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Pictures from
the Odyssey

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Schedule of the Pajaro Jai

Spreading the message

On June 6, 2006 the Pajaro Jai passed though the Panama Canal, said goodbye to the Panamanian people and began its World Odyssey.  Brushing two hurricanes, a tropical storm, and two tornadoes, the vessel traveled over 5,000 miles visiting indigenous tribes along the coast of the United States and hosting events for foundations, powerbrokers, industrial leaders, and diplomats.   Always open to the common man, this Enchanted Bird has inspired thousands though the purity and power of its message, the courage of the Embera, and by the beauty of the Pajaro Jai itself.  Press coverage helped spread the message -  in Connecticut, after two back to back front page articles,  four thousand people came to see this gift of Panama to the world - one woman arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm with a pot-roast dinner for the crew.

Next will be a tour of the Caribbean Basin countries of Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Columbia, and others followed by a return to Panama where she will tour the coasts sharing inspiration and beauty with the Panamanian people.

In April of 2007 she will leave Panama once again to begin her European Tour.  Stopping briefly in Washington, New York and Boston before heading across the Atlantic and passing through the Baltic she will arrive in early July in St. Petersburg, Russia where she will host the indigenous people of Siberia.  

Turning back through the Baltic she will participate in the second largest regatta in the world before visiting the Scandinavian countries, Germany, then to Great Britain, Holland, France, Portugal and Spain before entering the Mediterranean where she will visit Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Northern Africa.

Spreading the message

Jim Brunton of The Pajaro Jai Foundation recently was a guest lecturer to 1,000 students at the University of Colorado School of Business. The students ranged from freshmen to graduate students. The lecture was a huge success. We received over 100 letters from the students that wanted to volunteer to work in the Darien, help with projects, and even change their majors.

See The Pajaro Jai Foundation exhibit at the University of Maine's Hudson Museum

The Pajaro Jai Foundation is working with the University of Maine's Hudson Museum on a five year exhibit of Chocoe Indian artifacts. The Hudson Museum is located in the Maine Center for the Arts, Orono, and features American Indian exhibits.

The exhibit highlights Chocoe culture through the display of objects from the village of Mogue in the Darien Jungle of Panama. On display will be items that feature prominently in the Chocoe’s everyday life: a 20 foot dugout, bows and arrows, a blowgun and darts, Cocobolo carvings and baskets from the PJF’s private collection. Also on display are benches made by the Chocoe in the furniture factory in the Darien. The display will be illustrated by color photographs of the village with accompanying text.

The museum’s director, Stephen Whittington, teaches a class on museum exhibits, During the fall semester, PJF representative Shippen Swift addressed the class, describing civilization’s impact on the Chocoe and PJF efforts to help them enter the current century while retaining their identity.

Shippen’s wife Lee worked with the museum gift shop to stock work by Chocoe artisans including Cocobolo carvings, woven chunga palm baskets, and tagua figurines. All profits from these sales go to the Chocoe.

Since museum director Whittington is also vice-president of the Maine Association of Museums, the PJF hopes the Hudson Museum's exhibit will attract the attention of other institutions. His enthusiasm is sure to be a great help to us in presenting the Chocoe story and inspiring all who share our aim of "Conservation Through Innovation."

Bringing the Rain Forest to Coastal Maine

Beginning in January school children in one coastal Maine community will begin to interact through the world wide web with children in a remote rain forest community in Panama.

Gouldsboro Elementary School in coastal Maine and the Pajaro Jai Foundation (PJF) will collaborate on the project which will facilitate the interaction between the students in Maine and children in the Chocoe Indian village of Mogue in Panama's Darien Jungle.

Curricula will be structured around learning about unique differences and similarities between cultures, introducing concepts such as race, conservation, geography and nature. Initially both groups will exchange e-mail messages including questions, replies and photographs. Later stages will include real-time interactive video conferencing.

This will be an on going project building relationships between the two groups. The children will also follow the activities and projects of the PJF year after year; they will be able to track progress and follow the events of the PJF's flagship, Pajaro Jai, as it travels the world.

This opportunity to share and to experience a distant and different culture has great potential to be rewarding in many ways, enriching these young lives profoundly.