Youth

This winter, I began an internship with Development and Peace.

What an exciting opportunity it has been for me to apply my studies outside of the classroom! Even more exciting, is that through this internship, I am able to work towards building a world of justice, which is one my passions!

On Saturday, November 29, a number of Development and Peace members and supporters gathered to share a desayuno solidario in Quebec City.

Le samedi 29 novembre dernier, plusieurs membres et sympathisants de Développement et Paix se sont réunis pour partager un desayuno solidario à Québec. Ce déjeuner solidaire était organisé par Développement et Paix, avec la participation du Comité de solidarité Trois-Rivières, du Centro de Promoción y Salud Integral (CEPROSI), du Consulat de l’État plurinational de Bolivie à Québec ainsi que de l’Association Québec-Bolivie.

I felt very fortunate to have been given the chance, through Development and Peace’s Sow Much Love photo contest, to attend Food Secure Canada’s 8th National Assembly in Halifax from November 13-15, 2014.

The first contact in the women’s centres was a special experience for all of us. When the women saw us arriving for the first time in their centres with CEPROSI employees, we could feel a certain distrust directed our way. They continued to knit without paying much attention to our being there. For some of us, it was hard to feel rejected by the people we want to help.

Following our first blog post, we felt that it would be a good idea to provide more details about the women’s centres that we work with on a daily basis. As you already know, our internship with CEPROSI has led us to work with women from the Max Paredes and Cotahuma boroughs of the city of La Paz and the Ciudad Satelite district of the city of El Alto. These are the target populations of CEPROSI, and to reach them, they are working with the Sembrando Semillas women’s association, which has more than 300 women in over 20 centres.

Here we are at the finishing line! We’ve made it to the last week of work. Only the final details are left: thinking about our goodbye party; finishing our internship project; purchasing souvenirs; … and writing up a few blog posts to tell you about our experience here in Bolivia! We believe that it’s important to describe the daily life we’ve shared over these last two and a half months.

The landscapes in Zambia are unbelievable! Today, we are on our way to Livingstone, known for the famous and powerful Victoria Falls. I’m so thankful to our Zambian friend, Andrew Simpasa, a Jesuit seminarian, for his kindness, his happiness and his time and energy to bring us to visit this amazing wonder of the world. I have never seen someone so proud of his country!

On Canada Day, we drove to the mining town of Mufilira with Development and Peace’s partner JCTR Kitwe. We shared some of our national pride with our Zambian friends by singing them Oh Canada. The pride that I held onto was challenged many times throughout our very eye-opening visit that day. The site of the copper mine we visited was very similar to the mines that are headquartered back in Canada.

Bien que la population de Papaye ne s’élève qu’à seulement 500 habitants, la contestation que l’on retrouve au sein des institutions du MPP est constante et féroce. Lieu de réunion des grands événements protestataires, la communauté de Papaye s’active, chaque année, à rassembler des centaines, voire des milliers de paysannes et paysans afin de faire connaître, à la population haïtienne et à la communauté internationale, leur mécontentement quant aux multinationales, aux institutions financières internationales et à la mondialisation du secteur agroalimentaire.