The Community GardenTrips & fieldwork
Where it began
The Community Garden began after a medical fundraiser for Haviv, a little girl from Urubamba in Peru’s Sacred Valley. People answered quickly, and that first act of trust became the foundation for everything that followed — the trips, the language books, the archives, and the field projects we run today. The Community Garden was founded by Dakota Wint, Pete Tran, and Ramazan Aygat.
We still work the same way: person to person, in relationship, alongside the people who know the ground. Read the founding story →
Our team
Board member · lead organizer
Filmmaker, writer, and co-founder of The Community Garden. Dakota develops the foundation’s cultural trips, language projects, and education work, and works directly with Zapotec and Mazatec collaborators in Mexico.
Board member · One Tattoo
Tattoo artist and founder of One Tattoo (“PetesOnEarth”). Leads Escuela Uno, the open-air art space for village children in Libertad, in the Peruvian Amazon.
Turkey director
Ramazan oversees every program the foundation runs in Turkey. He directs our documentation of the Neolithic Taş Tepeler sites, leads the Göbekli Tepe International Film Festival, and manages our education work in Şanlıurfa, including the SpeakingLab tuition program. Following the 2023 earthquake, he coordinated village relief on the ground.
Local partners
The Community Garden works with people we know personally in the places where our projects take place.
Our work grows out of those relationships, whether that means supporting language preservation, working with local artists and families, organizing educational projects, or building trips around people who actually live there.
We try to keep the structure simple: work locally, pay people fairly, and make sure the people closest to the culture have a real role in shaping how it is represented.
Zapotec textile artist & cultural collaborator · Teotitlán del Valle
Margarita is from Teotitlán del Valle, where her family has worked in Zapotec weaving for generations. She helps lead our work in the community, including textile projects, language learning, and cultural programs built around local knowledge rather than outside interpretation.
Mazatec cultural collaborator · Huautla de Jiménez
Jazmín is from Huautla de Jiménez in the Sierra Mazateca. She works with us on projects connected to Mazatec language, culture, and local traditions, and has been part of The Community Garden since before the organization formally existed.
Amazon partner · Shipibo
Connects Shipibo collaborators, translation work, and funding paths for our language work in the Amazon.
Close collaborators
Creator of MiniMinuteMan, Milo has worked with the foundation on three major projects.
With Dakota Wint and Shanin Blake, Milo brought attention and support to Haviv’s fundraiser, which raised $15,519 from 383 donations. The Haviv story →
Profits from Milo’s Peru tour funded the entire village school at Mount Ausangate, with uniforms, winter clothing, and a full year of supplies for every student.
Milo and Dakota Wint raised more than $57,000 through their YouTube channels for a village rebuilding after the 2023 earthquake. The relief work →
A history educator and the voice behind History With Kayleigh, Kayleigh brings the story of Göbekli Tepe and the Taş Tepeler sites to a wide audience. She also works with us on our Turkey programs, which help fund the foundation’s wider work.
Work with us