Media Release – May 3, 2009
In November 2008 Ms. Analucy Bengochea, a Honduran Indigenous Garifuna leader, traveled across Ontario and spoke with the Canadian public and organizations about her work with grassroots women in Central America and in promoting global resilient communities. Sponsored by Horizons of Friendship (a non-profit international development organization located in Cobourg, Ontario that works to end poverty in Central America and Mexico) and with the generous support of the Cobourg Rotary Club, Ms. Bengochea also traveled to Edmonton and Yellowknife and met directly with Aboriginal women, in order to better understand the issues facing urban and rural Aboriginal women living in poverty, such as overcrowding, unemployment, inadequate housing and homelessness. Ms. Bengochea heard directly from women who had experienced life in residential schools and learned about the impact this has had on Aboriginal communities that struggle with challenges of addictions, violence and abuse.
During the tour many women, including Ms. Bengochea, were surprised to learn of the commonalities that exist between indigenous communities in the North and South. It was in this way many of the women who Ms. Bengochea met, started putting in motion ideas on HOW indigenous women in the North and South might work to create ‘one voice’ and participate more fully in forums such as the upcoming United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) being held May 18-29 in New York.
Through ongoing collaboration with Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood (GROOTS Canada), Horizons of Friendship is supporting an indigenous women’ s exchange that will take place in Honduras from May 3rd -13th. Some Canadian women will travel for almost two days and pass from -15 degrees Celsius + 30 degrees Celsius from communities in the Northwest Territories to Honduras to take part in this exchange. Once in Honduras, the Canadian women from Yellowknife, Edmonton and Toronto will exchange knowledge with grassroots Indigenous women’s from rural Guatemalan Mayan communities and Garifuna, Chorti and Pech communities in Honduras. After the exchange, and before the UNPFII, the Huairou Commission and GROOTS International will support a two-day networking and planning session to prepare the women for their effective participation in the forum, and to allow women to network and share information. Grassroots women’s groups from around the world will also participate in this meeting to discuss the importance of forming an international grassroots indigenous women’s network connected to GROOTS and the Huairou Commission.
This bringing together of Aboriginal women from Canada, Honduras and Guatemala provides an opportunity to bridge the gap between issues affecting indigenous populations in the North and South, and to discuss the problems and solutions affecting their respective communities. They will share about issues such as participation in the political process, language and cultural preservation, human rights issues, including discrimination, migration patterns, effects of global warming on their way of life (and traditional knowledge base), HIV/AIDS and land tenure. As Ms. Bengochea points out, “”In order to arrive at the higher level (of a common message) we have to get to know each other, and this exchange will help to do just that”.
Please visit www.horizons.ca in June for photos and an update on the Women’s Study Tour and participation in the UNPFII.
Contact Information:
Rachael Currie
rcurrie@horizons.ca
Community Outreach Coordinator and Communications Coordinator
Horizons of Friendship
www.horizons.ca
With the on-air translation provided by Patricia, Analucy offers her testimony and shares her global work experiences with CEGAH, Horizons and GROOTS International during an early morning radio show on CKLB: Aboriginal Radio Programming. This station broadcasts to 30 communities in the Northwest Territories. Host Jim Hope conducted the interview, which focused on the social and political reality of Aboriginal peoples globally, the similarities between indigenous peoples in Honduras and Canada, and the need to form a common voice through such events as the proposed North/South Indigenous Women’s exchange.
