DISCOVER THE NEXT STAGE ON EXPEDITION LIFE
As the result of governmental bans, more than half the
originally 500 languages spoken by Native Americans have now died out. The
remainder is likely to experience the same fate over the coming years. One of
them is Lakota, the language of the Sioux. As the founder of the Lakota Language
Consortium, Leonard Little Finger worked on the development of the first Lakota
textbooks. Now children are to learn the language so they can pass their
knowledge on to their children. Time is of the essence, because there are only a
few fluent speakers of Lakotan left. The next step in the plan is to open a
language school on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The funding for the first
buildings is already available; now all that remains is to secure the costs for
developing the site, training staff and financing the first school year. Tatonka
and the charity Tatanka Oyate support this project. One of our newest supporters
is Romanian-born singer Peter Maffay. Germany’s most successful rock musician has dedicated one of the songs on his latest project – “Begegnungen – Eine Allianz für Kinder” [“Encounters – an Alliance for Children”] – to the Lakota. The second textbook was financed last year, and six more are to follow. We would be delighted if you too were able to make a small contribution towards saving the cultural assets of the Lakota.
Tatanka Oyate e.V.
Dr. Dirk Rohrbach and photographer Peter Hinz Rosin set up the charity “Tatanka Oyate for the support of indigenous people” in July 2003 to help provide a better life for Native Americans such as the Sioux. It provides financial and other practical forms of support for the reservations. If you would like to find out more about the work of Tatanka Oyate e.V., please go to www.weltgeschichten.com. If you would like to help, please make a donation to
Tatanka Oyate – Verein zur Unterstützung indigener Völker e.V.,
account no. 66460, sort code 532 612 02, Bankverein Bebra
