Posts By: Eileen Schuhmann

A New Song: Joining Hands with La Oroya, Peru and Standing Rock, ND

By Rev. Ellie Stock | Joining Hands Peru Partnership, Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy It is a long story… It all began with a song…in Girl Scout Camp…many moons ago…when I was seven,”Land of the Silver Birch, Home of the Beaver“, an adapted Native Canadian tune and Canadian folk song where the singer/story-teller extols the beauty of his homeland—the… Read more »

Relocated Congolese Communities Hold Mining Company Accountable

By Ibond Rupas A’nzam | Coordinator of POM, Joining Hands Congo The mining sector is so far the main driver of economic growth in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The mining code and mining regulations issued in 2002 and 2003 respectively attracted a large number of private investors, particularly in the Copperbelt region of Katanga… Read more »

Water Ceremony Seeks to Restore What Mining Has Dried Up

By Alejandrina Ibañez Aramayo | UMAVIDA Twenty years ago, the Peñas Canyon, located in the Pazña Municipality and Department of Oruro, Bolivia, was a prosperous community that thrived from diverse, agricultural production, including potato, quinoa, fodder, broad beans, corn, a variety of tubers, etc. But now, the community solely depends on livestock subsistence farming for… Read more »

Up in Smoke: Report highlights flaws in global carbon trading system

Presbyterian Hunger Program partner Social Action in Nigeria recently published a report Up in Smoke: Gas Flaring, Communities and Carbon Trading in Nigeria. As nations attempt to address the growing challenge of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, impoverished communities in countries like Nigeria stand to lose out. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 established an international system for trading carbon… Read more »

National Call-In Days Against the TPP

Raise Your Voice Against the TPP November 15-17   The White House has indicated that they still plan to introduce the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Congress this month during the Lame Duck session. We have heard for many years from our partners overseas about the harmful impacts of free trade policies on the poor and vulnerable. Our… Read more »

Salvadoran Communities Call for an End to Agrochemical Use

On October 14, 2016, leading up to World Food Day, agricultural and indigenous communities from across El Salvador came together to call for an end to the use of chemical pesticides at a national level.   Those gathered protested the harm that agrochemicals pose to human health and the health of the environment. “We see the… Read more »

RELUFA’s Policy Brief on Diamonds in Cameroon

RELUFA, the Joining Hands network in Cameroon,  has just released a policy brief on the implementation of the Kimberley Process in Cameroon. The Kimberley Process is a process that is meant to keep “conflict diamonds” (diamonds procured through the financing of violence and war) out of the market. RELUFA’s policy brief “The Kimberley Process: Responding to challenges and Policy… Read more »

Story of an Unbroken Breeze

“Story of an Unbroken Breeze” is a short documentary filmed by NAFSO, the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement, a member organization of the Joining Hands network in Sri Lanka Praja Abhilasha. The documentary details the violent land grabbing that Panama communities (Panama is located in Ampara district , in the eastern province in Sri Lanka)  endured and their struggle… Read more »

Grain Banks Pioneer Remembered

Elias Gondji visiting with villagers in Cameroon. “He devoted his entire life helping communities to become self-reliant, and worked tirelessly to draw attention to issues faced by communities in the northern part of the country and bring development in the area. With RELUFA, Elias contributed to the construction of 45 granaries in far north Cameroon, which have been well managed and operational… Read more »

Cobalt and Copper Mine Displaces Kishieba Community in Congo

Abandoned house in Kifumpa, DRC - Jaff Napoleon photo By Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo | Coordinator Joining Hands Cameroon, RELUFA In 2004, residents of Kishieba village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were displaced from their ancestral land to make way for the Frontier Mine, a cobalt and copper mining project currently owned and operated by Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC). The residents of… Read more »