Emberá Community — Marsella, Risaralda
This project was born from a relationship of trust. César Núñez, a member of Fundación Malula's board of directors and rector of Hillside School, has spent over a year and a half supporting an Emberá Indigenous community resettled in Marsella, Risaralda, a territory entirely foreign to them. Every member of this community is a survivor of forced displacement, uprooted from their ancestral land and relocated to a mountainous region where the altitude, the soil, and the landscape are unfamiliar, where they cannot grow the crops they have traditionally farmed, and where they find themselves surrounded by cultures different from their own. This presents a daily pressure that threatens the survival of their language, identity, and history.
How we got here
In October 2025, we made our first visit to the community alongside our team of international volunteers. The conversations that emerged, shaped in part by the volunteers' questions, helped us understand specific and pressing needs, particularly among women: a near-total absence of healthcare access, services, and materials. In response, Hillside School awarded a scholarship for one community member to study nursing, creating a first point of internal knowledge to reduce harm and provide basic assistance. Especially for injuries from falls, infections, miscarriages, and pregnancies arising from the lack of specialised care and essential services.
What we are building together
In June 2026, we will begin a series of first aid training sessions for the women of the community, equipping them with practical knowledge while also strengthening their voice and relevance within a community structure where decisions are predominantly made by men. Each participant will receive a first aid kit for emergencies. Additional training sessions on sexual and reproductive health, reproductive rights, and substance use prevention will be delivered to the broader community between July and September.
Alongside this, we will begin documenting the community's own Emberá language and cultural heritage; compiling a glossary of the language, alongside records of traditions, traditional recipes, and ancestral medicine. This groundwork will feed into a larger effort between September and December, in partnership with Hillside School, to support the community in designing their ethno-education plan, a formal framework that meets the requirements of Colombia's Ministry of Education while protecting and transmitting their culture, language, and history to future generations.
Economic Autonomy & Cultural Preservation
We support the economic independence of women in the community through initiatives rooted in their own knowledge and territory. This includes backing a speciality coffee cultivation and production project developed in partnership with Cafeína Ética, and other productive projects shaped by the community's vision for their resguardo. We also facilitate the creation of Emberá dictionaries and glossaries, support a community school grounded in their own forms of education, and contribute peace-building activities, including games designed to nurture harmony and cohesion within the community.
Essential Support
We provide feminine hygiene products and contribute construction materials for a care centre serving children between 0 and 3 years old, a space that will allow mothers to participate more fully in training, work, and community life.
Malula are keen to expand their projects, supporting the community to build a self sufficient future for themselves and future generations. To enable these projects to progress, partner with us by harnessing your skills and strengths to provide a sustainable future for this community. We welcome contact to build possible partnerships.
