A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to produce social change by helping marginalized communities to become advocates for social justice and claim their rights

Fellow Blogs: Female Wastepickers Fight for Toilets in Delhi...

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AdvocacyNet
Fellow Update
June 18, 2008
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Thirty-four Peace Fellows are volunteering this summer in 21 countries or territories with community-based partners of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP issues a weekly digest of their blogs.
 
Highlights:
 
Female Wastepickers Fight for Toilets in Delhi
Separation Wall Divides Families in the West Bank
Art Exhibit Depicts Human Rights Abuses in Guatemala
Ethnic Divide Brings Security Tensions in Kosovo
Power Outages, Disabilities Can't Stop Advocates in Bangladesh
Israeli Military Raids Palestinian Orphanages
Reminders of Loss a Part of Life in Bosnia
Rural Residents Lack Access to Health Care in El Salvador
Working for Women's Health in Nepal
Reuniting Street Children with their Families in Kenya
Raw Sewage and McMansions in the Palestinian Territories
 
Excerpts:
 
Female Wastepickers Fight for Toilets in Delhi
Paul Colombini (American University) is working with informal waste recyclers at the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group in Dehli, India.
"In the angled sunlight of Friday afternoon, while their husbands and sons were at the local Mosque, about 30 women of the Seemapuri colony began marching to the offices of their local government representative, their colorful saris fluttering in the warm breeze. One of their leaders held in her hand a Chintan-prepared application for a toilet to be installed in their community."
 
Separation Wall Divides Families in the West Bank
Hannah Wright (Bristol University) is supporting women's rights with the Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) in Ramallah, Palestine.
"Many of the women in Tulkarim have husbands who work on the other side of the Green Line, who fear coming back home in case they are not allowed back across the line and cannot return to work, making them unable to provide for their families. For this reason many women live and raise their children alone... I have to say, as terrible as these stories are, I am no longer shocked by them. I feel anguish, yes, but not shock."
 
Art Exhibit Depicts Human Rights Abuses in Guatemala
Heidi McKinnon (University of New Mexico) is supporting massacre survivors with the Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of Violence in the Verpaces, Maya Achi (ADIVIMA) in Rabinal, Guatemala.
"The exhibit ends with a series of poignant photographs by James Rodriguez of the January 2007 eviction of subsistence farmers from their lands in the region of El Estor, somewhat near present-day Panzos. Photographer James Rodriguez' work captures the anguish and the historical replay inherent in this present-day tragedy. He could have been photographing Panzos in 1979, Rio Negro, or any previous land grab and it would have looked identical, which is clearly the point."
 
Ethnic Divide Brings Security Tensions in Kosovo
Nicole Slezak (Georgetown University) is promoting women's rights with the Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) in Prishtina, Kosovo.
"...because of tensions in Mitrovica (the divided part of northern Kosovo) the UN will not yet leave, fearing a security vacuum will develop. This is partially due to the fact that the Serb enclaves in Mitrovica and Gracanica do not recognize Albanian authority and state they will form their own assembly to govern Serb majority areas."
 
Power Outages, Disabilities Can't Stop Advocates in Bangladesh
Danita Topcagic (University of Denver) is advocacting for disabled peoples with the Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO) in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
"On average, the power goes out about three times during regular working hours, for an hour each time, which leaves BERDO's staff on standby... . I wonder how BERDO has been able to achieve all their accomplishments especially considering the fact that 10 out of BERDO's 32 staff are disabled, including the executive director who has been blind since age six."
 
Israeli Military Raids Palestinian Orphanages
Rianne Van Doeveren (Leiden University) is working with the Alternative Information Center in Palestine.
"The Israeli military raids started on March 6th when the central warehouse in the Al-Harayeq area was targeted and everything needed to supply for the children and families was confiscated... The case has been brought before the Israeli High Court which still has to decide on the matter. Normally this would mean that one cannot act until the verdict is made. In this case however, the military did not have the patience to wait for this and acted under a so-called 'emergency regulation.'"
 
Reminders of Loss a Part of Life in Bosnia
Shweta Dewan (Columbia University) is supporting Srebrenica massacre survivors working with Bosnian Family (BOSFAM) in Bosnia.
"It's interesting how societies try to overcome their past. "That's life" as Beba, the BOSFAM founder, says often. Here, people are jolly, hospitable, giving and always make time for coffee (kaffa) breaks. Apparently, you learn to move on and because you've seen so much during the war, it becomes normal... even the remnants of buildings and the reminders of lost relatives."
 
Rural Residents Lack Access to Health Care in El Salvador
Larissa Hotra (George Washington University) is working for landmine survivors with Survivor Corps in El Salvador.
"The main problem is that these rehabilitation centers, though funded (poorly) by the government, are only located in the center of the country. Therefore, survivors of conflict and other disabilities that reside in the countryside are not able to access the services."
 
Working for Women's Health in Nepal
Nicole Farkouh (UC Berkeley) is advocating for women's rights with the Uterine Prolapse Alliance in Nepal.
"For my part, this summer I will be focusing my energy on the women's health problem of Uterine Prolapse. I will be working the Uterine Prolapse Alliance (a group of Nepali NGOs, or non-governmental organizations) who are engaged in this issue as well as WWRP-CAED (the Women's Reproductive Right's Program of the Center for Agro-Ecological Development) which is a cutting-edge organization on this issue. We have already had several planning sessions, and throughout the summer we will be engage in a range of efforts intended to lay the groundwork for an international awareness campaign about UP that will be launched next year."
 
Reuniting Street Children with their Families in Kenya
Kristina Rosinsky (University of Maryland) is teaching photography and blogging to street children with the Undugu Society of Kenya (USK).
"Later that day, we visited another association, this one being brand new. One of its members was a 16-year-old boy who had only been on the streets for two weeks. He told the youth facilitator that he wanted to go back home so the field officer documented the boy's information and will try to reintegrate him with his family. If it weren't for the visits by USK field officers, facilitators, volunteers and interns, this boy may not have found help to get back home."
 
Raw Sewage and McMansions in the Palestinian Territories
Willow Heske (Columbia University) is working on labor rights with the Democracy and Workers' Rights Center (DWRC) in Ramallah, Palestine.
"The first time I was in Ni'lin, I thought, 'Oh what a nice little stream,' until I was told it was raw sewage that runs from the settlement.  Straight across the valley you see the settlement. You know it is a settlement because it has McMansions with satellite dishes and paved roads. It is protected by a military post and you can see the tanks parked in the road."