Jimmy  Darts

SB Mowing

Pattie Gonia

Little Miss Flint

Kalina Silverman / @makebigtalk on Instagram

The Dogist

Samuel Weidenhofer

Patriotic Kenny Foundation

Peter Bond

That Good News Girl

Ben Saunders - Flawless Cleaning

Flavor Flav

Ask Uncle Jack

Amy Jandrisevits

FowlMouthFarmer

Tess Bohne

Latonja and Taylor Richardson

Officer Richard Craig

John Wolfe

Khloe

<div>Hello, I am Amal Ghilan, 25 years old, a mother of three children (Abdullah 8 years old, Salwa 6 years old and the youngest Nour 9 months old) who was born during the war after severe malnutrition and a difficult birth journey. I was living in a beautiful and happy house in Gaza City until the war of extermination came, my house was destroyed on the third day of the war, my father-in-law and sister-in-law were killed ,and our car which was our only source of income, was destroyed, so we lost our home and source of income. We have been displaced more than 10 times so far and left homeless and without money. Please help my children survive before it is too late
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Help Evacuate My Children From GAZA WAR

<div>Hello, world. I am Dr. Diaa Ramadan Okasha, writing to you from a refugee tent in southern Gaza. ‏I am the eldest brother in a family of 10, a dedicated doctor who has always held my humanitarian work sacred. Since nearly all institutions in Gaza have been destroyed in the war, it is impossible to work and make an income here. With the success of this GoFundMe I was able to purchase a ticket to leave Gaza, and will soon attempt to work in Egypt to support my family. The next step is to raise the funds for my sister Dena to join me in Egypt. After her, we will bring the rest of our siblings and parents.
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<div>‏At the time of writing, Gazans are required to possess US $5000 per adult and $2500 per child to cross into Egypt at Rafah.
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<div>‏Here is a breakdown of our remaining target funds:
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<div>When the campaign reaches $10,000, Dena will be able to leave Rafah to work in Egypt with me.
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<div>When the campaign reaches $40,000, the remaining 7 immediate family members for whom we provide will be able to emigrate to join me and Dena. This amounts to $5000 each for our mother and father, our 17-year-old brother, and two elder sisters (ages 21 and 14), and $2500 each for our two youngest sisters (ages 12 and 5).
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<div>Thank you to everyone who contributed to the first $5000 which enabled me to purchase my crossing ticket. I am currently waiting to use the ticket to cross, and was told the wait time is 8-20 days.
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Help Dr. Deaa Okasha's family get out of Gaza and save them

<div>Almost there!
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<div>We have managed to get two of our  friends - longtime human rights defenders - out of Gaza. They are now safely in Cairo and receiving medical treatment, thanks to all of your contributions. we honestly think that everyone who has donated has helped to save their lives.
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<div>But they have been separated from their two immediate family members who are still stuck inside Gaza. We have word that they might be permitted to cross through Rafah this weekend.
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<div>One has cancer and urgently needs to reach Egypt to receive chemotherapy treatment, the other is elderly and - as you can imagine - is suffering in the unbearable conditions in Gaza. 
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<div>We only need about £3,000 more to secure their exit and cover the initial medical costs upon arrival in Cairo.
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<div>This is the final stretch! 
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<div>Anything you can contribute will help immensely. 
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<div>Thank you so much in advance!
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<div>(Make sure to set the GofundMe donation to zero to avoid extra fees)
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<div>We’re raising money to help friends and former colleagues leave Gaza. As you know, the situation is unbearable.
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<div>Exit out of Gaza is exceptionally difficult but there is an organisation in Egypt facilitating exit for people who can pay, and this is what we are hoping to do. The cost fluctuates, but for our four friends will be between $23,000 and $32,000. We are very nearly there.
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<div>Anything helps.
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<div>We’ve know our friends since 2008, when we both worked in Gaza. Two of our friends are incredible human rights defenders, and the other two are their immediate relatives. One needs urgent medical care.
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<div>In parallel we are trying diplomatic channels, if these work out first we will return all donations.
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<div>Please set GofundMe donation to zero - otherwise they take a big cut
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<div>GoFundMe refund policy: <a href="https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-gb/articles/203604214-Refunding-your-donors" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-gb/articles/203604214-Refunding-your-donors" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-gb/articles/203604214-Refunding-your-donors</a></a>
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Help to escape Gaza

