Onaway envision a world where Indigenous tribes can live their traditional lifestyles, preserving their knowledge, skills, and traditions to ensure a sustainable future for their people.
Indigenous peoples are knowledgeable and responsible custodians of their environment. They understand and value their land because they are dependent upon it. This relationship isn’t just based on physical needs; there is spiritual link to their home land, a sense of interconnectivity.
We work alongside Indigenous people, providing seed grants to a variety of projects around the world. This could be working with Indigenous groups who are facing annihilation at the hands of multinational corporations or those suffering from the impacts of the changing global climate.
The Onaway Trust was established in 1974. Our aims were to relieve poverty and suffering. Over four decades, we have supported an extensive number of projects around the world. Many of these have grown to become successful, sustainable organisations in their own right.
PERHAPS OTHER INSTITUTIONS HAVE HAD MORE MONEY TO GIVE BUT ONAWAY HAS BEEN UNCANNILY PRESCIENT IN ITS CHOICES OF PEOPLE AND PROJECTS TO SUPPORT. THIS HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!
JOSÉ BARREIRO, DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF LATIN AMERICAAt the heart of our organisation is our support for Indigenous cultures, particularly Native Americans. Onaway’s founder, John Morris visited the Americas in the early 1970s, inspired by their sacred, innate wisdom and respect for all living things. It was on these journeys visiting many tribes that he realised that the spirit of their tribes had been almost destroyed entirely after years of oppression and genocide.
We are proud to work with groups and organisations that help Indigenous peoples to achieve self sufficiency, providing seed grants and support to help them arrive at their aims.