A fun evening of hot Cuban rhythm and dance with the Jose Sanchez Cuban Party — plus enticing traditional Mexican food and a silent auction of about 50 items generously donated by local businesses and individuals — aims to make a unique community-to-community exchange a reality on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Fulford Hall.

Press material explains that Terralingua, an international non-profit group based on Salt Spring, has been working worldwide for nearly 15 years to help preserve and protect the diversity of life in both nature and culture. Since 2000, the organization has developed a partnership with the Rarámuri people, an indigenous community in northern Mexico. The Rarámuri have lived for many centuries in their ancestral lands in the Sierra Tarahumara of the State of Chihuahua. Their livelihoods and their way of life are now threatened by logging, mining, ranching and other development activities that have caused serious environmental degradation in the region and social disruption in their communities. Soil depletion and loss of water resources are putting their food sources at risk, and younger people are leaving their communities in search of other ways to sustain their families. To make things worse, climate change is hitting their region hard. The elders are worried that all these changes will lead to the loss of Rarámuri culture, language and identity.

A Terralingua team has been working with the Rarámuri to support their efforts to recover the health of their landscape and the well-being of their people. At the Rarámuri’s request, the initial focus of Terralingua’s work was on bringing drinking water to their homes, creating tree nurseries and home gardens, and assessing their health and nutritional status. Now the Rarámuri have expressed a desire for assistance with realizing their dream of an alternative education curriculum centered on Rarámuri language and culture. They also wish to continue to build capacity to restore a thriving agriculture and a healthy landscape in their communities. A group of Rarámuri is eager to visit our island in the spring of 2010, to work with the Terralingua team on the educational curriculum and to learn more about ecosystem health, permaculture, ecoforestry and other sustainable practices. This visit will also offer a unique opportunity for an intercultural exchange and mutual learning experience with the Salt Spring community.

Terralingua has been fundraising since November 2008 to make this visit possible. Thanks to the generosity of Salt Spring Islanders and of Terralingua members, the fundraising effort is about two thirds complete. Terralingua is deeply thankful to all those who have contributed so far, and particularly to the Ometepe-Gulf Islands Friendship Association group for its exceptionally generous donation. OGIFA members as well as a number of GISS students have also offered to be on hand to help with the upcoming fundraiser, which is expected to bring this fundraising effort to a close.

The Nov. 7 event starts at 8 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and people can come in early for a free salsa class.

The silent auction will feature items offered by Antonio Alonso, Salt Spring Soapworks, Blossom Botanicals, Alvaro Sanchez, Coco Loco, Andrea Sanchez Aguila, David Rapport and Luisa Maffi, Rainbow Trading, Nature in Form by Daniel Flores, Dawne Fennell and Don Monteith, Salt Spring Adventure Co., Foxglove, Country Grocer and Fables Cottage, among others. The auction will also include a small selection of Rarámuri handcrafts.

Tickets, $20, are for sale at Acoustic Planet Music and Salt Spring Books. They will also be available at the door.

For more information, interested people can call 250-538-0939, or e-mail taguila@terralingua.org. People can also donate on Terralingua’s website (www.terralingua.org), where they can find additional information about Terralingua and its work with the Rarámuri.