Post #15: Indigenous rights

Alright, so the two websites I chose from the list of indigenous rights organizations and projects were http://www.akha.org/ and http://www.iwant2gohome.org/.

Beginning with the first site, the organization is not run by indigenous peoples but is said to be a foundation that is "non religiously or politically affiliated, and is non-profit." The indigenous people are simply aided by the foundation, which builds wells and provides them with thousands of dollars worth of first aid medication. From what I read it appears this organization is strongly agains assimilation and or acculturation.The organization follows and states the following:

We work to protect Akha heritage, language, literature, culture and history. We work to protect the Akha right to choose. Their future should not be determined by people selling them out, exploiting them or taking away their children. This includes exploitation such as can be found in certain "eco-tourism" projects.

They represent the culture as valuable and strong, and although the Akha people are not directly involved in raising money, they do post articles written by the Akha people about their lives and their culture on the website. One article was about the healers and their culture, and how there is such thing as spirit women. Overall the website seems to strongly appreciate the culture of the Akha people.

The second website shows that the organization "First people of the Kalahari" is run by the indigenous people, the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana and is meant to find help in order for them to return home. The government forced the people of the Kalahari off their land and moved them into resettlement camps. As well it explains how they are no longer allowed to hunt and gather, and that if they are caught doing so they are tortured. The organization explains that they have a right to go back home and that in December 2006 the judges in Botswana courts ruled that their forced relocation is unlawful, and that they are now allowed to go home. The problem now is, they were not given any help on transportation back home, and so many of them have been unable to do so.

Their main mission is to raise money for transportation back home, as well as for regular supply of water for he game reserve because people are dying without water where they have been relocated.

The site represents the culture through accounts by the people of the Kalahari, where they mention that they live by hunting and gathering and how they believe they are made from the land they were taken from and made to survive on that land. However, overall the website does not give direct accounts of their culture, but instead direct accounts of how they were taken off the land, and how they feel about it.

Lastly, the picture is a collection of pictures of the indigenous people of the Kalahari found on the website.