Objective: Create an experimental learning centre for health, environment and sustainable development

The Warao Delta, one of Venezuela's most remote regions, is an extension of the Amazon jungle and contains an astonishing biological diversity. The Warao people ("the boat people") have a lifelong and intimate connection to the water: most of the approximately 20,000 Warao inhabit Venezuela's Orinoco Delta region, and speak an agglutinative language, also called Warao. But the Warao have little access to drinking water and sanitation, suffer from high infant mortality rates and have few educational opportunities.

The Foundation and the Biomedicine Institute of Venezuela have partnered to set up an experimental learning centre which will:

• train teachers on the environment
• teach children about coastal systems
• include a rainwater collection system
• include bio-digester to treat grey water
• develop to filter river water and purify water using the UV rays generated by solar radiation

The Biomedicine Institute of Venezuela is one of the countrys premier biomedical research centres. For over 25 years it has been at the forefront of research in leprosy, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, diarrhea in infants, Mycoses, and other conditions.

Visit the Biomedicine Institute of Venezuela website