 School-aged children from the Purepecha Tribe, a community of nearly 2,000 indigenous People described as the "poorest of the poor" by the Los Angeles Times, recently were provided school supplies and dictionaries by Los Angeles advertising executive Luis Vasquez-Ajmac, who is diligently working to bring their plight to the public's attention. To assist the Purepecha, he also is donating all proceeds from the sale of his newly-published book, "Inside the Minds," which discusses new ways to message to emerging ethnic communities in the U.S.
The Purepecha people are an ancient people originally from Mexico with a language unrelated to any other, experts say. The Spaniards crushed their empire in 1530, impoverishing and enslaving them. Yet their culture was not extinguished.
In the l970s, Purepechas began migrating from Mexico to a small unincorporated community called Thermal, located approximately 25 miles southeast of Palm Springs and about 9.5 miles north of the Salton Sea. The tribe has maintained a separate identity by speaking its native Purepecha language, while integrating Spanish and English into its children's education. However, after reading the Los Angeles Times article, Vasquez-Ajmac quickly realized that the community needed help. They reside in a sprawling, forlorn trailer park for migrant laborers called Duroville, on the Torrez-Martinez Indian Reservation. The park is named after Harvey Duro, a member of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians tribe. Located near a toxic dump, many of the migrant farm workers' mobile homes are also contaminated with asbestos. And the community's water is drawn from a well that has been polluted by pesticides.
Vasquez-Ajmac founded Washington, D.C-based Maya Advertising in 1990 and recently opened an office in Los Angeles County with a specialty in creating culturally-proficient messaging to Latino audiences. Now, the advertising executive wants to provide hope and inspiration to the Purepecha Tribe about becoming self-sufficient. "America is a land of opportunity where you can begin with nothing, but with strong desire and big dreams, you can become a CEO or the next president of the United States," he said. "The purpose of distributing the school supplies and books was to give these kids the confidence to go to school like other children. And the dictionaries are to instill within them a love for words." ‹‹Back to this week's Monday Morning Report |
