The Tandana Foundation is a non-profit organization that offers cross-cultural volunteer opportunities, scholarships, and funding for small community projects in highland Ecuador and Mali's Dogon Country. Tandana coordinates service projects and volunteer vacations that offer visitors to Ecuador or Mali the unique opportunity to be guests rather than tourists, to form cross-cultural friendships, to experience a rich indigenous culture, and to make a difference in the lives of new friends. Our scholarship program allows rural Ecuadorian students to continue their secondary education as well as to participate in experiential education programs. Our community projects help villagers in Mali and Ecuador realize their dreams of improving their communities.
The Tandana Foundation is not about "helping the poor unfortunates" or imposing a developmentalist worldview or any particular religion. Rather, our goal is to create and nurture real and responsible relationships among people of different cultures. Giving and receiving are inherent parts of those relationships, and contributing to community projects is a great way to make friends. Any foreigner who has worked in an Ecuadorian minga (community work day) knows how that works on the ground! We come to learn and to share.
Tandana is a Kichwa root meaning "to gather together" or "to unite" and represents the spirit of our work.
