Project History

You can’t really know where you are going

until you know where you have been.
Maya Angelou

Amazon Pueblo’s founder first visited the indigenous village of La Libertad in December of 2009 as a tourist.  La Libertad is located in the Colombian Amazon.  The difficulty of the life in the village due to extreme poverty was directly opposed by the outward happiness of the people.

The village was founded in 1995 by five families seeking a village free from violence and oppression.  While the village has made some improvements in their standard of living, they still have frequent problems of poor employment opportunities, substandard education, poor healthcare, and substance abuse.  Amazon Pueblo strives to help the people of La Libertad, and surrounding communities, to solve their own problems by supporting the education of the youth.

Many of the timeline entries after 2010 have links to their original blog posts.  Please read these if you would like more details!

December, 2009
The first time we arrived in La Libertad
December, 2009

First Contact

Founder of Amazon Pueblo arrives in the village of La Libertad for a four-day village homestay and jungle hike.  He noted many conditions of poverty, but also the vast resources and possibilities of the area.

September, 2010
September, 2010

Class at University of Maine

Amazon Pueblo founder takes a class at the University of Maine, Augusta (Rockland Center), Human Ecology & the Future.  The final project for the class involved making a website to highlight the ecological challenges found in the village and some possible solutions.

November, 2010
November, 2010

Planning for the future

The project goes forward!  Deciding to try to implement the plan to help the village, a group of childhood friends joins the effort which will become Amazon Pueblo.  We raised money to build a guest house, buy a solar battery charger, and talked to the community of La Libertad to discuss ways to proceed.

January, 2011
January, 2011

First volunteer in new guest house

In January of 2011 the villagers completed construction of the guesthouse.  Our first volunteer, Sarah J from Portugal, arrived in the La Libertad.  She helped with some light construction and logistical support.

We also started the Amazon Pueblo blog, to which this and future timeline entries link!
March, 2011
Howard and Sarah visit La Libertad
March, 2011

Howard and Sarah visit La Libertad

Howard and Sarah visited us from the UK.  They stayed in the village for a month.  They created our first comprehensive plan for going forward.  Please visit our blog to read this incredible work!
April, 2011
April, 2011

Health report from Daniel and Diane

Daniel and Diane were from Spain and the UK.  They also stayed in the village for one month.  They worked to support the healthcare in La Libertad.  They submitted a great report detailing the health challenges faced by the villagers.
July, 2012
Amazon Pueblo nonprofit corp
July, 2012

We become a nonprofit corporation in Maine

After much thought, we decided to form a nonprofit corporation in Maine.  This would allow us access to more resources.  We formed a board of director, mission, vision, and bylaws.
June, 2013
June, 2013

First major fundraiser a success!

Primo Cubano rocked the house at Billy's Tavern, in Thomaston, ME! At times there was standing room only. We had periodic raffle drawings for prizes ranging from Colombian emeralds, exclusive Colombian coffee, handmade Amazonian jewelry, to piranha skull necklaces and Amazonian blowguns!
July, 2013
Sarah singer songwriter visits La Libertad
July, 2013

Sarah, singer/songwriter/director, visits the village

Sarah K, one of the project's directors, volunteered for two weeks in La Libertad.  She worked, sang, and taught during her stay.
November, 2013
Rockland library Amazon Pueblo
November, 2013

Community presentations about the project

Around this time we started giving community presentations in the Midcoast area.  They ranged from South Bristol to Searsmont.
December, 2013
video documentary makers La Libertad
December, 2013

Amazon Pueblo meets video documentary makers

We were happy to be put in touch with Javier and Joanna.  They are videographers from Spain.  They made some great short-documentaries about La Libertad.
August, 2014
emeralds and fossils to benefit Amazon Pueblo
August, 2014

Amazon Pueblo sells emeralds to fundraise

Colombia is known for its spectacular emeralds.  We sell these and fossils to support our programs. 
June, 2015
ENAM installs power lines in the village
June, 2015

Electricity comes to the barrio

One of the most successful infrastructure projects we have had with the project was the effort to bring electricity safely to over 100 people.
June, 2015
501c3 Amazon Pueblo
June, 2015

We become an official 501(c)(3) federally recognized nonprofit

While it was a bit of paperwork, the designation offered our donors tax-exemption for donations.
July, 2015
Fundacion Amazon Pueblo
July, 2015

Amazon Pueblo becomes an official NGO in Colombia

This is the equivalent of a US nonprofit designation in Colombia.  Unfortunatly, the burden of Colombian bureaucracy (and corruption) greatly outweighed any benefit we received from this status.  We liquidated the Colombian version of the NGO in 2018.
July, 2015
craft fair sales for fundraising
July, 2015

