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Feminist International Radio Endeavour/October 2005
Campaign "Between women, with affected communities"
Invitation letter
We are organizing a campaign of support, “Women to Women with Affected Communities”, to channel aid for women in Guatemala and their communities in the zones affected by Stan and other disasters.
This is a call to share what we have, little or much, with women who suffer from the devastation caused by natural disasters.
We are asking that feminists and their organizations, any person or institution committed to woman to woman support, make personal and/or institutional cash donations to strengthen women in the affected communities devastated by the natural disasters in Guatemala. We hope this initiative will be reproduced for women in El Salvador, Southern Mexico and Pakistan, for the time being.
Donations will be channeled through Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas UNAMG ( National Union of Women in Guatemala), which works with women in the following communities: San Lucas Tolimán in Sololá,; San Miguel Sigüilá in Quetzaltenango; Tecpán Guatemala, San José Poaquil, Aldea Pancha Las Lomas, San Martín Jilotepeque in Sacala las Lomas, San Martín Jilotepeque in Chimaltenango. We are also working with the Asociación Rxiin, Tnamet (Health and Development Association) in Santiago Atitlán, which are among the more severely affected communities, according to feminist organizations in Guatemala.
An initial contribution of $4,000 has been collected by FIRE, donated by organizations who are co-sponsoring this Campaign. The money has already been taken by FIRE to the above mentioned organizations in Guatemala to be distributed among the women in their communities.
FIRE was in Guatemala to monitor the situation and to make a series of reports with women and their needs and efforts of survival and development of their communities.
FIRE also went to strengthen our bonds with women communications and journalism organizations, such as La Cuerda, which makes special reports; Mujeres al Aire, a network of communal radio, and with the network that works in violence against women like the Red de la No Violencia contra las Mujeres en Guatemala, to:
* Support and bring a message of solidarity to women in the affected communities and their organizations where aid was delivered
* Develop a sustained local, international and regional campaign about the impact of natural disasters on women and their role in survival, emotional support for their loss, attention to their health and the recovery of their surviving families and community.
*Bring to the AWID Forum a report on the initial results of the campaign and ask for donations in cash from agencies and participants, so that those organizations take resources to the communities to enable women to build communal kitchens and fulfill their most urgent needs; and think about sustainable projects that will help them to rebuild their communities.
We want to also use the Campaign to develop a feminist solidarity model (strategy) to help women in their communities in case of natural disasters in the region, which seems to be an important strategic task at the moment for the reasons exposed in the attached concept sheet of the campaign.
This is only the beginning of what we hope will turn out to be a model that we expect will allow us develop feminist solidarity and generosity with women victims of natural disasters so as to strengthen their leadership.
FIRE started the initiative together with Guatemalan feminist organizations and has called on other organizations related with this issue to join the co sponsorship.
These are: Association of Women and Development (AWID), International Conservation Union (UICN) and Global Fund for Women (GFW).
Attached you will find the fact sheet and approach of the Campaign. We look forward to your response,
María Suárez and Katerina Anfossi Radio Feminista Internacional (RIF/ FIRE) on behalf of the cosponsoring organizations
To donate or for information you can contact : oficina@radiofeminista.net
oficina@radiofeminista.net
The Report in Spanish of the first visit to Guatemala’s Santiago Atitlán in Sololá, to the communities of Argentina and Giralda in Tecpan, Chimaltenango and to women´s organizations in San Marcos took place form October 21 – 25, 2005 can be read at www.radiofeminista.net. FIRE also met with 25 women´s NGOs, with women journalist and communicators to coordinate the Campaign and also with Government officials of the Women´s Secretariat to let them know about the Campaign.
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