We are sorry for the long delay in letting you know how the donations you made last year have been spent but it has taken a long while to get a full report back from OGT due to a reorganisation following the death of Santos Sauna and the election of their new Cabildo Arregoces Conchacala.

In this newsletter, we bring updates on the Food Campaign, a series of four meetings proposed across the Kogi Communities and their results, the acquisition of computers and Internet installation, and the acquisition of materials and utensils for 20 Kogi families in Maldaka affected by fire In March 2021.

It has taken a long time, but the Trust is now able to report that our long-prepared plan for a land restoration project with the Kogi is able to move ahead. After two years of planning, the project has been enthusiastically endorsed as a pilot by a new UNESCO initiative called BRIDGES, and a joint committee has been established by the Trust and the Kogis’ Organización Gonawindúa Tayrona (OGT) to run it.

We would like to offer you the latest news from Colombia and the work of the Trust over the last few months. To say the least, it has been a rather tumultuous time. Following the death of Santos Sauna, the Cabildo (Governor) of Gonawinduúa Tayrona, from Covid-19 in August, the Mamas have selected a new Cabildo, Arregoces Conchacala.

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of José de los Santos Sauna Limaco, fourth Cabildo of the Organización Gondawindúa Tayrona, which acts for indigenous rights in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and represents Kogi interests in particular before the Colombian state.

The screening of Aluna at the Medicine Festival and the zoom session which followed with Alan Ereira and Mama Senchina boosted our Food appeal so successfully it enabled us to give very generously to the Kogi trapped in their mountain retreat. Thank you for donating!

Thank you so much to all of you who have been donating generously to the Trust over the last few weeks. We hope you are all well and gradually emerging after lockdown into what they are now calling the ‘ new normal’ which seems to mean a gradual resumption of a limited range of activities at whatever recommended distance your country advises. It has been a terrible period in world history but let's hope countries can continue to slowly open up again with a better understanding of how precious our natural resources are.

To protect themselves from the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire Kogi People have isolated themselves in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta for three months initially, and closed it off to outsiders. They do not descend, and even travel between Kogi villages has been restricted by their authorities to prevent any contagion. As a result, the variety and amount of foods that they can grow and acquire has been drastically reduced, a situation exacerbated by raging wildfires in March that affected many parts of the Sierra, and because govermental assistance has been limited.

We are pleased to report that since drawing this violation of indigenous rights to the attention of the authorities, action has now been taken to suspend the construction work taking place as the builder was found not to have an appropriate licence. This is great news and means that government protection for the Kogi ancestral lands is actually working! Thanks is due to support from the German Ambassador in Colombia, half a million protests on social media and pressure from various prominent journalists and organisations like our own working together to support the OGT. So well done everyone - we must keep up the good work!

We hope you are all keeping well and staying out of harm’s way in these difficult times. With much of our lives put on hold we thought we would just share with you the details of an important event for the Trust and the Kogi which took place between Sunday 23 February and Tuesday 03 March 2020 just before we all went into lockdown and the world stood still.

Happy New Year to all our donors and supporters! The start of a new decade seems the ideal time to update you on our current activities.

In October Kogi Mama Shibulata and translator Sylvestre flew to Sweden for the first presentation of projects to the new Unesco BRIDGES commission. The meeting took place in Sigtuna and the Kogi were invited for the occasion as Unesco’s special guests.