We hope to raise funds to record our progress in our different projects in Belize with special emphasis on producing a simple documentary to record Maya medicinal and spiritual healing practices in this area.

A lot of work has been done on prior trips. Our ethnobotanist will continue her apprenticeship with the local Shaman. The midwife she is working with is in her mid 90s and she has extensive knowledge to share. The shaman are very protective of their knowledge. While many have studied before us, we feel that our unique organization has gained some trust that other outsiders are not given. We will be going to Belize in December with a larger crew for this project, the continuation of other projects and the beginning of new projects. There will be a follow up trip in February with a smaller crew.

We are Maya First, which is a US based non-profit organization located in Wisconsin that is dedicated to helping the native Maya children of Belize obtain a complete education, while preserving their rich culture and environment. Many cannot afford school past the age of 12. Many of the Maya have large Christian families- many children- and limited incomes. Typically, the families can only afford to put one child through school. This alone puts an economic strain on the families. The global recession and reduced tourism has added even further pressure on the families. Through high school they have to pay for their child's education. It is well known how important education is, especially educating girls. "Education helps men and women claim their rights and realise their potential in the economic, political and social arenas," from http://www.right-to-education.org/node/187. And also from the same website, "The right of girls to education is one of the most critical of all rights- because education plays an important role in enabling girls and women to secure other rights."   

www.mayafirst.org

What We Need & What You Get

We are asking for $57,009.09. Nine is a sacred number to the Maya. This number includes hiring a crew, flights to Belize, necessary equipment, fees to continue the apprenticeship, up to a week of accommodations, and then editing and producing the documentary. We are quite frugal and honestly we hope to blow this figure away. We have so many great things started and no way to continue them.

We will send a videographer, an ethnobotanist, a horticultural consultant, and support staff.

We've been self funded by our founder, and now with the downturn in the economy, his business is struggling. It's very important for our work to continue. We still owe Mr. Henry $2000. He is the Mennonite fellow who, along with many brave Maya workers in the tradition of their ancestry, heroically built our 100' observation tower with only block, tackle, their hands and their knowledge to accomplish the assembly in three weeks time without injuries or mistakes. We have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, and have yet to receive any real fund raising dollars. We have products including coffee and chocolate in a test market, and we have our fingers crossed as Whole Foods is very interested in our chocolate bars.

Perks

We hope you find it exciting to contribute to a worthy cause. We are offering some great rewards for your generosity, located on the right hand side of the screen, that includes a variety of Maya First gear and more! The titles of each perk level are special trees to the Maya that we are trying to protect in our virgin rainforest preserve.

If we don't reach our goal, it will take us longer to complete our initiatives, so PLEASE donate and express your generosity today! If we exceed our goals, we have plenty of Maya First projects in development, awaiting more funding! And please feel free to visit our website and contribute ANY TIME through a straight donation, or with the purchase of our fine chocolates, coffee and other Maya First gear.

The Impact

Maya First is becoming a recognizable brand, and we are working very hard to become self-sustaining. This is our biggest push for fund raising. We hope this is a large enough push for us, and that from here we will be self-sustaining. If we can exceed our goals and expand our products, very soon we will become self-sufficient. The Maya we work with have been working very hard making paper, building furniture in our workshop, and constructing our 100' Children's Tower.

The founders of Maya First, Jamie and Julie Krieger, have been visiting the Maya for years, and this organization is very near and dear to them. Their dream to educate the Maya children expanded into a larger desire to empower the entire community and to sustain the rich Maya culture. Maya First is a multifaceted vision with tangible and sustaining results. Your donation in conjunction with completing this documentary will have rippling effects. Not only will the herbal medicine knowledge offer its own rewards for humanity, this is also another Maya First project that is empowering the Maya people, an example, if any luck, that will have positive effects locally and globally.

Your support will also help us continue our Heritage Cultural Tours. We imported a military transport vehicle to be able to tour the Don Elijio Panti Offering Cave in the national park outside our village. The cave and park are underutilized and not properly protected from looting. Timber and wildlife poaching is the result. We have been trying to establish an academy to teach the children who cannot afford school. They can learn and help patrol the endangered areas. We have been encouraging local artists. We have put computers in the two schools. And our work has just begun.

Our 50 acre rainforest preserve was recently illegally logged. We lost many trees, but were able to stop it. We hope to encourage sustainable agroforestry to stop the Maya from destroying the neighboring property.

The area of our rainforest is a transition from pine forest to broadleaf forest, and that is highly unsual. We are searching for a specific plant that was foretold to us.

The peanut farmers slash and burn and they don't compost, which is unfortunate given the poor soil conditions. We can have a huge impact if we can act quickly and help. Our horticultural consultant will work on basics with farmers and work to create fair trade peanut products. Our hope is providing better than living wages in exchange for better agricultural practices and mutual agreements protecting public and private lands. We will shoot footage for a later project to share with other Maya communities.

Sadly, on our trip, our founder was offered the pelt of a female jaguar and live cub for 2500 US dollars. The low estimate is that there may only be 200 of these big cats left in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Preserve. With little education and little representation in government, they have to do what they must to survive. If what we want to do here works, it could spread throughout the region.

Spiritual Aspect

Our location in Belize is such a beautiful village ringed by mountains of lush vegetation. There seems to be a very powerful energy there. Many of our staff have had -shall we say extraordinary experiences, some of whom are not necessarily comfortable talking about it, but with each new extraordinary experience, it only encourages us to do these extremely large and difficult endeavors. If there are people interested in coming to Belize, we and the Maya would welcome you with open arms and we would love to share this extraordinary place with you. There are very nice accommodations near our archaeological site.

We are not affiliated with any organized religious groups. We are encouraging the Maya to embrace their own heritage, culture and history.

A Note from the Founder of Maya First

My wife and I married later in life and we have no children of our own. Many years ago on the beach in Placencia, we met a young boy who was 14. Hundreds like him travelled a great distance to sell crafts to the tourists. I told him about the strange journey I was on. I showed him the tattoo on my arm (a very long story) and he said, "I know all about it. I'm 100% Mayan. My Mom is Kekchi (also Q'ekchi) and my Dad is Mopan." I was dumbstruck as suddenly so many things over a long span of time instantly made sense, and instantly this organization began to set into motion. We have since sponsored him and he is now finishing his last year at the University of Belize; we are very proud of him.

-J. Krieger

Other Ways You Can Help