Paraguay #1: Papers, Privilege, Paraguay!

On July 5th at midnight, I will be 40 000 feet above planet earth with four other people. We will be en route to Paraguay for a Development and Peace Solidarity Tour and won't be back until July 23rd. Paraguay #1 This is the first of I hope many posts (it'll depend on web access)

The idea of our Solidarity Tours is to give D&P members the opportunity to meet our partners in the Global South, learn about their work and how D&P supports it, then come back and tell their stories. This is my third tour and its extra special because my Mother, the one who taught me to seek Loving Justice in the world, will be there beside me. On Wednesday I was sitting with a bunch of papers in my lap and was struck with a thought. So I took a photo to share the moment.

The 'bunch of papers' are 5 passport applications to Paraguay with all supporting documentation. As I looked at them I reflected on how linked papers are to privilege, especially with respect to freedom of movement: 1) Canadian Passport papers ($95CAD per 5 years) give us the privilege to seek entry virtually anywhere in the world. 2) the visa papers at $65USD each (double the monthly income of much of our human family) allow us to enter the country for 90 days. 3) The letter of support from D&P tells Embassy officials that we are guaranteed by a respected NGO (ie have the support of a large organized body of people) 4) The airline ticket at $1675CAD means we have the financial means to experience the beauty of another country and also proves to the embassy we intend to return home.

Without these papers, or their accompanying privilege, we would not be going to Paraguay. They represent the trust and wealth necessary for us to go visit our partners 7984KM away.

"Are your papers in order?" "Make sure you have your documents." "Sorry, there appears to be a problem with your papers." "We can get you the papers you need..." Papers, Papers, Papers - conferring privilege the world round.

Bottled Water Waste Gallery

About a month ago I wrote about embarking on a little visual experiment - documenting everyday bottled water plastic waste.  Here's my first report in the form of a slideshow...


The most interesting thing about the experiment so far has been the discipline of it.  It takes discipline to  consciously be on the look-out for waste and to be prepared every time to photograph and document it.  Admittedly there have been times since I began back in May that I have lacked that discipline and thus there are days where I just forgot to look.  Most of the time though, the biblical counsel, "Seek and Ye Shall Find," is holding true.

The discipline of this experiment I find helps to keep the important issue of our campaign on water in focus for me.  Everytime I pick-up a bottle I am reminded of the destruction of our planet in the name of greed and the smearing of it's beautiful face in the name of lazy ignorance.

Speaking of lazy ignorance, my favourite photo so far is this one I took en route to church in our neighbourhood.

              The recycling bin is right there! Actually, the person would have saved energy by recycling it, saving themselves from having to bend over to neatly stand the bottle by the pole.

These photos are not extreme, they are a part of our everyday existence.  Bottled Water waste has become a subtle mainstay of the urban environment.  Well, at least in Canada it's subtle.  In many other parts of the world, not so much.  Sr. Clare, who toured with us from Timor Leste, explained that waste management (inc. recycling) capacity is sorely lacking in the capital Dili. This, mixed with the fact that if you want to have access to clean water you have to buy it bottled, means A LOT of plastic waste liter. As blogger Edward Rees wrote, "Dili’s population has grown by 33% in just 6 years……  from 175,000 in 2004 to 235,000 in 2010. That is quite startling.  In 1975 only about 20,000 people lived in Dili.  It also accounts for alot more beer cans, sewage, plastic bags, discarded water bottles and human waste."

Bottled Water companies are quick to trumpet their recycling achievements in developed countries.  They are less vocal about what happens to the bottles sold in their "emerging markets" (aka countries with growing demand for water where access to clean drinking water is an issue).  I guess they would say what a local government in such a country does with its waste is not their problem....

At the passport office...

I am heading to Paraguay on a Solidarity Trip to visit D&P partners this July. Today, kids in tow, I headed to the gov't building at 74 Victoria St. to renew my now expired passport. And what did I find on the floor beneath the seat in the waiting area? Another day, another bottle...
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Bottle in the Sink - Really?!?!?

Take a good look at this picture....

We all know chucking plastic water bottles ain't good for the planet...but this just adds insult to injury.

A plastic water bottle thrown out in the sink right underneath the tap - Really?!?!?

I took this picture while on the road  with Sr. Clare from Timor Leste.  We were enroute to Gravenhurst for a speaking engagement and had stopped off at a roadside rest stop.  In my travels I have noticed a dearth of drinking fountains at these stops.  I remember feeling sad and sorry for the lonely rusted and out of use fountain at one stop where instead people were treated to a huge buffet of bottled water choices.

This discovery of the bottle in the sink has inspired me.  I've begun a project whereby I will see how many days within a year I encounter plastic water bottle liter in the environment at least once. I will take a picture of the bottle, recycle it, and then post the picture here.  We all know it's a fact that plastic bottles are littered everywhere around us. I want to use this experiment, which I will call the "Bottle a Day" project, to simply put a magnifying glass up to it and make that fact real for everyone.

The Fast is Broken, Christ is Risen!

 

 "I break this fast with you."

