My name is Noga Weinstein, and I have studied and worked at the Central
American Institute of Prehistoric and Traditional Cultures at Belize for
over a year. The Institute is a non-profit research and educational
institution, established in 1991 and granted full recognition by the
Minister of Education, Government of Belize (Education Act of 1991, Section
38). The Institute's mission is to preserve indigenous cultures through the
preservation of traditional knowledge. My time at the Institute has given
me the opportunity to become involved first-hand with the important research
that the Institute has been conducting in anthropology, ethnobotany, and
traditional healing techniques. (For more information about the Institute,
please, take a look at our website: http://world.std.com/~chacmol/ .)
The Institute has the largest research and educational library in Belize,
consisting of rare and out-of-print books, field notes, medicinal plant
specimens, artifacts, slides and photographs of indigenous groups that have
already disappeared -- an invaluable and irreplaceable resource. The recent
series of rain storms and hurricanes have damaged the facility that houses
the library and archives, and moisture and worms have penetrated the
building. The collection is facing imminent destruction, and we are
urgently trying to raise the funds to rescue it.
If you would like to help with this emergency situation, please read the
letter from the Director of the Institute below, where you will find more
information about the library rescue operation. If you have any further
questions, e-mail me at arctos@worldnet.att.net, or call (818) 344-8516.
I would be glad to send you more information about the Institute and the
library emergency situation, and answer any questions you may have.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Sincerely,
Noga Weinstein
Dear Colleague,
The Central American Institute of Prehistoric and Traditional Cultures at
Belize urgently needs your assistance. The Institute has the largest
research and educational library in Belize, consisting of irreplaceable
books, photographs, artifacts, field notes, and other archival materials.
The recent rain storms and hurricanes have damaged the library and archival
storage. Algae, microflora, worms, and the dense tropical moisture have
penetrated our building and are rapidly destroying the collection. This is
a loss that the people of Belize cannot afford. Several of our staff
members have returned to the United States to appeal for help in rescuing
this irreplaceable resource. We have initiated a Library Rescue Operation
to raise emergency funds, and urgently need your support.
The Central American Institute was established under a registry charter in
1991, and was granted full recognition by the Ministry of Education of the
Government of Belize, in accordance with the Education Act of 1991, Section
38. The Institute is a non-profit research and educational institution,
established for the purposes of promoting the preservation of ancient and
traditional worldviews and materials, and to act as a center for the
dissemination of knowledge and interest in the study of such cultures. The
Institute aims at preserving indigenous cultures through the preservation of
traditional knowledge. Now this traditional knowledge is about to be
destroyed.
The Institute's library and archives contain documentation of indigenous
groups that have already disappeared. If these field notes, slides,
photographs, and artifacts are destroyed, there will be no way to replace
them. The collection also consists of plant specimens and ethnobotanical
fieldwork, documenting and exploring the medicinal value of rain forest
flora. The destruction of this collection would be a great loss to all who
value our planet's biodiversity and seek new medical solutions to today's
health problems. Further, the Institute's collection consists of rare and
out-of-print books, providing an extremely valuable resource to ethnologists,
botanists, scientists, and students alike. The Institute's collection
contains priceless research and documentation about the Maya, Creole, and
Garifuna populations of Belize and the neighboring regions. The collection,
however, is not limited to Central America, but contains information from
around the world: from South America, to the Middle East, to Siberia. Once
this material is lost, this cultural and educational resource will be gone
forever.
The rescue will be carried out in three phases, as follows:
Phase I: Salvage: Remove and Store. The collection needs to be dried,
repacked, and shipped to a safe, temporary storage facility until we can
rehabilitate a facility for the collection. This will require movers,
customs fees, transport fees, and storage fees, totaling $60,000.
Phase II: Restoration and Conservation.
Professional restoration and preservation of the collection: books, field
notes, plant specimens, photographs, slides, audio and video recordings,
computer disk repairs. Total: $25,000 (contingent on rescue time).
Phase III: Provide a safe facility for the collection.
Construct safe housing for the library and archives, so that it can be
brought back into circulation. Total: $55,000.
Emergency Fund Goal: US $140,000.
Time is of the essence. We need $60,000 now to halt the destruction,
$25,000 to restore the collection, and $55,000 to bring it out of storage
and back into circulation. We are appealing to foundations, corporations,
research societies, institutes, individuals, and television and radio
announcements to raise these funds. We need your help to disseminate this
appeal to other parties within your own, as well as other related
organizations and memberships, in the hopes of consolidating our efforts to
rescue the Institute's research and cultural resources.
We can provide documentation of our non-profit and educational status, and a
detailed break-down of the allocation of funds. Further information about
the Institute can be obtained on our Website at http://world.std.com/~chacmol/
The Institute is also listed in Issue 4 of the People and Plants Handbook,
published by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), UNESCO, and Royal Botanic
Gardens-Kew.
In these times of modernization, Westernization, and technology, traditional
life is being displaced and destroyed irrevocably. It is imperative that we
preserve cultural and natural resources, traditional epistemologies, and
biodiversity. We appeal to you to support the Central American Institute in
its drive to preserve these resources for the benefit of the developing
country of Belize, as well as the global community.
We all thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Naxon
Director
-- Emergency Fund Central American Institute at Belize 8033 Sunset Blvd. Suite 2040 Los Angeles, CA 90046 818-344-8516 (Emergency Fund line)arctos@worldnet.att.net http://world.std.com/~chacmol/
Checks can be made payable to: Central American Institute. Your contribution will be formally recognized by the Institute, as well as on our homepage.