<div>In an amazing opportunity grassroots groups and activist around Ireland are preparing to welcome a delegation from the Zapatistas to Ireland this October. They are visiting Ireland as part of a historic solidarity and movement building voyage to Europe:
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<div>''It is time for our hearts to dance again, and for their sounds and rhythm to not be those of mourning and resignation. Thus, various Zapatista delegations, men, women, and others, the color of our earth, will go out into the world, walking or setting sail to remote lands, oceans, and skies, not to seek out difference, superiority, or offense, much less pity or apology, but to find what makes us equal.'
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<div>While they are in Ireland over a period of roughly 18 days they will visit communities and groups in the north, west, south and east. We have a loose plan at the moment where using community centres and art spaces and social spaces encuentros will be held which will be based around 'listening and speaking' as the Zapatistas have asked, and around hospitality, art, music and food.
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<div>These events will be used to connect our movements here which are engaged in resistance and struggle in Ireland with each other and will give us the opportunity to remember and relearn what is possible using the example and living presence of the Zapatista Delegation. We will be celebrating the resistance, persistence and revolutionary imagination of the Zapatista movement and hopefully taking inspiration from them to build our own movements stronger better and deeper.
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<div>Among those already participating are feminist groups, environmental and anti-extractivist movements, sustainable radical farming groups, ethnic minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ+ groups and migrants involved in struggles for justice and life. We are and will be reaching out to as many groups and campaigns as possible to include them in these plans on their own terms and only limited by the time and spaces available. Because this trip is being organised at very short notice we need to get funds in place quickly and so we are doing this Go Fund Me and we are really grateful for any support we get and we are totally accepting of the fact that not everyone has funds to donate and so no pressure of any description! <br /><br />If you want to get involved you can get in touch with us at @zapsgoheirinn on twitter <a href="mailto:[email redacted]">[email redacted]</a> and and follow our facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/F%C3%A1ilte-go-h%C3%89irinn-Zapatistas-2021-101658158954082" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/F%C3%A1ilte-go-h%C3%89irinn-Zapatistas-2021-101658158954082" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.facebook.com/F%C3%A1ilte-go-h%C3%89irinn-Zapatistas-2021-101658158954082</a></a> 
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<div>We are fundraising to pay for the transport, food and support and accommodation for the delegation themselves on their trip around Ireland and for the cost of running the various events and meetings and celebrations that will take place. We want also to ensure that no one is prevented from participating in this great adventure by lack of funds or childcare or accessible transport and so we will raise as much as possible for the visit.
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<div>If by any chance there is a surplus of funds at the end of the journey we will donate these funds to the delegation for their tour around the rest of the planet.
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Help us fund the Zapatista tour of Ireland

<div>Hello! Thanks for checking out my gofundme. My name is Jude (they/he), I live in Ireland and I'm fundraising for top surgery!
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<div>Like many trans people, I've struggled with chest dysphoria and been uncomfortable with my chest in general for a long time and I'm absolutely certain that top surgery is right for me. Currently I wear a binder most of the time but this isn't a sustainable solution as binders can cause health issues like tissue damage, muscle damage and pain.  
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<div>Because myself and so many other trans people in Ireland cannot get the care that we need at home, I've decided to go to the UK for my surgery. I've started this gofundme so early because between the cost of the surgery itself, consultations, flights and accommodation during my recovery period, it looks like I will need about €10,000. This is a huge sum of money and I won't meet my goal overnight but every little helps.
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<div>Top surgery will be life changing for me, and every donation and share mean the world to me, I'll keep you updated on my progress through this page. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! Thank you so much for reading.
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<div>Le grá / With love,
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<div>Jude
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Jude's Top Surgery Fund

