Projects & Impact
IMPACT
Since 2015, Kana Samurai Foundation has made over 20 trips to visit and support the Noke Koi people. Our impact so far has included:
- Built three community centers and housing for numerous families
- Built a community kitchen with refrigeration for the village
- Dug wells and provided clean water and sanitation for people/villages
- Provided hunger relief for 163 families
- Food support for all 16 villages every 3 month
- Stocked a pond with fish
- Provided livestock, including a cow, chickens, pigs, turkey and more
- Provided medical assistance for people, brought doctors and dentists
- Given direct cash support to tribal elders and families
PROJECTS
Hunger Relief and Food Security
Hunger Relief is essential. Infrastructure helps with sanitation and protection against the elements, but people (especially children and their mothers) need a steady flow of nutrition to develop and thrive. Every time we take a trip to the jungle, we deliver hundreds of pounds of food: beans, rice, fresh fruit, legumes, and nuts, along with hundreds of pounds of meat. We also provide egg-laying chickens, live fish they can raise in their ponds, pigs, and other livestock. In 2022, we donated meat for a feast for all the surrounding villages to enjoy a meal together and share and rejoice the new path of abundance coming their way.(a whole cow), among many other things. Access to protein is very important, since they are largely unable to hunt nowadays. Permaculture and other forms of small-scale agriculture is growing in popularity, but it is also quite difficult with so many natural pests in the jungle and lack of proper knowledge and technique. The tribe’s nutrition currently depends on us, since they cannot yet acquire the necessary calories by themselves. Their population is also growing. Every year, we are blessed to see a new baby or an expecting mother in the Noke Koi community. Hunger relief and food sustainability is therefore a top priority.
Project Zuri – Supporting Sustainable Indigenous Fisheries
Our core endeavor this season is Project Zuri – stocking 11 ponds (or “zuris”) with multiple species of fish who form a symbiotic relationship that produces a sustainable system to feed the Noke Koi people, whose natural food systems have been devastated by globalization, as highways built through their ancestral homeland have scared away the animals they have relied on hunting for millennia.
We have already done one pilot project stocking a pond in the Samauma village, which was both successful and educational. Under the leadership of the tribal Chief and local elders, we are now ready to scale this project up, stocking ponds throughout the Noke Koi homeland and educating our local brothers and sisters on how to maintain and steward these regenerative food systems.
Funds raised for Project Zuri will not only provide sustainable food systems for hundreds of people; it will support our ongoing work to build and strengthen shelters for elders, women and children in the Noke Koi villages, as well as a community education center.
Your support today will feed and shelter these wonderful human beings … and support Kana Samurai Foundation in taking our work to the next level.
You can learn more about our mission and our work, including our thirteen-year track record of service, by visiting our website at www.kanasamurai.org – and we also encourage you to sign up for our email newsletter
We thank you deeply for your support today.
Housing and Infrastructure
Brief: We are currently looking at improving and maintaining the communal houses of three pajés or community spiritual leaders. As a consequence of weather changes and stronger
winds, some of their roofs were damaged and need to be replaced to keep these families warm at night.
We have already done extensive work in one of the villages and helped several others, but a lot more needs to be done in our main village of operation and extended to the other villages as well. This is not only for their wellbeing, but also to avoid creating a situation of inequality and privilege among the locals that could divide them or create resentment among the
different villages.
The Noke Koi are one people and tend to share everything. We must contribute in a way that honors and maintains this balance. Our help works best when extended to everybody in their
Nation.
The community centers we built are very sturdy and will last for generations. They were built by master builders of the area, made of great quality wood, stain-painted for durability and maintenance, and elevated above the flood plain with a sound waterproof roof. The community kitchen is not just a room; it is a gathering place equipped with a professional stove, a fridge, a large freezer, countertop, storage room, a sink with running water, cookwear, and plates, silverware, glasses for shared community meals.
Education and Cultural Preservation
The Noke need help in preserving their culture and passing it on to future generations. An effort must be made to protect their cultural heritage, natural medicines, language and songs, traditional agriculture and survival skills, and general wisdom – and also to help them regain some of the knowledge they have lost in recent decades as they’ve gained access to the outside world and faced threats to assimilate to this new modern society at their doorstep. We must support them in adapting to these modern challenges skillfully, while avoiding the dangers of alcohol, drugs and violence so prevalent outside their peaceful villages.
We are building an education center for this very purpose, which will offer courses on topics including nutrition, infant mortality prevention, prenatal care advice for pregnant mothers, general education and more. Candy and refined sugars have left their children exposed to early cavities and malnutrition; some children have also been exposed to the internet (including some of its more dangerous aspects). Contact with the outside world is becoming a part of their daily lives, and they benefit strongly from our guidance in this process. It is paramount that they know how to navigate these two clashing cosmovisions and make choices in their best interests.
Temple & Educational Center: The educational center will have a classroom equipped with a desk, a blackboard, a computer, a webcam, speakers, a small library, chairs, notebooks, pencils, and other school supplies.
Internet , guitars, social media, instagram
Transportation
The Noke Koi community urgently requires improved transportation to address a range of crucial needs. Access to reliable transportation is paramount for many reasons, including providing reliable access to food to sustain the village and ensuring that residents can easily reach educational centers. Equally vital is the accessibility to medical facilities, as the nearest clinic is situated at a considerable distance, making time a critical factor in medical emergencies. Providing transportation options for the elderly, who face mobility restrictions, is essential for their well-being. Additionally, the challenging terrain further complicates transportation, making it vital to find suitable solutions for all aspects of daily life. Addressing these transportation challenges is crucial to enhance the community’s overall quality of life and foster a thriving and connected environment.
We have already provided 4 boats to the most remote villages. In the coming year, we will aim to provide the tribe with additional motorboats and a truck.
A Bridge Between Worlds
While our work primarily benefits indigenous people of the Amazon, our impact stretches
far beyond the jungle. The Noke Koi people are protectors of ancient wisdom that truly has the power to change the consciousness of humanity and protect our planet. Part of our work at Kana Samurai Foundation is to facilitate this cultural exchange and share this wisdom with whomever is ready to heal their lives.
Our team is trusted with safeguarding their wisdom and healing practices with the utmost authenticity , integrity and respect. If you would like to know more contact:
GUARDIANS OF JOY
We host retreats where people can have the opportunity to reclaim their own health and joy.
To Learn More fill out this form:
Join our list?
By bringing delegations of caring and compassionate citizens to engage in direct
service on the ground and build relationships with the tribes, we are facilitating the
transfer of knowledge and spirit.
ur members then return to their homes (in the United
States, Chile, Argentina, and elsewhere) instilled with the wisdom of the jungle and its
people – and able to rippled out that wisdom into our families and communities.
Kana Samurai Foundation also engages in education and storytelling here at home, so that
the essence of Noke Koi and other indigenous wisdom traditions are accessible to the wider
community.
With this awareness, we are able to approach and befriend our indigenous counterparts in
the jungle as equals, who each have something valuable to offer one another.