The ROOTS Fellowship Foundation has announced funding for four new projects designed to safeguard Indigenous spiritual traditions in Colombia, Kenya, and Gabon. Fiscally sponsored by Modern Spirit, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, ROOTS supports education initiatives and community-led healing programs that aim to keep ancestral knowledge rooted in local governance and cultural integrity.
The foundation's work addresses a critical global reality: approximately 1,500 Indigenous languages and their associated knowledge systems are at risk of disappearing. The communities that speak these languages collectively steward 40% of the world's remaining intact forests, yet their knowledge keepers face significant threats to their physical and cultural survival. ROOTS was established by co-founders Salome Augustine Bissa Kopasz, Krisztian Kopasz, and Marvin Vivas Rodriguez based on personal experiences witnessing the erosion of vital healing traditions in Cameroon, Hungary, and Colombia.
"In Africa, when an elder passes away, a library burns," said Salome Kopasz, Co-Founder and Executive Director. "My grandmother was the medicine woman and leader of her village. When she died, there was no one to carry her role forward. ROOTS exists to change that story." The foundation operates by empowering elders, spiritual leaders, and their chosen successors with resources, working from within each community rather than introducing outside frameworks. Each supported project identifies a lineage holder and their apprentice, covering basic living and educational costs to allow full immersion in spiritual training—a years-long commitment incompatible with conventional employment.
The four active projects represent a strategic investment in preserving specific lineages. In Colombia's Putumayo region, the Inga Community project holds monthly traditional wisdom workshops for 40–50 students in midwifery, traditional arts, and medicinal preparation alongside communal Yagé ceremonies. Also in Colombia, the initiative supporting the Arhuaco Community funds the complete training of Mamo Lorenzo Izquierdo's son as the community's future spiritual leader, a lifelong vocation.
In Kwale County, Kenya, the Duruma Community project protects the Duruma Kaya lineage and its sacred forest traditions by supporting mganga Baba Mwatela Masai and his successor daughter through her multi-year apprenticeship. In Gabon, the Y’azo Leyissa Academy, founded by Yorick Ossavou Mombo, offers 11 preparatory modules in ritual practice, plant knowledge, and Iboga medicine to 25 students per academic year. Mombo credits traditional Gabonese medicine with his own recovery from addiction.
The preservation of these Indigenous knowledge systems carries significant implications for global biodiversity, cultural diversity, and community health. As co-founder Marvin Vivas Rodriguez noted, "These traditions are not museum pieces. They are living systems of healing that entire communities depend on." The foundation's approach of funding lineage-based apprenticeships represents a sustainable model for cultural preservation that respects local governance structures. ROOTS Fellowship Foundation is currently accepting donations through its fiscal sponsor, Modern Spirit, with more information available at https://www.rootsfellowshipfoundation.org.
