Latin Connection Task Force

This new group combines the energy of the youth and staff who visited Matamoros, Mexico, last winter, with the expertise and resources of the Honduras Partnership, our Greater Good International Project done in conjunction with the U of R Medical Center's Department of Family Medicine. The challenges that residents of both areas face are similar–poverty, low literacy, hunger, and poor access to quality health care. In Honduras, the lack of a municipal water system means a daily struggle to obtain adequate water for survival. In Matamoros, the effect of NAFTA has been to drive rural people off their land and into urban squatter settlements that lack water and other basic necessities. There they have little choice beyond having the whole family working long hours for minimal wages in a factory making the products that those of us in the developed world can buy so cheaply.

The "Task Force of the Americas" will try to improve the quality of health and life for the people of Matamoros, Mexico, and San Jose, Honduras, by:

• building the capacity of and expanding the resources to those we partner with so they may become self-sufficient;
• being supportive partners in achieving our shared goals;
• and encouraging the involvement of the First Unitarian Community through culturally sensitive, resource effective, and environmentally appropriate ways.

We will also seek opportunities to support and learn from local migrant farm workers from Latin America. Activities include sending delegations to both areas, establishing partnership with All Souls UU Church in Brownsville, Texas and the colonia project, and supporting water purification efforts in Honduras with money and work camps. To increase our understanding, "Spanish with a Purpose" adult education classes have already started.

December 12 2007