For Erick Alfredo Valerio Benavides, a 43-year-old Indigenous leader of the Iskonawa People from the Peruvian Amazon, the fight to protect the rainforest began with something deeply personal — his language.
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50 Years: The Story of the Onaway Trust
As 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Onaway, we have been taking the opportunity to reflect on the origins and history of the Trust and to take a look back at the impact of Onaway’s partnerships over the decades. This is the story of how the Onaway Trust began.
John’s Journey
Onaway founder John Morris was born in Yorkshire in 1921. He was a highly gifted, compassionate and spiritual young man who from an early age was inspired by the Native American culture and ways of life described in the epic poem, ’The Song of Hiawatha’ and who loved to be surrounded by nature.
As an adult, John met Pilkington Glass heiress Barbara Pilkington through his work as a reporter, with whom he would go on to co-found the Onaway Trust and form a life-long friendship. After travelling to the Middle East, he became deeply concerned by the dispossession of the Palestinians he met there. With the backing of Barbara Pilkington and with the late King Hussein of Jordan as its patron, John went on to set up a home for disabled Arab refugee children, which served the community for over a decade.
In 1973, at the age of 53, John visited North America and was warmly welcomed by Native American communities such as the Seminoles, Mohawks and Lakota, with whom he lived and formed close bonds. He was inspired by the tribes’ innate wisdom and sacred, intuitive ways of life and found himself in communication with a new spiritual guide or imaginary friend called Golden Eagle. From this point on, John made frequent trips back and forth to the US to spend time with the Native people, his new friends.
However, it was through these numerous journeys that he learned the difficult truth that the spirit and cultures of the Native American peoples had been catastrophically suppressed, and in many cases lost entirely, due to decades of oppression, discrimination and genocide at the hands of white colonisers and their descendants. John felt a spiritual calling to help the Native peoples to preserve and celebrate their culture and it was from this awakening that the Onaway Trust was born in 1974.
“In former times an Indian, whilst still quite young, was sent out alone on a vision quest. Whatever was revealed to him in dreams and visions would, he believed, serve to shape and guide his future life. Although no longer young, John Morris’ sojourn among the Indians was also, in essence, a ‘vision quest’ and from it he derived both a new direction and a new purpose in life — to speak out for justice for the American Indian.”– Akwesasne Notes, 1982
The Evolution of Onaway
John Morris soon started the Onaway magazine, ‘onaway’ being an Ojibwe word meaning ‘awake’, which he produced from his home in Leeds. The magazine was sent out by post to subscribers and featured articles and photographs which served to educate the British public about the ways of life, world view and struggles of Native peoples. The Onaway magazine and the message it shared received a lot of interest from other Brits who were interested in the Native American way of life and concerned to learn of the despicable treatment of the people at the hands of fellow Europeans.
All profits went towards the Onaway Trust’s projects, providing seed funding to small projects led by and supporting these Indigenous communities. Copies of the Onaway magazine are available at the Onaway Trust HQ and we have plans to make these available digitally in the near future.
Onaway has always believed in giving a hand-up rather than hand-outs to communities in need, by providing initial seed funding to sustainable, community-led projects which will have a long-term positive impact on communities, rather than one-off grants which have limited benefits if gains are not reinvested back into the project.
The funding provided to projects back in those early days gave some of them the initial boost they needed to help them grow into the successful organisations they are today. For example Survival International, a hugely important international force in the fight for Indigenous rights globally, which runs many vital and game-changing campaigns which have helped to protect tribal lands and save vulnerable Indigenous tribes from being wiped out completely, has close ties with Onaway dating back to the mid 1970s.
“Onaway supported Survival way back in the 1970s, when I visited the founders somewhere in the north of England. It was a time when radical organisations received very little help. It was always encouraging to know Onaway would always be there. Thank you!”
- Stephen Corry, ex-CEO of Survival InternationalThe Onaway Trust understands that Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the natural world and that their wellbeing, cultures, rights, ways of life and languages must be protected, not only for their own sake but also for the very future of the planet we all rely on.
The organisation exists to give Native peoples the resources to fight back against the struggles which they face as a result of the oppression, genocide and discrimination dealt to them by those who believe that civilisation and progress are to be achieved through the theft and exploitation of the Earth’s natural resources and the assimilation and subjugation of those who live a more harmonious way of life.
We also aim to help educate the Western world on the benefits that living in a more traditional or environmentally conscious way and embracing Native wisdom has for both ourselves and the health of our planet, ensuring a more promising future for generations to come. It is evident that the Indigenous way of life provides us with many of the solutions we need to fix the problems caused by the Western world’s destructive and selfish behaviour to date.
Over the past 50 years, the Onaway Trust has supported many incredible and deserving projects across the world, from the Americas to Australia, Africa and Asia. In the coming weeks and months we look forward to taking a look back at some of these projects and the impact that they continue to have on Indigenous communities in the present day.
However most importantly, we wish to celebrate the incredible bonds and friendships which have been forged with Native peoples and allies around the world ever since John Morris’s first visit to America in the 1970s.
If you would like to share any memories or stories of the Onaway Trust or the impact that our partnership has had on your community, please feel free to get in touch and help us celebrate this important milestone in the collaboration and respect between our Native and non-Native communities. Thank you.
“Over the years, the work of the Onaway Trust has often meant the difference between the survival and extinction of a number of traditional organisations. […] It is true that they have provided monies for projects and crisis situations when no one else would provide money, and we are very grateful for this because several projects at Akwesasne have survived because of the generosity of this organisation, but it would be wrong to view the work of the Onaway Trust in terms of money. This is an organisation sincerely dedicated to introducing a natural world viewpoint to European people and to trying to help correct long-standing injustices.” – Akwesasne Notes, 1982
New cookstoves bring countless benefits to Indigenous communities in Ethiopia
A project funded by the Onaway Trust has delivered new fuel-efficient cookstoves to communities in rural Ethiopia. Read on to hear from Vita how this work is improving the health, quality of life and environment of local Indigenous people.
