By Jaime Enrique Muñoz Hernández | Asociación Fénix, Nicaragua The families of the San Miguel community, located on Zapatera Island in Nicaragua, have always relied on Lake Cocibolca (or Lake Nicaragua) for water despite its high levels of contamination. The lake is the largest in Central America. Several rivers flow into this lake, which, as… Read more »
March 6, 2024
Clean and safe water for families on Zapatera Island
By Jaime Enrique Muñoz Hernández | Asociación Fénix, Nicaragua The families of the San Miguel community, located on Zapatera Island in Nicaragua, have always relied on Lake Cocibolca (or Lake Nicaragua) for water despite its high levels of contamination. The lake is the largest in Central America. Several rivers flow into this lake, which, as… Read more »
New mining regulations in the Democratic Republic of Congo favor the development of local communities By Jean Marie Kabanga | POM, Joining Hands Network in the Democratic Republic of Congo In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it has been common for local communities to bear the brunt of the negative impacts of the mining… 
From Water Wars to Climate Change, Bolivians are Faced with Growing Water Scarcity By Oscar Rea Campos | Foundation for Community Axión, a member of UMAVIDA The year 2000 in Bolivia was the year of the “Water War.” Under pressure from the World Bank, the government of Bolivia privatized the public water supply of Cochabamba,… 
By Chenoa Stock | Mission Co-worker, UMAVIDA, Joining Hands Bolivia The Bolivian Joining Hands Network, UMAVIDA (Joining Hands for Life), focuses their campaign for water rights and environmental justice in the city of Oruro, a principal center for mining, Bolivia’s second largest industry. Located just outside of Oruro, the small town of Huanuni is… 
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… 
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… 
By Chenoa Stock | Mission Co-worker, Joining Hands Bolivia As we gathered around the U-shaped tables on this Bolivian winter day, bundled in coats and scarfs – the typical meeting style in Bolivia due to the lack of central heating in any buildings or houses – we were not there to debate or be heard…