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Support JH ministries in Peru

Links/Elances:

Profile JH partner network UMP

Website Red Uniendo Manos Perú

Profile JH Companionship Facilitator

Jed Koball

Profile Fair Trade Program Facilitator

Alexandra Buck

Bridge of Hope
Red Uniendo Manos on Facebook:

Bridge of Hope on Facebook

Kuzka Podcast

Videos:

Children of Lead/Los niños del plomo

Produced by/Producido por Earthjustice

South America's most polluted town

A BBC News report on 10 years DRP

La Retama

November 2009

in English, en Castellano

December 2009

in English, en Castellano

Reports

Gidding-Lovejoy Coordinating Team meeting

Giddings-Lovejjoy JH meeting

Online Shop

Over the course of several months, her students and I met via video skype conference calls. They would ask me questions about our work at Joining Hands, about the kids of La Oroya, and about the owner who comes from the same streets where they are now growing up. More than anything, they wanted to know what they could do to make a difference.

In late October, Rev. Ellie Stock from Giddings-Lovejoy presbytery and I actually visited the students at P.S. 58 in Brooklyn, during my time of itineration in the U.S. For over an hour we sat in a circle on the floor, as they asked countless questions about La Oroya. Their thirst for knowledge and their desire to do something was palpable.

After much conversation, they presented us with a chant they had created for the kids of La Oroya; likewise, they showed us a logo for a partnership they would like to create with the kids.

It was then that we decided it would be good for them to get to know some of the kids from La Oroya to learn what they are doing, and then see what strategies they could work on together – from La Oroya and from Brooklyn.

So, we began planning our first skype video conference call between the kids from Brooklyn and the kids from La Oroya.

On December 1st our first kid to kid strategy meeting between Brooklyn and La Oroya took place – myself with five kids from La Oroya in the office of Filomena Tomairi Pacsi (one of the members of Joining Hands Peru, that works with kids in La Oroya); and Ms. Ladd with her twelve students in P.S. 58.

The excitement was stirring, as the kids began asking questions to one another: what’s your name? how old are you? What do you do for fun? Do you feel the lead in your body? Is there contamination in New York? How can we make a difference? How can we make more people aware of what is going on in La Oroya?

From their innocent questions a goal and a strategy began to form. From their enthusiasm and excitement their rights to speak out began to emerge. From their passion to do what is right, a movement was being born. And, all of it is of the kids, by the kids and for the kids. Stay tuned in the months to come as their goal to create more awareness of the situation comes to life.

And in these Advent days as we await the child who will lead us to a new day, may we be inspired by these children who leading us right now.

Former St. Louis residents win Environmental Stewardship Award

by Ellie Stock, G-L Environmental Justice Task Force Chairperson

and Friends of La Oroya Coordinator

On November 21, 2009, Jack and Leslie Warden, former residents of Herculaneum, Missouri, which is home to the Doe Run lead smelter, received the prestigious Leo and Kay Drey Environmental Stewardship Award for their work in addressing contamination issues locally in Herculaneum, regionally and state- and nationwide. The Doe Run smelter in Herculeum is the largest in the U.S. and located within the boundaries of the the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy.

It was Jack Warden’s lead-filled dust samples from the streets and lawns of Herculaneum that catalyzed Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to test the lead samples and, upon discovering the high lead content in them, subsequently to pressure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to hold Doe Run Resources (St. Louis) accountable to immediately addressing the issue. Doe Run was required to remediate lawns, clean up streets, put up signs warning that the streets were not safe for children to play in, clean up public buildings and parks, provide vacuum cleaners for people to clean their homes, address issues of sludge, water contamination, and slag piles, and relocate families who lived near the smelter. During this clean-up process, both Leslie and Jack continued to be outspoken advocates for the health of their community and monitored the clean-up through their work at monthly Citizens Advisory Group meetings which held Doe Run and the various state and local governmental representatives accountable.

In 2002 Jack and Leslie were contacted by the Joining Hands Peru Partnership after it was discovered that the company that was polluting Herculaneum was the same one that was polluting La Oroya. Doe Run Peru was then a direct subsidiary of Doe Run Resources in St. Louis. Through the efforts of Jack and Leslie, Joining Hands was able to expand its network of those concerned with lead pollution in both cities and also connect the citizens of La Oroya with the citizens of Herculaneum. Out of that first meeting in 2003 came the first independent health test of La Oroya, conducted by the St. Louis School of Public Health in 2005. In the winter of 2003 Leslie Warden testified before the Peru Congress concerning the issues of contamination in Herculaneum by the Doe Run Company. Since 2003 Jack and Leslie have hosted members of several Peru delegations in their home, including two visits by Archbishop Pedro Barreto, Huancayo, Peru, who has been an active advocate for the health and wholeness of La Oroya and the whole Mantaro River Valley.

In 2006 Jack and Leslie Warden and the Washington University School of Law sued the EPA for failure to revise Ambient Air Standards—which is the standard in the United States for allowable amount of air pollution. The standard was to be reviewed and evaluated every five years, and adjusted in light of scientific knowledge and upgraded technology. They had, however, not been reviewed since 1975! Meanwhile science has proven that lower lead levels are more harmful than previously known, thus requiring the tightening of standards to allow less contamination.

This suit was won in 2009, making such U.S. standards a leverage for accountability of other American companies working abroad - particularly in developing nations. Because of Jack and Leslie’s tenacious and passionate care for Herculaneum, they have succeeded in measures that will improve the health and wellbeing of La Oroya as well as other communities in the US, and across the globe.

Read also the "Lead Astray" article of the Warden's experiences in the November/December 2006 issue of Mother Jones.

Fair Trade Networking: Get the word out!

by Alexandra Buck

Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Program Facilitator

The Peruvian Fair Trade Network just celebrated its fifth anniversary and its first constitutional assembly! Marking five years of work and organizing within Peru, this year the Network became independent from the Economic Solidarity Group of Peru (GRESP) in order to formalize itself as a unique entity under law.

The Peruvian Fair Trade Network is constituted by institutions who practice fair trade in artisan and agricultural production, market and fair organization, and political advocacy. It is the reference for Fair Trade and Ethical Consumption on the level of Peru. It is "an institution that congregates organizations of producers and consumers promoting Fair Trade within Peru, that come working in the development of markets that advance harmonious relationships and respect among producers, consumers, and nature."

The Peruvian Joining Hands Peru Network (the Red) is a proud member with its Fair Trade program, Bridge of Hope.

The Network attempts to address both the supply and demand side of the commercial change, supporting rights of producers and educating consumers about their purchasing power. It organizes mutual efforts to raise consciousness about economic solidarity movements, such as local Bioferias, or organic/fair trade food and artisan good markets, and Congressional meetings to advocate Fair Trade in public policies.

The Network believes that Fair Trade and Ethical consumption are "experiences of economic solidarity; they are adequate strategies to confront poverty, inequality, and injustice and the economic deterioration in Peru. They are experiences that express other ways of doing economics, that seek to integrate the rights of the person and the respect for nature in economic growth and scientific-technological development, in the perspective of coexisting in harmony and peace." (Alfonso Cotera Fretel, Executive Director, Grupo Red de Economía Solidaria del Perú-GRESP).

The Network serves as a space of sharing for Fair Trade institutions as well as a force for education and advocacy on the level of Peru about the work and importance of Fair Trade. Internationally, it represents the Fair Trade movement in Peru to entities such as the World Fair Trade Organization.

The Red is proud to play a role in this work of supporting, promoting, and improving Fair Trade.