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“Ending Violence Against Women: Strategies from the South and the North”
Join us for an evening of reflection on the causes of violence against women and the strategies undertaken by women from Mexico & Canada to combat violence and promote justice, Show your solidarity with the women of Chiapas!
Cobourg, ON
Wednesday, November 2nd
7:00 p.m – 9:00 p.m
Trinity United Church – 15 Chapel St.
Canadian Guest Speaker: Linda Janzen, Northumberland Services for Women
Calgary, AB
Saturday, November 5th
7:30 p.m – 9:00 p.m
The Kahanoff Centre – Rm. 201
200, 1202 Centre St. SE.
Edmonton, AB
Friday, November 4th
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Education Building Rm. 107
University of Alberta – 87 Ave. 113 St.
Kingston, ON
Monday, November 7th
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Queens University International Centre – Ed Churchill Hall of Friendship
Corner of Union Street and University Avenue
Canadian Guest Speaker: Pamela Cross, Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children
Montreal, QB
Mardi, 8 Novembre
19 – 21 heures
CEGEP du Vieux Montreal
Quebec Guest Speaker:Marie Ellen Côté, Comité québécois de solidarité Avec les femmes de Ciudad Juarez
Peterborough, ON
(Film & Presentation)
Thursday, November 10
“Missing Young Woman/Señorita Extraviada”
2001 – 74 minutes (USA/Mexico)
Followed by a presentation from:
Blanca Olivia Velazquez of the Feminist Collective Mercedes Olivera (COFEMO)
from Chiapas, Mexico.
CINEMA 379
379 George St. N
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Tickets General $10 & $5 Students/Underemployed/Seniors
(Tickets will be sold at the door)
Toronto, ON
Friday, November 11th
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
OISE/University of Toronto – 252 Bloor St. West – Rm. 2-286
Canadian Guest Speaker: Aundrey Huntley,
CBC/No More Silence Coalition.
Horizons of Friendship organized CANADIAN SPEAKING TOUR
BLANCA OLIVIA VELAZQUEZ
Feminist Collective Mercedes Olivera CHIAPAS, MEXICO
Horizons of Friendship is a Canadian non-profit international development organization committed to eliminating the root causes of poverty and injustice through cooperation of people from the South and the North. Horizons supports Central American and Mexican partner organizations that undertake citizen participation initiatives and implement community development projects. One of these organizations is the Feminist Collective Mercedes Olivera (COFEMO) from Chiapas, Mexico.
Feminist Collective Mercedes Olivera (COFEMO) is an autonomous organization that has a holistic vision of feminism and works to build a just, dignified, egalitarian and democratic society by struggling against the structural and situational causes of violence against women. COFEMO aims to create horizontal power relationships and solidarity between the genders, classes, ethnicities and generations, respecting diversities. They work to generate a new sense of citizenship through political action, establishing alliances and strategies with collectives and persons that share their struggle against a patriarchal/neoliberal structure that generates and deepens inequalities.
Violence is a daily reality for many women in Chiapas. This violence may be physical, psychological, sexual and economic, and it has grave consequences for women and children. Violence is aggravated by the precarious economic and social conditions in the region and by discrimination against indigenous people.Horizons is currently supporting “La Morada” Women’s Centre a project of COFEMO.
La Morada offers an integrated range of services with support and referrals in the areas of social work, medical attention, psychological counselling and legal services. The greatest demand for La Morada’s services comes from women living in poverty. The Centre also organizes sessions for women to work on self-esteem and to reflect on the structural causes of violence.
Blanca Olivia Velazquez has worked for over 10 years with women’s organizations in Mexico. She is a trained psychologist whose experiences include providing support for women who are victims of sexual and domestic violence, accompanying and advocating for them within the health and legal systems. Blanca Olivia is the coordinator and head psychologist of La Morada Women’s Centre and an active member of Feminist Collective Mercedes Olivera (COFEMO).