Girma Zerihun has countless tales from his 73 years of life. His stories are rich with memories of his childhood, playing hide and seek in the dense forests of the Ethiopian Gamo highlands. He recalls gathering roots and fruits from the abundant woods, experiences that have deeply shaped his connection to the land. However, as a father of seven and grandfather to five, Girma fears that his grandchildren may never experience the same joys of the forest that he did.
His fears are justified. Only 5% of Ethiopia remains forested today, a stark reminder of the rapid deforestation plaguing the country. This depletion is driven by the reliance on inefficient and energy-hungry traditional cook stoves, which have been the primary source of cooking for Ethiopian households for generations.
The traditional cooking method used all over the continent is known locally as “Sost Gulicha” in Amharic, and involves balancing pots on three large stones over a fire, consuming vast amounts of wood and contributing significantly to deforestation. It’s very inefficient as most of the heat energy is lost before it reaches the bottom of the pot.
The introduction of improved cookstoves in the Gamo highlands, a programme run by Vita with support from the Onaway Trust, has brought hope to Girma and his community. These stoves are designed to be fuel-efficient, drastically reducing the amount of wood needed and consequently taking the stress off of local forestry.
“Throughout my life, I have witnessed many wonderful things,” says Girma. “One significant gift is my appreciation for the comfort and benefits of wearing shoes, as opposed to walking barefoot as I did in my youth. However, I now see another change that holds equal importance: the value of these improved cookstoves. Its importance becomes evident when you consider the benefits it provides. It is essential for all of us, including my daughters and granddaughters, to have access to this stove. The improved cookstove will safeguard them from the smoke and hazards of traditional cookstoves when they begin their own families.”
Vita is using an inclusive and whole of community-led approach which ensures that the traditions, cultures, and heritage of Indigenous peoples are honoured and that no one is left behind.
“The stoves are transformational. I have told all my friends about them, and they have since started using the stoves. It's very unlikely that we will ever revert to the use of the Sost Gulicha ever again.”
- Shankate Serbe, beneficiaryThe additional impacts on women’s health and wellbeing can’t be overestimated. Open flames from the old stoves cause many illnesses including heart, lung and eye disease as well as burns injuries and miscarriage. The reduced wood needed means that women and girls spend significantly less time gathering that wood and that liberates their time back to them for other more productive activities like income generation for the women or school for the girls. Watch this video to see the impact that the new stoves are having on the lives of women.
The programme is also very focused on conservation. Every household adopting a stove receives twenty fruit and nut saplings to plant in local community-managed plantations, and this encourages honey bees for additional income opportunities. These productive plantations disincentivise further tree felling. This initiative ensures that Girma’s grandchildren, and generations beyond, have an opportunity to derive joy from the forests, just as he did.
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Tree resin project helps Indigenous Matsés community to protect the Amazon
A project funded by the Onaway Trust is helping the Indigenous Matsés people to protect the Amazon rainforest by providing them with sustainable income opportunities which prevent the need for deforestation.
The Matsés, or Mayoruna, are an Indigenous people who live along the Javari (Yavarí) river and its tributaries between Brazil and Peru. They live in remote villages deep in the Amazon rainforest which are difficult to access, making trade with the outside world practically and economically challenging.
Although most of the Matsés needs are met by their traditional practices, such as hunting, gathering, fishing, and horticulture, nowadays they rely on a small amount of money to pay for basic household items, medical care, fuel for outrigger canoe motors, and to exchange goods in the city.
Unfortunately, greedy timber extraction companies take advantage of this fact by bribing the Matsés to allow access to their sacred forest in order to log the remaining tree species which haven’t already been eradicated by industry. Not only is this work dangerous and laborious, but the Matsés are often underpaid for the precious timber that they sell.
Acaté Amazon Conservation’s copaiba tree resin project is helping the community to develop an alternative income source which means they will no longer have to resort to working with harmful extractive industries, which destroy their rainforest home and its ecology, in order to make an income.
The copaiba tree produces a golden resin which has many uses in medicine and the manufacture of products such as cosmetics. Acaté have worked alongside the Matsés to create their own drills in order to sustainably extract this resin in a way which doesn’t kill or infect the dense hardwood trees. The organisation has also helped to connect the community with local markets in order to sell this renewable product.
With Onaway’s funding, Acaté and the Matsés community were able to map out all of the copaiba trees in the south of their territory between the Chobayacu tributary and the Upper Yaquerana river and they have also been able to extend their work to Puerto Alegre on the Upper Yaquerana with training and the construction of additional drills.
This inspiring project not only provides the Indigenous community with a sustainable source of income which helps to prevent ecological and environmental destruction but, in preserving their ancestral home, it also protects against the loss of the Native peoples’ cultural traditions, wisdom and practices.
This is in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which seeks to empower the cultural traditions and economic self-sufficiency of Native communities while preserving the health of the natural environment and its biodiversity. In addition, the project serves to highlight the benefits of traditional Matsés medicine, something which Onaway has previous experience in having funded a project in which Acaté worked with the community to produce an encyclopaedia of traditional medicine.
Onaway is proud to have been able to provide support to these incredible projects and to help the Matsés people to achieve self-sufficiency and preserve their home and their culture in such challenging times. Read more about this partnership and the work of Acaté here.