Indigenous projects

	Bahu Thika Thila, a 55 year old Indigenous Katakari, discusses malnutrition and helplessness

Central to Onaway's work is its support for indigenous peoples. Click here to find out more about who they are. Onaway supports a wide range of indigenous projects and groups including:

• Druk White Lotus School, India
• Forest Peoples Project
• INDEX and the Azolla Cultivation Project
• International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs
• Jake Thomas Learning Centre
• Joseph Educational Trust
• Native American Rights Fund
• Plenty International, Huichol Soy Project
• Pygmies of the Democratic Republic of Congo, supported through the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Eco-Action
• Rainy Mountain Society for Indigenous Peoples
• Slim Buttes Inipi SweatLodge Ceremony
• The Taino people of Cuba

Recently, Onaway has partnered up with the Rainforest Information Centre to provide a much needed seed grant to support the plight of the Katkaris people of India. See the Katkari website for further information.

Since Onaway's inception its support to indigenous people, particularly Native Americans has been at the centre of its work. Reports from early explorers described the American Indians as being dignified, courteous, handsome, highly intelligent and free from disease. Today, after being 'civilised' for more than four hundred years, they suffer from some of the highest known rates of infant mortality, premature death, alcoholism, diabetes and suicide. Yet, before the advent of Europeans, the Indians knew the secret of living in harmony with the natural world and spoke with courtesy and respect for all living things. They never sought to impose their will upon the environment, instead they lived in harmony with their surroundings and walked gently on their 'Mother Earth'.

The Onaway Trust exists to aid Native Americans in their struggle for both physical and spiritual survival in their own lands. Given the serious questioning today of the ethics of western technology and science, it is important that indigenous cultures, especially those of the American Indians, should be given ongoing support.

Previous support has also been given to the Ojibwe White Earth Land Recovery Project (USA).

The Onaway Trust is a registered charity - number 268448.