Social Justice

A staggering percentage of Guatemalan children are malnourished - they are actually the most malnourished people in the Western Hemisphere. It’s infuriating that in a country with so much fertile land and natural resources that people could be starving. The reason so many are malnourished became blatantly clear after we completed our market activity, but let me provide some context first.

I want to talk about our visit to the beneficio and more about what the CCDA (Campesino Committee of the Highlands – Comité Campesino del Altiplano) does. Everything short of roasting is completed at the beneficio and nothing goes to waste. Small producers sell their coffee cherries to the beneficio, they are shelled with machines, sorted, washed and then placed in rows to dry in the sun. Then they are peeled again to make ‘green gold’, which is coffee ready to be shipped and roasted.

The first night in Quixayï was pretty warm and I'm almost regretting my decision not to sleep on the roof in a tent, like half of the delegation will be for the ten days we are here. The first morning here we awoke to the sound of some intense rumbling, and although we may be completely wrong, we believe it may be the Atitlan volcano expressing its presence (completely unnecessary as it's the largest peak around).

I feel I must add a bit of disclaimer before I start here, the Internet connection is intermittent, at best, and so I will likely find myself typing out blogs and then forwarding them for uploading when I can (apologies in advance). Once I return home I will blog about lessons learned and include any videos or links that may be broken/not provided because I cannot use the internet to search/hyperlink.

From March 21 - April 4 PSAC members will participate in PSAC's Social Justice Fund delegation to Guatemala. They will support the efforts of grassroots organizations to improve livelihoods of Mayan campesinos in Guatemala through initiatives based on social justice and fair trade.

I must express my complete gratitude to the PSAC Social Justice Fund for being chosen to represent the Prairie Region on the 2014 Education in Action (EIA) delegation.

On July 12, 2013, PSAC sponsored a meal at the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre, where members volunteered to prepare and serve meals to those in need.

The Canadian Child Care Federation writes an open letter to the Council of the Federation regarding the urgent concern about Canada’s child care situation.

Please join members of the labour movement and the community at this important event. The Stephen Lewis Foundation has a long and proud history of working on HIV/AIDS in Africa and the labour community is proud to support this event.

The PSAC Social Justice Fund is supporting the Africa Solidarity Tour being organized by the Stephen Lewis Foundation to bring HIV-AIDS awareness to several cities from Winnipeg to Windsor.Canadian labour has made a difference by directly supporting unions in Africa to fight AIDS.