Father Marco Arana of Peru. Photo by Jessica Erickson/Oxfam America.
Over the past few years I have written several pieces (on this blog and in our magazine) about Father Marco Arana of Cajamarca, Peru. He’s one of about 30 people who TIME says are making a difference and is part of their “Heroes of the Environment” special section in the magazine this week.
In recent weeks indigenous people in Peru have been protesting against new laws that will allow the government to grant foreign companies access to oil, gas, and mineral resources on their community lands. Indigenous people have the right to be consulted about these sorts of decisions under international law, but the government says the resources belong to the entire country. This past weekend there were violent confrontations between the protesters and the police resulting in 50 deaths. Both sides are accusing the other of human rights violations.
High in the Peruvian Andes, stonehuts makes homes. Photo by Marisol Regis Fuentes
The rain turned to snow last night here in Boston. More snow—after a winter of plenty of it. But I don’t mind. I love the snow, and it fell just in time for Oxfam colleagues flying in this weekend from warmer climates where only birds wear down, not people. So the call went out for loaner parkas. I found a few in our closet, cast-offs from other decades and other families. What they lack in style they make up for in serviceability. I stuffed them into a sack and dragged them with me onto the train this morning. Read the rest of this entry »
Archbishop Oscar Romero's image in the courtyard of a church near San Salvador. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America
Two years ago, I visited a charismatic woman known as Mama Grace in Soweto. She ran a South African community organization that serves meals to children in her cinder-block garage-turned cafeteria. She led us in a prayer before lunch and everyone bowed their heads—except me. I was watching Mama Grace pray. After we all said “Amen,” Mama Grace pointed at me and said “That one was looking at me and not praying!”
Busted. Read the rest of this entry »
Photo: Jessica Erickson / Oxfam America
My colleague Jessica recently traveled to the Cajamarca region of Peru, where she visited communities that face threats to their land and water supply from the Yanacocha gold mine. Along the way she captured some great photos of the local people and the changed landscape.
While working with Jess to create an audio slideshow about her trip, I’ve found myself vividly remembering my own visit to the Peruvian Andes in 2006: the clean, cold, impossibly thin air; the wild green hillsides and silent stone ruins; the tall white clouds racing over the peaks. Once you’ve seen these ancient landscapes, you never really forget them.
This power comes through in Jess’ portrait of Doña Maria Castrajón Flores (above). An indigenous Quechua speaker, Flores lives in near solitude on her family’s ancestral farmland, raising a few cattle and growing potatoes at over 12,000 feet above sea level.
As Flores looks out over her land, she also contemplates the presence of the mining company, which leaves its mark in the buildings and roads zigzagging along the distant hillside.
“I don’t want to sell my land to the mine, because I have nowhere to go,” Flores told her visitors. “My children were born and raised here on the mountain. I don’t want to move anywhere else.”
After putting up my last post that included Nina Palomino, the young woman in Peru, I realized something: I have some video of her working at her loom, which you can see here. Read the rest of this entry »
With 2008 behind us, we’re highlighting photos we think best capture Oxfam’s work last year.
Here at Oxfam America’s headquarters we have all the writers sharing one small area of the office. It’s me and three women: Coco, Anna, and Andrea. I grew up with three sisters (one older and two younger…no brothers) so it is all rather disturbingly familiar. I know it is not easy to share an office with me, what with all the loud phone calls in my bad French and even worse Spanish. I therefore dedicate my best pictures of 2008 blog post to my office mates, because it I am constantly impressed by the hard work women do to eradicate poverty, here at the office and everywhere I go.
photo by Petterik Wiggers/Oxfam America
Last January I visited this pond in southern Ethiopia, where an ethnic Borena woman helped pass water up to the troughs for cows to drink. Oxfam America helped build this pond in a place called Gololcha, where more than 4,000 cows a day can get water during the dry season. Borena women are not routinely consulted about how to manage water resources like this one, but the men did not seem to mind this strong woman pitching in to the hard labor. With changes in rainfall patterns and scarce pastures in this area of Ethiopia, the Borena people will have to start encouraging women to take a more active role in creating ways for them to survive the dry times. Read the rest of this entry »
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