We aim to bring together Canadians in order to provide a forum for sharing analysis and lessons learnt on issues of violence against women and pursuing solidarity efforts.Blanca Olivia Velazquez will be visiting the cities of Kingston, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Northumberland County from November 1 to 14, 2005.
Fore more information, please contact:
Jessica Farias
Community Outreach Coordinator
1-888-729-9928 Ext. 24
Email: jfarias@horizons.ca
Website: www.horizons.ca
Writers & Friends 2005
Updated October 24, 2005
On Sunday November 13 you are invited to be part of a memorable literary evening in Port Hope with some of Canada’s most acclaimed authors. Double Giller winner MG Vassanji, Port Hope writer Claire Mowat, Newfoundland author Michael Crummey and Giller nominee Joan Barfoot are featured contributors to this year’s Writers & Friends evening, along with co-hosts Anna Porter and Dr. Paul Caldwell. You will enjoy readings, music, a gourmet buffet, book signings and silent and live art auctions, all on behalf of Horizons of Friendship.
For tickets and information call 905.372.5483 or 1.888.729.9928
Literary Evening at LeVan Hall features acclaimed authors Horizons of Friendship is delighted to announce that its 11th Annual Literary Evening will take place Sunday November 13, 2005, beginning at 3:30pm at Le Van Hall, Trinity College School.
This year’s featured authors are:
M.G. Vassanji, nuclear physicist turned author, and the only writer to have twice won Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize for Fiction, 1994 and 2003 (The In Between World of Vikram Lall). His new book When She Was Queen, offers stories of the Old and New Worlds ” haunting tales of extraordinary lives transplanted.
Claire Mowat, memoirist, children’s author and long time Writers & Friends supporter. Her new book Travels with Farley is a memoir of writing life in the 1970’s during her time with Farley Mowat on Magdalen Island and the interesting characters, local, national, literary and political, who were part of the passing parade.
Michael Crummey, acclaimed poet from Newfoundland, storyteller and novelist, author of the Giller nominated River Thieves. The Wreckage, his new novel is grand in scope, unfolding over decades and continents, a ” journey of stimulating moral enquiry …into the limits of love and the depths of human hatred”.
Joan Barfoot, award-winning author of nine previous novels, including, Critical Injuries, longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize. Her latest, Luck is described as “black-humoured and blessed with literary acuity and acid wit,…an often hilarious, insightful danse macabre …. Think Carol Shields with attitude.” (Globe & Mail)
Co-masters of ceremonies for the evening will be Anna Porter, author, memoirist and founding publisher of Key Porter Books and Dr. Paul Caldwell,local physician, author, and Horizons of Friendship board member. These contributions, along with that of our gracious host, Trinity College School, are a sign of the strong support enjoyed by Horizons of Friendship, who marks over 32 years as one of Canada’s most highly respected non-governmental organizations.
For eleven years, Writers & Friends in Port Hope has helped to provide support for impoverished communities in Central America and Mexico, raising over $225,000 (matched by CIDA) for families coping with decades of natural disasters, political upheaval and economic crises. Participants on Horizons’ exposure tours have seen first-hand the natural and man-made challenges faced by the people there and how Horizons of Friendship’s support has been helping to bring tangible, positive change. This October, devastation has once again hit Central America as a result of torrential rains, mudslides and eruptions caused by Tropical Storm Stan. With support from Writers & Friends, Horizons of Friendship will continue to make a difference while helping those hardest hit by this most recent disaster particularly in Guatemala and El Salvador.
A memorable evening is in store at Writers & Friends, with readings by guest authors, music by the San Murata Trio and a sumptuous Gourmet Buffet in the grand Writers & Friends tradition. Book signings by the authors, book sales by Furby House Booksand an 11th Annual Grand Silent Auction including books donated by major publishers, specialty gifts and services,
and Central American folk art and craft items await. And this year, a selected live art auction – all enticements for early Christmas shoppers).
Tickets are $110 and an income tax receipt will be provided for $ 65.
Tickets for Writers & Friends sell out quickly. To order by credit card, call 1-888-729-9928. Tickets are also available in Port Hope at Furby House
Books and in Cobourg at Horizons of Frindship’s office, upstairs at 50 Covert St.
