My Nonprofit Reviews

I have been on many Tandana Foundation Trips to Ecuador, but this one was special. We worked at Tangali School for most of the time, planting trees, veggies, and herbs building on the work of other groups of Tandana volunteers who had spent 2 weeks clearing brush and digging holes . That made our job easier and is often a trait of Tandana projects- work with the community first to find out their desires and then work with US volunteers to provide what we can while they provide what they can to complete the project. We did more than plant trees and seeds, we planted hope for the parents that their children will have food and the vision of a brighter well-fed future for the students. Working together, we helped everyone realize we are all of the same family no matter our backgrounds, but each of us had skills, strengths, and friendship to share to make a big difference in the lives, relationships and the environment.

the Tandana Foundation just completed its first volunteer venture to Ecuador since Covid shut everything down. We were delighted to see so many old friends n the Andean communities around Otavalo and to feel the heartfelt gratitude for our return. We helped a school plant vegetables for their lunches, worked in an Kichwa botanical garden, planted trees for a wind break with a community 11,000 ft high and learned about the special Afro-Ecuadorian community and a organic tree farm near by. Tandana trips are well planned. Join one to get off the beaten path and be a friend to local people and not a tourist.

COVID threw many small nonprofits a loop but not Tandana. They did not have to let any personnel go and they quickly became the first NGO where they work to define local issues and solve problems in each country. Locals had different ideas on what was needed and Tandana worked with them to promote prevention. In Mali, they wanted hand washing stations, masks, and dispersal of prevention education. They ended up distributing 700 hand washing stations to private and public places, many masks being made, and a first ever announcement in Tommo So, the local language , on a radio station. In Ecuador, the main concerns were keeping students in schools that had gone to remote classes when families had no internet connection or the whole family was using one small cell phone. There was also concern for the elderly in remote mountain villages who could not get food or medical supplies. Tandana staff worked to connect families to the internet, provide a meeting place where students could get help or access to a computer, and made arrangements for transportation to supply the needs of isolated families and elderly.

They also started bringing programs highlighting the cultural aspects of each country to its U.S. volunteers and taught courses in schools by Zoom with instantaneous translation.

It was amazing how fast Tandana could pivot to meet the very different needs of each country and blunt the initial impact of COVID.

Tandana Foundation is unusual in that it takes the volunteer off the beater path, and combines community service with cultural knowledge and vacation activities. It believes that creating relationships over its 11 years of service in a small area in Ecuador and Mali is more important that working in a large number of countries. I like to say it is a mile deep and a inch wide in its service area and activities instead of a inch deep and a mile wide as most programs. This approach gives the volunteer a true sense of the country, the culture and the people you work with. You get a deeper understanding of why things are the way they are from knowledgeable staff and learn to appreciate another culture as well as your own.

The Tandana Foundation is a very well run non profit organization with programs in Highland Ecuador and the Dogon country of Mali West Africa. All volunteer work vacations are organized by Tandana's founder, Anna Taft. participants reap the benefit of her many years of working and living in these areas of the world because her friends become your friends and you are no longer a tourist in a foreign country , but a friend lending a hand to friends who what to better their communities. Besides volunteer vacations, Tandana funds scholarships for indigenous high school students and small community grants for locally generated needs. You should add your helping hand to theirs and go on a cultural safari for a very meaningful vacation.

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