Life in Bolivia's Yungas portrayed in photojournal

There's a sweet photojournal of an Afro-Bolivian family on the BBC's website. With photos by Evan Abramson and text by Lola Almudevar, the piece depicts the lives of the Iriondo family -- a rural family living in Bolivia's Yungas region.   

The Iriondo's show a wonderful sense of pride in culture and love for family.  The father, Alejandro, declares that he "wants recognition for the Afro-Bolivian minority, estimated to number 30,000, in a new Bolivian constitution" and "also hopes for a revival of Afro-Bolivian culture," in particular, the Afro-Bolivian dialect which many of the youth are too easily forgetting.

Bolivia's Iriondo family (Photo: Evan Abramson)

But they also talk about the difficult routine of their farming lives, which has taken most of their children out of school, keeps the father busy from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and still barely earns enough for the family to live on.

The BBC story shows that the mother "Teodora suffers from calcium deficiency. She has kidney stones and is in constant discomfort.

"Doctors say she needs an operation but the family cannot afford it. She makes traditional herbal remedies to ease her pain.

" 'I am very worried about her. Her life is in danger. But it is all about money,' says Alejandro.

" 'If you called the hospital now they would charge you to send a vehicle down here. Health is the biggest problem for us. If you haven't got money then you have to go without.' "

Ulises de la Cruz:  remembering Piquiucho

By Karen Juanita Carrillo

Afro-Ecuadoran soccer player Ulises Hernán de la Cruz Bernoid is sponsoring a trip to Ecuador through the England-based adventure-travel/social enterprise organization the Adventurists. 

The trip will serve as a fundraiser for his Fundación de Ulises de la Cruz/Ulises de la Cruz Foundation (FUNDECRUZ), a non-profit organization that Cruz created to support his native community of Piquiucho.  

The Afro-Ecuadorian village of Piquiucho in northern Ecuador's Valle de Chota is a short three-hour drive from Quito, the nation's capital. Yet the Ecuadorian government has for decades ignored the small village of little more than 200 families. It was not on official maps, and services to its inhabitants have been non-existent.

The village of Piquiucho and the plight of its people only became known following the selection of seven of the villages' sons to represent Ecuador's eleven-member team in the World Cup in 2002 and 2006.
 

 
Ulises de la Cruz visits school children in Piquiucho, Ecuador.
(Carlos Armas/www.eluniverso.com)
 
Following his performances in the World Cup, Cruz, one of Piquiucho's most renowned players, was drafted to play abroad. He currently plays as a defender with The Royals, the English Premiership club's team in Reading.

With his earnings from soccer, Cruz created FUNDECRUZ on June 17, 2002. And via FUNDECRUZ, the soccer player has been able to transform Piquiucho.

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BAR says be wary of cries to "Save Darfur" 

"The star-studded hue and cry to 'Save Darfur' and 'stop the genocide' has gained enormous traction in U.S. media along with bipartisan support in Congress and the White House," writes Black Agenda Report managing editor Bruce Dixon in the article Ten Reasons Why "Save Darfur" is a PR Scam to Justify the Next US Oil and Resource Wars in Africa.

"But the Congo, with ten to twenty times as many African dead over the same period is not called a 'genocide' and passes almost unnoticed. Sudan sits atop lakes of oil. It has large supplies of uranium, and other minerals, significant water resources, and a strategic location near still more African oil and resources. The unasked question is whether the nation's Republican and Democratic foreign policy elite are using claims of genocide, and appeals for 'humanitarian intervention' to grease the way for the next oil and resource wars on the African continent."

Wyclef Jean:  using star-power to get back

The musician/rapper/songwriter/producer Wyclef Jean was given a hero's welcome when he visited Haiti for the first time since President René Préval named him the country's roving ambassador in January. 

Jean visited Port-au-Prince's shanty town of Cité Soleil on Monday, November 12, 2007.

Musician/rapper/songwriter/producer Wyclef Jean 

Jean's non-profit charitable organization, Yéle Haiti, is helping to develop a micro-enterprise project called Yéle Cuisine inside of Cité Soleil, Haiti's largest slum.

The first group of women being trained to run a micro-enterprise as part of the Yéle Cuisine project. (Photo credit: http://www.yele.org/projects/yele-cuisine.html)

Yéle Cuisine was created to respond "to both the lack of jobs and the lack of food for children" in Haiti's poor slum areas.  The program provides micro-loans and business training to women's organizations who are then taught to cook and sell food for public consumption.

The Associated Press reported that "the musician met legislators and accompanied Czech model Petra Nemcova to a school in the neighborhood where he was born.

"Jean, who moved to Brooklyn as a young boy, then changed into a pinstriped suit to ask a luncheon crowd of businessmen, the U.N. envoy and nearly every major foreign ambassador for aid.

" 'We need all your money, we need all y'all's support, but let's put it to programs ... that teach kids how to move the country forward,' Jean told dignitaries in the hills above Port-au-Prince."

The BBC added that "Jean said his next step as ambassador would be to start lobbying politicians in Washington to help promote development in Haiti.

" 'I'm always going to assist my country in the best way I can,' he said."

Chavez' constitutional reform would recognize Afro Venezuela

By Karen Juanita Carrillo

Afro Venezuelans will gain a partial victory if their nation's constitutional reforms pass on December 2, 2007.

Venezuelan voters will decide whether to approve some 69 changes to the national constitution on December 2, in part of a reform process set forth by President Hugo Chávez Frías.

"Much has been made of the reforms," noted Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Álvarez Herrera in a November 19th speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "most of it ignoring or distorting key details. One reform would extend the presidential term limit to seven years and do away with term limits. Of course, the president would still have to face regular elections and the recall referendum, an innovative democratic mechanism that allows the Venezuelan people to cut short the term of any elected official. Another set of reforms would codify new forms of public property, though while restating the rights to private ownership. And another reform would limit certain political liberties during national emergencies, though while maintaining key due process rights and the right to life and personal integrity - thus keeping with international standards.

Ambassador Álvarez also pointed out that some of the reforms are progressive in nature: "One would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or health. Another would lower the voting age to 16 - following a similar move made in Austria this year. Two others would formalize the right to adequate housing and the right to free public education, while others still would create a social security fund for the self-employed, protect Afro-Venezuelan heritage and guarantee the full rights of prisoners."

The language of the proposed reform to Article 100 in the constitution would, in some ways, formally recognize and protect Afro-Venezuelan heritage and culture.  The original 1999 constitution had merely noted that, "The ethnic cultures of Venezuela deserve special attention, recognition and respect as equals" and that the Venezuelan government would support cultural institutions and guarantee social security for cultural workers.
 

The proposed reformed Article 100 (loosely translated) also guarantees social security for cultural workers, but it also states that, "The Bolivariana Republic of Venezuela is the historical result of the confluence of many cultures, thus the State recognizes and values the indigenous, European and African roots that created our great South American nation. The ethnic cultures of the indigenous, of the Euro-Venezuelans and of Afro-Venezuelans enjoy special attention, recognition and respect as equals. This law will establish incentives and stimuli for organizations, institutions and communities to promote, support, develop and/or finance cultural plans, projects, programs and activities in the country, as well as internationally."