For more information call 905.372.5483, 1.888.729.9928.
Writers & Friends Committee: Kathy Angus, Marcy Berg, Gail Corbett, Ann Cox, Dan Christie, Doreen Gorsline, Marnie Marsh, Eileen Mountain, Susan Pignatero, Marguerite Sandig, Diane Taylor, Donna Wootton.
Emergency Assistance Required for victims of flooding in Central America
Updated: October 14, 2005
Once again, natural disasters have hit the poverty-stricken countries of Central America as torrential rains from Tropical Storm Stan caused massive flooding and horrendous mudslides. There are close to 1,000 confirmed deaths reported so far from the entire region.
In Guatemala, countless mudslides levelled mountainous Mayan villages creating mass graves. The worst disaster occurred near Santiago Atitlan, where four villages were destroyed and over 1,400 people are presumed dead. Guatemala and El Salvador have declared States of Emergency. In the region, over 500,000 people are directly affected. The death toll is expected to reach over 2,000 as remote areas are still being reached. As usual, those living in poverty in already vulnerable social, economic and geographic conditions are the hardest hit.
Tropical Storm Stan hit the area the evening of October 2nd and torrential rains continued relentlessly for over three days. The ground was already heavily saturated from Hurricane Rita. In El Salvador, the long-dormant Ilamatepec Volcano near Santa Ana erupted, forcing the emergency evacuation of thousands in nearby villages. Coastal and mountainous areas have been most severely affected, with hundreds of communities completely isolated, under metres of floodwater or mudslides. Families have lost everything: crops, houses, animals and their means of livelihood. One of every two people from Central America and Southern Mexico live in poverty, facing daily struggles to survive. A natural calamity of this magnitude highlights the constant state of vulnerability that these people face. Emergency efforts are underway for the hundreds of thousands of homeless. Families are now facing hunger and disease and the long-term anguish of how to sustain themselves in the future.
Horizons of Friendship, a Cobourg-based international non-profit agency supporting development projects in Mexico and Central America since 1973, is in direct contact with our partners in the area who are in full emergency response mode in hundreds of affected communities. Our primary concern is for the well being of thousands of families who face total loss and are at extreme health risk.
Horizons’ partners in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are attending the immediate medical, psychological and shelter needs of 34,000 people. These capable and committed organizations include The Salvadoran Association for Health Promotion (ASPS) and The Salvadoran Foundation for Social Promotion and Economic Development (FUNSALPRODESE) in El Salvador; The Solar Foundation and The Kabawil Peasant Coordination in Guatemala, as well as The Honduran Institute for Rural Development (IHDER). They have requested urgent assistance to provide food, medicine, clothing and bedding to the victims. Emergency health assistance is also needed to prevent outbreaks of disease and provide safe drinking water and sanitation.
Horizons of Friendship is committed to providing the short-term relief so desperately needed now by the thousands of affected families. However, the vulnerability facing these families is deeply rooted in of poverty and inequality which can only be addressed by long-term efforts to build safe, sustainable and just communities.
We rely on your generous support to make this a reality.
Horizons of Friendship has set up an Emergency Relief Fund for Central America and has already forwarded $45,000 of our own funds for immediate relief. YOUR GENEROUS DONATIONS ARE STILL URGENTLY NEEDED TO HELP TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED FAMILIES. Our goal is to raise $100,000 to support emergency relief. Please make a tax-creditable credit card contribution at: www.horizons.ca through CanadaHelps, (click on the drop down Fund list to highlight Central America Emergency Oct 2005), with Visa or MasterCard by phone 905-372-5483 ext 10, or use the coupon overleaf and send cheques to Horizons of Friendship, 50 Covert St. Box 402, Cobourg, Ontario K9A 4L1
For Up-to-the–minute information contact:
Rona Donefer,
Horizons of Friendship (905) 372-5483 ext 13
Email: rdonefer@horizons.ca