On Saturday night, after the vigil I eat solid food for the first time in seven days. It is glorious.  I take my first bite, bread and butter melting in my mouth. I think, "How Blessed I am."  I chose to fast, chose it as a vehicle to build support for a world without hunger.  Development and Peace exists because for 1 billion people, hunger is not a choice. Poverty is not a choice. Suffering at the hands of others is not a choice. None of it is a choice. And so we must make the choice to stand with them.

We were founded over 40 years ago to "Renew the Spirit of Lent."  I pray that this Holy Week fast helped to do that.  I have been humbled by the support that was given to me. I started out with a goal of $250.  You helped me meet it more than ten times over. Every day I had to increase the goal until I gave up at $1500 - and the number kept rising.  Over fifty of you gave gifts of donations to our work. Thank-you, Thank-you, a million times Thank-you.

"He is not here; for he has risen, as he said."

These words from Matthew's Gospel, heard Saturday night at the Easter Vigil, evoke one emotion - HOPE.

This is what it is to commit oneself to international solidarity.  So often, we head to the tomb, expecting to find death.  But God breaks through - He is not Here.  There are a thousand stories from our work around the world that share in this HOPE.

In gratitude for your support of Development and Peace through your support of my Holy Week fast, I leave you with this message from Abilio Pena, a partner of Development and Peace from Colombia. His work to protect the rights of that country's most vulnerable is made possible by your support.  Listen to his words, "Jesus is a crucified person who did not remain on the cross. Jesus is a crucified person who has risen...that is also present in the communities we are assisting."

  

May God bless you all as we celebrate this Easter Season.

Waiting...

 Holy Saturday is a time of waiting.  We know how how the story ended then....Resurrection.  The disciples did not know.  No doubt they were afraid, frightened and lost.

It is much the same for those working for development, working to build more human conditions out of less ones.  They do not know how the story will end all the time.  Death is a common experience in their work whether by disease, violence or hunger and thirst.  Will everything be lost, or will we see the resurrection?


When Development and Peace first started to work with the Catholic Church in Timor Leste,  we did not know whether we would ever see the end of the Indonesian occupation.  We did not know if the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), founded by Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo with our support, would ever get to stop documenting abuse after abuse committed against the Timorese people by the occupying army.

There was only the work to be done and to wait...and yet the end did come. Bishop Belo, who was awarded a nobel peace prize for his efforts, spoke of Timor Leste's journey towards independence saying, "We, the predominantly Christian people of East Timor, like to think of the road we have taken to freedom as the road that Jesus Christ took toward Easter - toward resurrection."

But of course, development does not end but in fact, really begins with independence.  Sr. Clare Garcillano has been in the country for close to five years now and is the director of the JPC.  She is a short Filipina nun, but her heart is head and shoulders above most of us.  "Donors want to see results so quickly," she tells me.   "These things take time though. And if the funding stops, then what? we have to start all over again. That is why we are grateful to Development and Peace for your long-term support." 

After speaking at St. Dominic Parish in Bracebridge, a student asked Sr. Clare, "Why did you want to become a nun?"

"To serve the poor," she answered.  That vocation has led her to Timor Leste.   Living that commitment means having to place ourselves in the dark sometimes.  In the dark we find ourselves waiting and hoping, but like the disciples not knowing, that the light is going to break through.

Sr. Clare speaking at Holy Family parish in Kingston

In the Tomb

Emptiness.  This was the emotion that struck me most during the Good Friday service today at our church, St. Cecilia on Annette St.  The altar, empty of God's presence.  Crucified - everything hoped for gone.  Jesus is in the tomb.

It is so easy to become empty in our search for a better world. So many forces aligned against life. 

"Over 50% of the population in Timor Leste are youth," says Sr. Clare Garcillano.  This, she explains, is because so many of the older generation are dead - killed during the Indonesian occupation and the struggle for independence.  Timor Leste was an occupied country for over 450 years. Four Hundred and Fifty.  Its current independence was achieved in 2002, making it one of the newest countries in the world.

Sr. Clare is a Filipina missionary in Timor Leste and the director of the Justice and Peace commission (JPC) in the diocese of Dili.  The JPC is supported by Development and Peace.   From April 1-11 I traveled with Sr. Clare through my Central Ontario territory, coordinating 18 different presentations she gave. Through the Triduum, I want to offer some reflections on my time with this very special woman.

"My dears, you cannot imagine." This phrase I heard from Sr. Clare so many times.  She used it when telling the story of when they tried to teach the children to wash their hands at home. " 'But Sister,' they said, 'we don't have any water.' "  She used it when relating the story of the 12 year old girl, raped by a family member, and taken for help by the local priest.  That priest sought to take action against the perpetrator, only to be rebuffed by authorities who told him, "that is normal here." My dears you cannot imagine.

Emptiness. Jesus is in the tomb.

"My Dears, You cannot imagine." - Sr. Clare Garcillano

 It is Day 6 of my Holy Week fast for Development and Peace.  To learn more and make a donation visit here: http://support.devp.org/site/TR?px=1001645&fr_id=1040&pg=personal