the expansive Tlaxiaco Saturday Tianguis. Experience another side of Oaxaca.
We require 48-hour advance notice for map orders to be processed. We send a printable map via email PDF after your order is received. Please be sure to send your email address. Where to see natural dyed rugs in Teotitlan del Valle and layout of the Sunday Tlacolula Market, with favorite eating, shopping, ATMs. Click Here to Buy Map After you click, be sure to check PayPal to ensure your email address isn't hidden from us. We fulfill each map order personally. It is not automatic.
Dye Master Dolores Santiago Arrellanas with son Omar Chavez Santiago, weaver and dyer, Fey y Lola Rugs, Teotitlan del Valle
Giving Back: Oaxaca Learning Center Scholarship Funded by Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC
We have just established a Friends of the Oaxaca Learning Center (FOLC) named scholarship fund that will support underserved Oaxaca students to further their university education. Our goal is to help encourage young people and advance their communities. We’ve been working on this over the past several months with FOLC board president Bob Anyon and Jaasiel Quero, Oaxaca Learning Center executive director. Some of you may remember Gary Titus, a transformative visionary. He co-founded the Oaxaca Learning Center (OLC) with Jaasiel in 2005. Gary passed away in December 2015 following a progressive illness, but his legacy continues.
Oaxaca is the second poorest state in Mexico following Chiapas. Access to even basic education is limited, especially in rural communities. Advanced education is almost unheard of, even in villages within driving distance to Oaxaca city. We aim to change this paradigm.
Eric Chavez Santiago, co-owner of Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC, and I decided that we wanted to do even more to give back to the communities where we bring visitors and support artisans directly. We want to encourage the next generation to further their dreams. As educators, we know how important a university education can be for creating possibilities to further economic opportunity and stability.
Add to the tax-deductible Scholarship Fund to help us make an even bigger impact.
Please note this is for the Oaxaca Cultural Navigator Scholarship Fund!
We have agreed that OLC will select the most deserving student(s) and manage the award. From time to time, we will meet with the award recipient(s) to learn more about their personal hopes and dreams, to recognize them for their accomplishments, and to share this with you, our readers.
The Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC Scholarship Fund will support students and/or tutors who:
Some students participate online because their communities are some distance from the city, where the Center is located.
The scholarship fund would also include the extra training and support students need with job skills, resume writing, practical skills, transportation and incidentals to be determined by OLC staff.
We have established this as an annual expendable fund that can be renewed each year.
Our Hope! Contributions to this scholarship fund are tax-deductible in the USA when made through the Friends of the Oaxaca Learning Center, which is a USA 501(C)3 not-for-profit organization. We hope and encourage you to augment our efforts to give back to Oaxaca communities by making a 2023 Donation — just in time for year-end giving! Your gift can double or triple our impact and make a difference in more than one student’s life! Please note your gift is for the Oaxaca Cultural Navigator Scholarship Fund!
Thank you for all your support over the years. Your loyalty has helped make this scholarship fund a reality.
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