Alan Ereira’s retirement

Dear friends,

It saddens us to announce the retirement of Alan Ereira, the Tairona Heritage Trust’s founder, after many years of energetic and determined work. Without doubt, it was his vision, insight, dynamism and creativity that kept the Trust animated for all these years.

Alan’s work continues to resonate far and wide. His beautifully profound and award-winning film and book ‘Message from the Heart of the World’ (Ereira 1990, 1992) caused a global stir and mobilised environmental awareness in many of us. Aluna, released in 2012, deepened that understanding by showing the depth of Kogi environmental knowledge and abilities. Together, they have reached out and touched millions of people around the world. Both are openly available online via the Trust’s website and YouTube.

The core mission of the Trust is to amplify the voice of the Kogi people, including learning from and protecting their culture and territory, publicising their knowledge and implementing initiatives that educate and protect the planet for future generations. As planetary damage accelerates, this work holds even greater significance. Following Alan’s leadership, we must all find ways to stop the march towards destruction. We hope you - like Alan - will continue to assist with this mission.

We feel confident that everyone will join us now in taking the opportunity to send Alan warm and heartfelt thanks for the extraordinary legacy he has created and to wish him a truly relaxing retirement with his family, knowing that he has done more than most to save our planet.

Warmly,

Tairona Heritage Trust