Since the winter holidays are a gift-giving season for many people, I wanted to start a thread about how those of us privileged to live in "developed" nations and have access to discretionary income can try to make good choices with our resources. To me, all the choices of daily life carry with them a small power to support justice and self-determination for all people and our home the Earth, rather than exploitation or oppression of our fellow humans and environment. If many people together are conscientized to take just and moral actions, then it can make an even bigger difference!
A couple resources that I know about locally through work connections that seem trustworthy to me are US-Guatemala solidarity projects:
I buy from
A Thread of Hope Fair Trade Cooperative. From their advertising materials "Your purchases help support over 400 Mayan artisans and their families, allowing them to send their children to school, and to continue their traditional rural lifestyle rather than having to emigrate to the US, or work in Guatemala as migrant farm workers or as domestics. Most of the artisans have been terribly affected by genocide, racism, and poverty. Their working together has helped them to improve their standard of living, their trust in each other and in the future, and their self-esteem. The weavers at Asociacion Maya can earn four times more weaving for the co-op rather than weaving for their local market. Your support makes a tremendous positive difference to these women, their families, and their communities. Thank you for your purchases and assistance in networking!"
I donate items (or money when I can) to
Asociación de Comadronas del Area Mam. From their website "In 1999 ,after 17 years of exile, Elena and Felipe Ixcot returned to their native village of Concepcion Chiquirichapa with Judy Luce, a North American midwife. They met with the midwives of ACAM to hear the story of how they had organized at the end of the war to support each other, to improve their education, and to preserve their traditional medicine and sacred Maya childbirth practices. They described how they attended the majority of births in the area which still take place at home, but lacked the most basic equipment or opportunities to increase their knowledge and skills. They described how they were disrespected in the hospital and blamed for problems they had no way to treat, problems that result from severe malnutrition, too many pregnancies, lack of transport, and limited access to medicines and preventive care.They described the difficulties they faced due to little or no compensation for their work, illiteracy, and heavy demands in their domestic life. The simple project that grew out of that meeting involved midwives in the US pairing with midwives in Guatemala which resulted in birth kits, equipment and supplies being sent to the midwives. This meeting also marked the beginning of educational and cultural exchanges between ACAM midwives and North American midwives. A major fund raising effort was begun in the U.S. Five years later, in June of 2004, ACAM celebrated the opening of Casa Maternal de Nacimiento y la Comienza de Esperanza, with its birth center, educational and community space, clinic and guest quarters. It represented a new beginning, a new birth and hope for the Maya people of the Mam area. The Ixcots returned to Guatemala to guide its expansion. The role of the midwives goes beyond that of providing prenatal consultations and attending births. The midwives are trusted in the community and many villagers bring their sick children and receive medicines and herbs for upper respiratory infections, skin infections, and diarrhea and other primary care issues. Many present with symptoms of psychological trauma from the war, family breakdown, abuse, and disasters such as Hurricane Stan. Since June of 2004 the Center, under the supervision of the medical director, Dr. Mildred Vasquez, has dispensed medicines from the small pharmacy established in the Center as well as traditional plant medicines. The midwives conduct ceremonies and rituals for the relief of trauma and also run workshops for the community led by a psychologist who is Maya and specializes in post-traumatic stress. They have also begun weekly radio programs in Mam on various health related topics."
12/20 Edited to add: How could I forget "
The Circle of Women", a US-Mexico solidarity project, also with a Boston connection, that I learned about through a benefit concert by one of its supporters, the Mexican-American singer
Lila Downs (the project works with literacy and development in the Mixtec community of Oaxaca, from which she is descended on her mother's side). You can contribute to them or buy textiles.
Some other Boston-based organizations that partner respectfully to provide advocacy, resources, and technical assistance with indigenous communities generally (mostly outside North America) are
Cultural Survival and
Grassroots International. From what I know, they do good work.
I do try to buy from Winona Laduke's
Honor the Earth Native environmental justice organization, to support them, and I have mentioned here before Don Coyhis'
White Bison Wellbriety movement.
I look forward to hearing other people's personal strategies for supporting Native communities' self-determination and health through our purchasing and donating choices, especially within North America.
Happy holidays everyone : )
