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. This 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 what international observers have described as a grave risk of physical and cultural extermination.
The urgency of this preservation effort is personal for the foundation's co-founders. "In Africa, when an elder passes away, a library burns. 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 — not just for her community, but for every lineage at risk," said Salome Kopasz, Co-Founder and Executive Director. The foundation, whose acronym stands for Reviving Our Origins, Traditions & Spirit, was established by Salome Augustine Bissa Kopasz, Krisztian Kopasz, and Marvin Vivas Rodriguez based on their experiences in Cameroon, Hungary, and Colombia.
ROOTS addresses this cultural crisis by empowering elders, spiritual leaders, and their chosen successors with direct resources. The foundation's approach works 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 for full immersion in spiritual training—a years-long commitment that typically cannot be combined with conventional employment. "These traditions are not museum pieces. They are living systems of healing that entire communities depend on. We are here to ensure the next generation of lineage holders can actually do their work," explained co-founder Marvin Vivas Rodriguez.
The four newly funded community-led programs span two continents. In the Putumayo region of Colombia, the Inga Community project holds monthly traditional wisdom workshops for 40–50 students in midwifery, traditional arts, and medicinal preparation alongside communal Yagé ceremonies. In Sasaima, Colombia, the initiative supports internationally recognized Arhuaco spiritual leader Mamo Lorenzo Izquierdo and funds the complete training of his son as the community's future Mamo—a lifelong vocation demanding total dedication. In Kwale County, Kenya, the Duruma Community project focuses on protecting 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 Bilandzambi, 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.
The preservation of these Indigenous spiritual traditions carries significant implications for global biodiversity, cultural diversity, and community health systems. As these knowledge systems disappear, communities lose vital healing practices and sustainable environmental stewardship methods developed over millennia. The ROOTS Fellowship Foundation is currently accepting donations through its fiscal sponsor, Modern Spirit, with all contributions being tax-deductible for U.S. donors. Those interested can learn more at https://www.rootsfellowshipfoundation.org. The fiscal sponsor Modern Spirit retains a 5% administrative fee for oversight and reporting, with more information available at https://modernspirit.org.