Craft fair sales for fundraising

We average two to three craft fairs per year.  On sale are handcrafts made by the villagers, emeralds and emerald jewelry, Colombian coffee and chocolate.
October, 2015
October, 2015

Life vests for river travel

Life vest are important to use while on the river.  We supplied adult and child vests for La Libertad.
January, 2016
taking a survey of health needs
January, 2016

Health and Needs Survey: Pictures, Patients, and Parasites

During the last week in January, 2016, we were grateful to have two volunteers work with us in the village. Fernanda was from Brazil and Rebecca was from the USA. They both helped us to collect health, occupation, and needs data.
March, 2016
community dock and stairs
March, 2016

Community dock and stairs

After two years of fundraising we organized and helped to build a community dock in La Libertad.  Through the help of volunteers (thanks Stephan!) we also built concrete stairs to help people go up the riverbank safely and to reduce erosion.
June, 2016
June, 2016

Community gardens in the village

Very few families in the village cultivate vegetables.  We built two community gardens to improve their access to the these health-improving foods.
August, 2016
August, 2016

Childrens' photography workshop

Thank you to our volunteer Julio B. for organizing photography/video workshops, art classes, and a peace workshop for the village children.
December, 2016
December, 2016

Annual Christmas dinner in the jungle

The first of our annual Christmas dinners hosted by Amazon Pueblo.  We usually have chicken and rice.
February, 2017
February, 2017

We start the Student Scholarship Program

Eight students from La Libertad are being sponsored by friends of the project. In January they did their back-to-school shopping. We prepared a trip downriver for Tuesday, the usual day that members of the community travel to the city.
March, 2017
March, 2017

The sustainability of our mission explained

Our director, Crystal, visits the village and helps to explain the sustainability component of our program.
May, 2017
our new jungle guest house and classroom
May, 2017

Spring of building

Amazon Pueblo pictures: New cargo boat, new guest house/classroom, new community gardens, and a new volunteer
November, 2017
November, 2017

Mission Change! Problems in the village following a summer of progress.

We stopped sending volunteers to La Libertad.  Narcotics traffickers were living in La Libertad.  We also had problems with alcohol abuse incidents by some villagers that negatively affected our work.  These and other issues led to the revision of our mission to focus on the education of the youth.
November, 2017
November, 2017

Amazon Pueblo joins with the NGO Funmi-roca in Leticia, Amazonas

We joined with the Colombia nonprofit Funmi-roca (Gracia Freddy!).  They have a mission which is similar to ours, supporting development through education and sustainability.  This partnership allows us to work in other areas of the Amazon, outside of the village of La Libertad.
April, 2018
shredding yuca to make farina
April, 2018

Making farina

Farina is a staple food source of the Amazon made from yuca (cassava).  We helped to build a farina processing plant. This allows the villagers to produce a higher quality (less likely to break teeth) farina in less time and under safer conditions for the makers.
April, 2018
April, 2018

Cacao for sustainable development

We helped to plant over 200 cacao seedlings in the village.  This is one of the possible sustainable businesses of the future.
June, 2018
gold seal of approval
June, 2018

Gold transparency ranking

Amazon Pueblo receives a GOLD ranking in transparency from the nonprofit watchdog Guidestar.
October, 2018
concrete walkways in the jungle
October, 2018

Concrete walkways in the village

This project is an excellent example of the villagers, with help from Amazon Pueblo, taking the initiative to find the solutions to their problems!
January, 2019
two of our students visit the science museum
January, 2019

Two students visit the science museum Maloka

Two of our best students in the scholarship program visit the largest science museum in Bogota.  It was a great experience for them to see more of the world.
July 2019
July 2019

Student Scholarship Program expands to 23 students

We supported 23 students for the 2019 school year! Our students are indigenous youth who live in La Libertad and Leticia in Colombia, Caballococha in Peru, and in Tabatinga, Brazil. We hope to raise this to at least 25 students for the next school year.
October, 2019
sports days on the Amazon River
October, 2019

Sports days on the Amazon River

The school frequently borrows our cargo boat. We maintain the boat and loan it when it is needed by the school or for some community events. During the Sports Days of this year, we also loaned the use of our motor. This allowed transportation for every student, parent, or spectator who wanted to go.
May, 2020
new boat for the community of La Libertad
May, 2020

Winter/Spring 2020: COVID-19, clones, scholarships, and boats

A blog post explaining our work directly before and during the first months of Covid.
June, 2020
June, 2020

Covid food relief during the quarantine

After three months of strict quarantine in Leticia, we returned to the village with food relief.  The income of the villagers had been devastated by the Covid restrictions, which eliminated travel and tourism.  The thing that we found most shocking upon arrival was the weight loss experienced by the villagers, especially the children.
July, 2020
July, 2020

Scholarship program trying to help with our students' dental care needs

During the past year, the need of the students in the scholarship program was so obvious that we had to do something.