Your support continues to create lasting impact in the Sierra Tarahumara.
Through our partnership with True Messages, our 1% for Tarahumara initiative has helped support projects that preserve the Rarámuri language, culture, and running traditions for future generations.
One exciting milestone this year is the launch of the first Ralamuli Translation App. Developed alongside Rarámuri community leaders, teachers, and the Busuréliame cultural education program, the app is designed to help young people strengthen their connection to their native language and the wisdom of their ancestors.
As True Messages shared with us:
"The sad reality is Rarámuri traditions and wisdoms from the ancestors have been slowly slipping away. We believe this application can help change that path and have a profound influence on the youth and the generations to come."
The app is just one piece of the larger Busuréliame ("Inner Awakening") initiative, a cultural education program that teaches children through their own language, traditions, ceremonies, music, storytelling, and relationship with nature. The goal is to help Rarámuri youth remain deeply rooted in their culture while equipping them to thrive in the modern world.
Busuréliame was created in response to a growing challenge facing many Rarámuri communities. As children spend more time in conventional schools, opportunities to learn from parents, grandparents, and elders– the traditional way their culture has been passed down for generations– have become increasingly limited. Through Busuréliame, children learn to read and write in Ralamuli, participate in traditional ceremonies and dances, explore medicinal plants and local ecology, practice ancestral sports like Rarajipari and Ariweta, and hear stories and teachings directly from community elders. The program has already shown encouraging results, with participating students becoming more engaged in school while growing stronger connections to their language, identity, and cultural heritage.
Alongside these educational efforts, True Messages continues to celebrate the Rarámuri's incredible running heritage.
Recently, two Rarámuri women were invited to pace ultrarunner Yatika Starr Fields during the legendary Hardrock 100. Opportunities like these not only recognize the talent and resilience of Rarámuri athletes, but also give young people in their communities role models who embody the strength and spirit of their culture.
Every pair of Earth Runners helps make projects like these possible.
We're deeply grateful to everyone who has supported our 1% for Tarahumara initiative. Together, we're helping preserve a language, strengthen cultural traditions, and support a community whose relationship with movement and the natural world continues to inspire us.
As our friends at True Messages wrote to our team:
"Kuira Bá Equipo Earth Runners... Thank you for your continued support and Korima for the people and lands of the Sierra Tarahumara. It is impactful. Importantly, that impact is lasting."
Thank you for being part of that lasting impact!
