“We are Indigenous, and we are still here.”
What is OYE?
Oaxaqueñx Youth Encuentro (OYE) is an annual youth gathering that brings together over one hundred young people from the Indigenous communities of Oaxaca. Through OYE, we create a space to discuss our experiences with discrimination and stereotyping, share customs and traditional practices, and foster solidarity and mentorship among peers. Through this gathering, we hope to impart resilience and encourage the ongoing preservation of traditional knowledge, languages, and culture for future generations.
It started as a dream,
then it was reality,
now it’s a tradition.
A small group of Oaxaqueñx youth from different youth groups in California started with an idea of a statewide Encuentro for Oaxaqueñx /Indigenous youth in 2012. The first OYE Conference was held on April 12, 2014, at Santa Maria, CA.
OYE 2022
It always amazing to look back when OYE was just an idea. It was hard to think it will ever be possible to create such a group. Now almost a decade later OYE has prove that anything is possible if all of us work collectively. Give our Tequio for our community just like our ancestors did in their pueblos (Hometown).
Want to become a Volunteer?!
OYE has always been a colective project by the Comité. You can become a volunteer in many ways from a Mentor to a Presenter. OYE welcomes all the assistance we can get, especially for the annual conference that takes place at the Scicon Camp.
Glossary
Tequio - It is a colective work by everyone in the Indigenous community to benefit the community.
Comité - (Committee) a group of people appointed for a specific function, typically consisting of members of a larger group.
In our Pueblos (hometown), the Comité are chosen by the community because the community believes they are the best candidate for the job.