Origin — SEEDS for Change

“Aspire not to have more but to be more.”

— Archbishop Oscar Romero

What is SEEDS for Change

SEEDS for Change is a global educational platform grounded in Indigenous Knowledge founded by Dr. Clelia O. Rodriguez, AfroIndigenous descendant woman from the lands of the Nawat, the Chorti-Maya and the Lenka People in what is presently El Salvador, Central America.

Reciprocity is welcome here. This is not a space of ‘take-aways’ or extractivism under the pretense of networking - we demand Respect.

This work is protected by Ancestral cosmovisions that aligns beyond binary models concerned only with exploitation.

Dr. Clelia O. Rodriguez, Founder and Director

The Journey

The core of SEEDS is rooted in hunger for social justice embodied by the teachings of Mother Earth. In 1932 in El Salvador, for example, more than 32,000 Afroindigenous peoples were murdered. My descendants. Why? Because foreigners stole the land of Indigenous peoples to cultivate coffee. Our ancestors have been keepers of seeds of patience, radical love, gratitude, resilience, and storytelling for thousands of years.

We did not choose to do this work. The work chose us because we lost everything in our childhood... Because we continue to struggle and fight against oppression. Every day. We strive to birth radical reflections to foster real change in everything we do because Dignity matters.

The Why

The intellectual, physical and emotional labor of racialized peoples is undervalued, underpaid, underfunded, and often times stolen in the name of research and academic agendas, even by folks with the best “intentions.” To combat the ongoing extraction of our bodies and minds, we are taking back projects for our own liberation. We seek to change the power dynamics by nourishing and supporting projects with real solutions, recognizing and giving acknowledgement to everyone who is a part of SEEDS. Our model is horizontal and it is based on solidarity economy.