Latin America
Women’s critical role in peace building remains strong and visible in Colombia
November 16, 2016
The day after my arrival in Colombia I was travelling on the Magdalena Medio river in a small ferry with Gloria Amparo, coordinator of the Popular Feminist Organization (OFP), to visit women’s centres (casas de Mujeres) in Puerte Wilches and…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
NO MORE! END violence against women now! NO MAS!
November 14, 2016
Partner Tour to highlight violence against women in Colombia and Canada The United Nations has declared the period between November 25, the International Day to End Violence against Women and December 10, International Human Rights day, as 16 Days of…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
Partners Tour to highlight violence against women in Colombia and in Canada
October 19, 2016
Gloria Amparo Suarez of the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP), a Colombian women’s rights organization and KAIROS partner, will visit Canada from Nov 23 to Dec 4. The KAIROS sponsored educational tour is timed to include the 16 Days of Activism…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
KAIROS stands with Organizacion Femenina Popular (OFP) in Colombia
September 29, 2016
KAIROS stands with the Popular Feminist Organization (OFP), our partner in Colombia, as they prepare for the plebiscite on October 2 when Colombians will vote on the recently signed final Peace Accord. The OFP is currently working and praying for…
Post filed in: Latin America
Celebrating the Life of beloved JTatik Samuel Ruiz in Chiapas, Mexico
February 18, 2016
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
A renewed commitment to end violence against women
November 25, 2015
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
A Time for Hope and Solidarity
June 16, 2015
Guatemalan partner Ana Guadalupe Matzir Miculax joined us in Ottawa for the KAIROS Time for Reconciliation gathering and the closing ceremony of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), May 29-June 3 in Ottawa. An important part of our work with…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
Amidst ongoing violence, Colombian Church partners reaffirm their commitment to the peace process
May 15, 2015
Deep in our hearts and minds we have felt the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst. We have also powerfully felt the presence of the children, youth, women and men who have been murdered and disappeared in this long internal…
Post filed in: Latin America
Anti-mining activist killed and Ecuadorean partners harassed on eve of Lima meetings
December 4, 2014
What was supposed to be a celebratory launch for KAIROS partner Acción Ecológica’s delegation to the People’s Summit and COP20 meeting in Lima, Peru turned into a nightmare as delegation members were detained and harassed and news came in of…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
In Memory of the life of Adolfo Ich Chaman-
September 26, 2014
Today, five years later, KAIROS joins the family of Adolfo Ich Chaman- , his community and human rights and solidarity groups in Guatemala and in Canada in commemorating Adolfo Ich’s life and demanding justice. Angelica Choc, Adolfo’s wife, has called…
Post filed in: Latin America
An Expression of Solidarity in Response to the Death of Merilyn Topacio Reynoso
May 1, 2014
In this expression of solidarity in response to the fatal attack against Merilyn Topacio Reynoso, a young Guatemalan activist, KAIROS affirms its commitment to intergenerational work and youth activism, and to working for a world where young people have the…
Post filed in: Latin America
Sisters are mining for the truth
March 6, 2014
Rachel Warden, gender justice coordinator at KAIROS, draws the relationship between the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, International Women’s Day, and violence against women in this article published in Toronto’s NOW magazine.
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
URGENT ACTION: Indigenous Partner at Risk in Colombia
January 21, 2014
KAIROS is extremely concerned about the safety of Embera Chamí Indigenous leader, Flaminio Onogama Gutiérre from South West Colombia. Flaminio was in Canada in 2010 as part of a KAIROS sponsored tour. According to reports from Amnesty International, Flaminio is…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Latin America, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Advent, Human Rights and International Migrants Day
December 18, 2013
Alfredo Barahona, KAIROS’ Migrant Relations Coordinator, reflects on Advent and International Migrants Day from the perspective of his own personal experiences as a migrant to Canada from El Salvador, and his recent visit to Quito.
Post filed in: Latin America, Migrant Justice
Dusty Shoes or Golden Slippers
December 11, 2013
by Ellen Wood Ellen Wood is a grain, cattle and apple orchard farmer as well as an ordained United Church minister, now semi-retired. She has worked on many social justice causes, most recently the tar sands and the nuclear…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
You Are Not Alone
December 1, 2013
Barbara Fullerton, a United Church minister from Paris, Ontario recounts her experience with members of the El Estor human rights defender work team, and reminds us that we are all in this together.
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Latin America
What mine eyes have seen….
November 30, 2013
As the Guatemala study tour draws to a close, KAIROS BC/Yukon regional representative Janet Gray, one of the group’s photographers, talks about the pictures in her camera and those in her mind.
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
Reflection on the International Day to End Violence Against Women
November 27, 2013
On the International Day to End Violence Against Women, we remember and support victims and survivors of all forms of violence against women, and express solidarity with all those working to end this violence. In this post, Helen Knott, a…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
A Day of Spectacular Beauty
November 27, 2013
Emma Hebb is a member of Wesley United in St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick. After a swim in beautiful Lake Izabal near El Estor, she reflects on society’s seemingly insatiable appetite for natural resources, and the all people who care about…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
A Beauty that Hurts
November 25, 2013
During a “day off” in Antigua, Wilf Bean, former director of the Tatamagouche Centre, wrestles with the contradictions and questions he faces as a Canadian on this tour studying the impact of Canadian mining companies.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
Where is Your Brother?
November 24, 2013
Georgina Baisley from Miramichi Presbytery of the United Church relates stories of resistance to mining’s impacts on water and human rights in Guatemala.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
Voices Amplified
November 23, 2013
The struggle of Indigenous people in Guatemala to defend the land and a way of life resonates with Helen Knott, a Dane’zaa and Cree woman from Treaty 8 territory in northeastern British Columbia.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
Day 3 – Circle of Life
November 22, 2013
On Day 3 of the Guatemala Study Tour, United Church diaconal minister Elaine Kellogg describes a meeting with the Committee in Defense of Mother Earth in San Miguel Ixtahuacan.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights, Latin America
The Road to San Marcos
November 21, 2013
In her first blog from Guatemala, Tanis Desjarlais from Kawacatoose First Nation in Saskatchewan explains how she found hope and inspiration on the road to San Marcos.
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
Day One in Guatemala!
November 20, 2013
Lynn Hamilton, United Church clergy, writes a guest post on Day One of the Guatemala Study Tour. “Tuesday. Our first full day together as a group. Folks from Victoria, the Miramachi, and 12 points in between begin a day of…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
Getting ready for the delegates…
November 18, 2013
Rachel Warden writes on the purpose and prospects of the Guatemala mining study tour with the United Church of Canada. It will include visits to Canadian owned mining projects, and conversations with the communities where these projects are located.
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
KAIROS Participates in Study Tour to Guatemala
November 7, 2013
From Nov 19-29, KAIROS network member Helen Knott will join Latin America partnerships coordinator Rachel Warden in a study tour to Guatemala. Sponsored by the Mining the Connections Working Group of the Maritime Conference of the United Church of Canada,…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America
Meet the KAIROS Delegates on the Guatemala Study Tour
November 7, 2013
Helen Knott Merritt, BC elen HelenHelenTansii, Jahonnache. I am a Cree, Dane Zaa, and English woman currently in my last year of studies for my Bachelors of Social Work. I have worked for an NGO creating a program for Indigenous young people to do…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America