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UUSC Delegation to Guatemala |
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Choose Justice! A UUSC Experience in the Coffee Lands
This January Equal Exchange collaborated with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to lead a trip to Guatemala. Nine participants from across the United States joined three people from the UUSC and two from Equal Exchange for a week of learning.
We visited various points on the coffee processing and marketing chain and met with human rights groups and other organizations that support small farmers. Everything we learned about Guatemala’s history of conflict, land ownership issues and plantations, and the U.S. influence on the economy helped to build a foundation for our homestay experience.
In the volcanic mountains far from paved roads we spent two nights in Pueblo Nuevo with host families that are a part of the cooperative APECAFORM, one of Equal Exchange’s trading partners. Our Mam Mayan hosts welcomed us with black beans, tamalitos (little tamales), and chicken soup, while we talked about our families and our lives in broken Spanish. We also had a day of picking and processing coffee and meeting with the president of the primary co-operative and members of the local women’s group. Nancy Banks summed up the week: “I felt challenged – tried activities I never thought I would – had my comfort level pushed – but all in a very good way.”
Hilda Alicia Cardona Niz, Margarita Cristina Marroquin,
Sue Gross and Audelina Graciela Marroquinin in Pueblo Nuevo.
Participants share their experiences at home:
- Nancy Banks was featured in an article published in the Acton (MA) Beacon newspaper, and in the People section of the Boston Globe North West.
- Ron Gole was featured in an article in the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newpaper.
- Dave Madan will have an article in the Americorps NCCC member publication, and sent an e-mail about his trip to everyone he knows – it includes a challenge to seek out Fair Trade coffee.
- Rob Robinson had a letter to the editor published in the High Country News.
- Several participants have already given presentations, and more have presentations scheduled – at their churches, and at other venues such as a School Board.
Links:
UUSC has blog postings at http://www.uusc.org/blog/hotwire/2006_01_01_archive.html - you need to scroll down a little bit to see the posts from Guatemala.
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Interfaith Program 