Solidarity with grassroots organisations’ response to the COVID-19 crisis in Guatemala<br /><br />**Español abajo**<br /><br />They say that viruses don’t discriminate, but as COVID-19 sweeps across the world it has become ever more clear that this is not the case. Populations who have faced historical discrimination and marginalisation are far more vulnerable to both the health, social and economic impacts of the global pandemic.<br /><br />Guatemala is one such country, where the virus has exposed the harsh realities of social and economic inequalities. The ultra-conservative, military aligned government, imposed a quarantine on March 22nd, ordered for the closure of all non-essential businesses, declared a ban on public gatherings and imposed a police and military enforced curfew. Nevertheless, in a country where 79% of the workforce rely on the informal economy to make a living and only 20% of people have access to social welfare of any description, means that 80% of people have been left without their means to make a living and feed their families or government support.<br /><br />Voluntary initiatives have been set up across the country to provide basic food and other essential supports for whole communities who have effectively been abandoned by the state. One such initiative is the ‘White Flag’ campaign, where families who have run out of food can ask for help by flying a white flag outside their homes. Neighbours and community organisations have responded in force to this cry for help, despite their own stretched resources and the repression they have experienced from the government who have objected to such initiatives but without providing any alternative supports to desperate people.<br /><br />The Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland and the Galway Feminist Collective are requesting your support to fund these life-saving acts of solidarity in Guatemala with a small donation that will be administered by the grassroots indigenous rights organisation, the People’s Council of K’iche (CPK).<br /><br />GUATEMALA’S WHITE FLAGS<br /><br />Grassroots organisations respond to the COVID-19 crisis<br /><br />More than 60% of Guatemala’s 16 million inhabitants live in conditions of poverty, this is exacerbated in indigenous territories, where the peoples have been historically excluded by the racist state of Guatemala. In the Quiché department more than 75% of the population lives in conditions of poverty and extreme poverty. One out of every two children suffers from malnutrition.<br /><br />The white flags, a symbol of hunger in Guatemala, have been flying since the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. They have become a last resort of families struggling to survive, who use the flag as an urgent request for help and food during the government imposed lockdown. The most impoverished families began to fly white flags from their homes in rural regions that have been. As the State imposed quarantine and curfew has prolonged, more and more white flags appear each day: the final hope of thousands and thousands of families unable to work or leave their houses and who might, otherwise, starve. Instead of responding to this demand, the government is criminalizing the families and those helping them, who are not only faced with the lack of food and water, but are also living under military repression and harassment from state security forces for daring to highlight the hunger that families are experiencing. The government wants to silence them through fear. Under the current restrictions to work and movement the use of flags is becoming a widespread practice, alerting neighbours to emergency situations: Red flags are used for older adults who need medicine or food and the black flag hung out for alerting situations of violence against women.<br /><br />The expression of reciprocity among the humblest, but also most caring people did not take long. A number of caring initiatives have begun with people of little means, given what they can to support their neighbours in crisis. These expressions of solidarity have turned into a powerful movement across the different rural regions territories of the country, with various communities, families, youth with initiatives, responding to the white flags and the emergency in the face of government inaction.<br /><br />In the department of Quiche, the white flags are everywhere and people have responded to their call in equal measure. Youth brigades and community councils have been organizing to collect food and respond to the most urgent needs.<br /><br />The K’iche People’s Council for the Defense of Life, Mother Nature, Land and Territory (CPK) was founded in 2007 to confront the impacts of the Free Trade Agreement between Central America and the United States. The CPK is made up of communities who have organized to defend our collective rights as indigenous peoples, our territories, our right of self-determination and our right to preserve our way of life which is deeply connected to mother earth and our right to water. We also campaign to end violence against women. Our organisation is based on democratic participation processes through community assemblies. We campaign against extractivism and transnational corporations for the dispossession and plunder of land and resources and the territorial destruction they cause.