Heritage Aid Foundation

Why Donate?

Although the reasons for supporting the work and investigations of Heritage Aid are clearly discussed in the section on the objectives of the foundation, there remains also specific socio-economic reasons particular to Bolivia, which our work will help to address on a long term basis.

The provision of aid in terms of food handouts, medical help and agricultural projects are of great use to Bolivia in the short term crisis of its under-developed economy and lack of infrastructure. However, in truth, and quickly admitted by Bolivians themselves, although they are poor in a Western context, there is nobody starving to death. The basic survival needs of the general population are met by their own self-sufficient economy.

However, every society has further needs, especially intellectual, to carry them through to a future in which they are not only fully materially self sustainable, but one in which they are creating and thriving from their own particular form of society and organization. That is, that their country provides a realizable and sustainable future with recognizable goals, that allow the future generations to take not only pride in the country and their forebears, but also one that will give them a secure future, with an ability to intelligently criticize the path, both economically, socially and politically, that their county is following.

Bolivia suffers from a self inflicted poverty that is not easily solved with quick fix short term solutions. During the 1980´s under the dictatorships, most of the intelligentsia class, especially those who were most vocally critical were executed, or fled the country in exile. This has left a vast intellectual hole in Bolivian society and cramped its ability for balanced and reasoned criticism in today’s political and social realm. It has also left the youth with few intellectual heroes to look up to and whose example to copy or be influenced by.

The rebuilding of an intelligentsia from the new generations is one of the long term tasks of the Foundation, and a task that in the long run will help to give Bolivia wider options in self determinism and self criticism, and to regain some of its intellectual maturity that was damaged by the destruction of many of its leading thinkers under the dictatorships. This is not something that is easily handed out but must be worked and strived for by the Bolivians themselves, and that may take generations to come to fruition. However for the sake of the up coming generations the chance for the intellectual development of today’s students and young professionals is of utmost importance, that they also will take and feel their role in the national and international intellectual and academic arena.

This can be greatly helped by the Foundations work in bringing together students and professionals from Bolivia and other countries, by making connections between them, and giving them a chance to work and study side by side, including the opportunity for student and professional positions of exchange. These projects will also increase Bolivian pride and international awareness in what Bolivia has to offer not only physically in archaeology, anthropology and history, but also intellectually. This will help to create a stable professional future for the Bolivian students who elect to take the harder course in Bolivian society, which is too study the human sciences, a very neglected area yet one which is of fundamental importance for Bolivian understanding of Bolivian society as a whole. Particularly in a country of such diverse geography, cultures, histories and economies, with political ideas reaching far back into their pre-historical past.

The Foundation also works hard to include the relevant campesino communities into its projects and seeks to give them and understanding and education sufficient to be able to manage their own archaeological and cultural/heritage sites, giving them a chance for self-determination of their regions future in terms of heritage protection and tourism. Willing community member who wish to take their study further and to work professionally within a heritage career are not only encouraged to do so but given as much help as the foundation is able to afford. We believe in the path of long term self-management of heritage sites by local communities and that the traditional owners should directly benefit from both tourism and scientific investigations. In the short term from the opportunity for work with archaeologists, anthropologists and historians and the longer term from, study, professions and tourism.