Continuing Global Impact

Barbara SavageAsia, Central America, Collaborations, Documentation, Education, Filmmaking, Global Impact, Key Projects, NewsletterLeave a Comment

Photo courstesy of Bari Wesna As we close out 2025, I’m reaching out with gratitude — and a simple request. We asked for your support recently, to raise $110,000 and inspired donors have already given $95,000! Today, a $20,000 matching grant means that if you MAKE A DONATION TODAY, the value of your donation will be doubled! CONTINUING GLOBAL IMPACT … Read More

Gratitude for Nearly 30 Years of Work Together

Barbara SavageAsia, Central America, Collaborations, Documentation, Education, Filmmaking, Global Impact, Key Projects, NewsletterLeave a Comment

On behalf of myself and the Tribal Trust Foundation Board of Directors, we want to express our heartfelt appreciation for you, our collaborators, donors, partners, and friends. Thank you for caring about Indigenous-led programming to preserve and uplift ancient wisdom ways to meet the challenges of our time. Thank you for believing in a worldview anchored in reciprocity, collaboration, and … Read More

Traveling to Bhutan for Documentary Film and Friendship

Barbara SavageAsia, Collaborations, Documentation, Education, Filmmaking, Global Impact, Key Projects, Newsletter, TTF Travel TripsLeave a Comment

In 2006, the Tribal Trust Foundation answered a call from the Monpa people of Bhutan to document their ancient culture, one of the last Indigenous communities in the Himalayas still living in close harmony with the natural world. Upon their request, while the government had begun plans for a genocide of these peace-loving people, we began filming in order to … Read More

Two Eyed Seeing School in Namibia

Barbara SavageAfrica, Collaborations, Education, Global Impact, Key Projects, NewsletterLeave a Comment

In 2021, the local leadership of the the San Ju/’hoansi — Namibia’s First People, recognized as Indigenous to Southern Africa and Namibia — reached out to TTF saying, “Our children currently travel far to attend boarding school; the journey is dangerous and conditions there are difficult. We believe we can do better for our children in our own village, and … Read More

We All Come From an Indigenous Lineage

Barbara SavageCollaborations, Europe, Global Impact, NewsletterLeave a Comment

I recently returned from a deeply moving journey to Ireland—a pilgrimage of the heart and spirit to the land of my ancestors. As I walked the ancient paths, stood beneath moss-covered trees, and sat in stillness on ancient mountain tops, I could feel the presence of those who came before me. In honoring Indigenous traditions across the world through the … Read More

Honoring Our Elders: A New Home for Shipibo-Konibo Teachers

Barbara SavageCollaborations, Education, Newsletter, South AmericaLeave a Comment

One of the many critical values we can learn from Indigenous peoples is the deep respect for, and care of, our Elders our wisdom keepers. They are the carriers of story, the transmitters of tradition, and the guardians of ancestral knowledge. In early 2025, we received a powerful request from our trusted partner, Bari Wesna, an Indigenous-led intercultural nonprofit based … Read More

Monpa Elders Prioritizing Indigenous Language Preservation

Barbara SavageAsia, Collaborations, Documentation, Education, Filmmaking, WatchLeave a Comment

UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032 recognizes, “Languages are one of the most significant emblems of human diversity, revealing how we can perceive, relate to, and understand the world differently. Languages are vehicles of our cultures, collective memory, and values. They are an essential component of our identities.” The Monpas are translating their oral language into Dzongkha and English … Read More

Passing on Ancestral Knowledge with Bari Wesna

Barbara SavageCollaborations, Education, Key Projects, South AmericaLeave a Comment

We are proud to partner with, and be part of, passing on ancestral knowledge with Bari Wesna in Péru. Support their recent Traditional Singing & Medicinal Plants workshops was an honor. Held in the children’s library ‘’Jainoax Axeti Xobo’’ in the Intercultural community Bena Jema, and led by the wise Betty Muñoz, ancestral knowledge was shared with 25 boys and … Read More

The Power of Connection, Water, and Earth

Marilyn O'MalleyCentral America, Collaborations, Events, Newsletter, North AmericaLeave a Comment

In February, the Tribal Trust Foundation responded to the request of Maya Shaw Gale, a life-long advocate of indigenous wisdom, past TTF Board Member, and current TTF Advisor, to sponsor Adrian Salas Xopan, a Mayan ceremonialist and healer, to participate in the Indigenous Earth Day Tikal Conference in Guatemala. The intention of the Tikal convergence of spiritual leaders and wisdom … Read More

Supporting San Bushmen Youth

Barbara SavageAfrica, Collaborations, Documentation, Education, Filmmaking, Global Impact, Key Projects, Newsletter, TTF Travel Trips, WatchLeave a Comment

  In 2021, the San Bushmen living in Nhoma, a remote village in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia, asked the Tribal Trust to provide a school in their village that ensures an indigenous transfer of knowledge that coincides with teaching western knowledge; not through integration or assimilation of one within another but have these knowledge systems stand side by side … Read More

Shipibo-Konibo, the Indigenous people of the Ucayali River in Peru

Barbara SavageCollaborations, Documentation, Education, Key Projects, South America, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

The Shipibo-Konibo, the Indigenous people of the Ucayali River in Peru, are a shamanic culture that is world renown for healing with plant medicines such as ayahuasca. Medicine songs and designs are incorporated into their textiles, ceramics, and tools. Shipibo-Konibo Elders continue to assume lead roles in protecting their land, culture, and spiritual traditions. They are mentoring the next generation … Read More