Subject: Belize Library Rescue (fwd)

From: Victor Guest <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 17:20:15 WST

I have cross poste this as I felt some people attached to our list may not
have had access to it. Other posts seem to establish the authenticity of
the request.

Errors-To: [email-masked]
Precedence: bulk
Lines: 121

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

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 cumulative effect of
last year's rain storms damaged the library and archival storage.  Algae,
microflora, worms, and the dense tropical moisture penetrated our building,
rapidly destroying the collection.  We have managed to take part of the collection
out of the severely damaging environment.  It is presently boxed in an
air-conditioned storage facility in Miami, awaiting necessary attention.  Part of
the collection is still in Belize, waiting for additional funds needed to retreive
it.  Through volunteer efforts, everything possible was done to slow down the
damage.  Still, unless everything is removed, and professional conservation
measures taken, the damage cannot be halted.  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, located in the Cayo District, was established
under a registry charter in 1991, and 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.

The library and archives form an integral part of its mission and activities, and
we have amassed important data in the areas of consciousness studies,
shamanism, rainforest and traditional healing techniques, and alternative
medicine.  The collection contains documentation of indigenous groups that
are facing cultural assimilation.  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 materials collected through ethnobotanical
fieldwork, documenting and exploring the medicinal value of rain forest flora.
The destruction of this information would be a great loss to all who value our
planet's biodiversity, and seek new medical solutions to today's health problems.
Furthermore, the Institute's collection consists of some rare and out-of-print
books, providing an extremely valuable resource to ethnologists, botanists,
pharmacologists, historians, and others.  The collection also contains research
and documentation about the Maya, Creole, and Garifuna populations of Belize and
the neighboring regions.  The data, however, are not limited to Central America,
but contain information on cultures 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 is to 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.

We still need funds to complete Phase I before we can proceed with the Library
Rescue.  We have volunteers waiting to begin with the conservation task, but we
are short of funds to subsidize the efforts.  We also need 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 save
the Institute's research and cultural resources.

We turned to major foundations for assistance in this emergency situation.
Among others, the Coca-Cola Foundation, which has major interests in Belize and
claims to specialize in education, sent us a pamphlet, three weeks after our
emergency request, without even a letter acknowledging receipt of our appeal.
The MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, which lists Belize as a target area for its
mission, turned us down based solely on a query.  As yet, we have not received
any help from a funding organization, although we continue with our efforts.
Therefore, we decided to turn to several targeted sectors of Internet users.
Never before has the Institute asked or received any public support for its
operations.

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.

Due to the fact that we are trying to reach as wide an audience as possible, some
cross-postings are inevitable.  Please, accept our apologies.  We all thank you for
your understanding and support.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael Naxon
Professor and Director

*************************************************************
Emergency Fund
Central American Institute at Belize
8033 Sunset Blvd.
Suite 2040
Los Angeles, CA  90046
818-344-8516 (Emergency Fund line)
[email-masked]
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.
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