<br /><br />The CPK has joined the ‘White Flag’ community resistance in a number of ways including solidarity actions, communications, reporting and demanding for justice, particularly because the K'iche territory has been historically excluded and communities are at greater risk .<br /><br />"We recognize that confronting the pandemic and dealing with quarantine is a challenge for all humanity, but confronting the pandemic through violence and by denying the most vulnerable access to their livelihoods, electricity, water, food, and housing, is profoundly racist and exclusionary and that is what is happening to the majority of the population of the K'iche' territory.”<br /><br />For this reason, one of the most urgent campaigns is the “Together against COVID19” initiative, which is collecting food, money and medicine. A collection centre has been opened and communication efforts to demand justice and denounce violence against women, children, elderly women as well as military violence against more vulnerable communities, have been expanded. This is how the CPK are  directly supporting communities most affected in the current crisis.<br /><br />Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic, May 2020<br /><br />...<br /><br />Dicen que los virus no discriminan, pero a medida que COVID-19 se extiende por todo el mundo, es cada vez más claro que este no es el caso. Las poblaciones que han enfrentado la discriminación y la marginación históricas son mucho más vulnerables a los impactos sanitarios, sociales y económicos de la pandemia mundial.<br /><br />Guatemala es uno de los países donde el virus ha expuesto las duras realidades de las desigualdades sociales y económicas. El gobierno ultraconservador, alineado con el ejército, impuso una cuarentena el 22 de marzo, ordenó el cierre de todos los negocios no esenciales, declaró la prohibición de las reuniones públicas e impuso un toque de queda vigilado por la policía y el ejército. Sin embargo, en un país donde el 79% de la fuerza laboral depende de la economía informal para ganarse la vida y solo el 20% de las personas tiene acceso al bienestar social de cualquier tipo, significa que el 80% de las personas se han quedado sin sus medios para ganarse la vida, alimentar a sus familias y sin ningún apoyo del gobierno.<br /><br />Se ha establecido iniciativas voluntarias en todo el país para proporcionar alimentos básicos y otros apoyos esenciales para comunidades enteras que han sido efectivamente abandonadas por el estado. Una de esas iniciativas es la campaña de las "Banderas blancas," donde las familias que se han quedado sin alimentos pueden pedir ayuda al colgar una bandera blanca fuera de sus hogares. Los vecinos y las organizaciones comunitarias han respondido con fuerza a este grito de ayuda, a pesar de sus escasos recursos y la represión que han experimentado por parte del gobierno que se ha opuesto a tales iniciativas, pero sin brindar ningún apoyo alternativo a las personas desesperadas.<br /><br />LASC y el Colectivo Feminista de Galway solicitan su apoyo para financiar estos actos de solidaridad que salvan vidas en Guatemala con una pequeña donación que será administrada por una organización de base derechos indígenas de base, el Consejo de Pueblos K'iche (CPK).<br /><br /> <br /><br />BANDERAS BLANCAS EN GUATEMALA.<br /><br />como se está generando respuesta organizada a esta crisis.<br /><br />Guatemala es un país donde más del 60% de los 16 millones de habitantes viven en condiciones de pobreza, esto se agudiza en territorios que han sido más excluidos históricamente por el Estado racista de Guatemala. En el departamento del Quiché más del 75% de la población vive en condiciones de pobreza y extrema pobreza. Uno de cada dos niña-os sufre de desnutrición.<br /><br />Las banderas blancas, símbolo de hambre en Guatemala, como último recurso de las familias sobrevivientes, es un pedido de auxilio y urgencia de alimentos, Iniciaron a ondear en las casas más empobrecidas en territorios olvidados por el Estado, por falta de alimento cada día salen más y más banderas, tras el confinamiento expresado por la pandemia COVID19, las banderas blancas es la esperanza final de miles y miles de familias,  el gobierno en lugar de atender esta demanda está criminalizando y generando prejuicios de ataque en contra de las familias que no solo tienen que vivir el confinamiento sin agua y sin alimento, sino que tiene la represión militar del toque de queda y el rechazo del gobierno de Guatemala por expresar públicamente situaciones de hambruna. Pues el gobierno lo que quiere es silenciar a través del miedo. Ahora se ha popularizado el uso de banderas en Guatemala: Ya se utiliza la bandera Roja que es para los adultos mayores que necesitan medicamentos o víveres y la bandera negra para denunciar la violencia contra las mujeres.<br /><br />La expresión de reciprocidad entre la gente más sencilla pero más consciente no se hizo esperar, se están dando iniciativas muy amorosas de compartir lo poco que se tienen, con el gran mensaje, entre vecinas y vecinos se pasan la voz para apoyarse mutuamente, ahora se está convirtiendo en un movimiento con fuerza en varios territorios del país, como una respuesta inmediata al llamado de las banderas blancas, varias comunidades, familias, juventud con iniciativas, están atendiendo esta emergencia.<br /><br />En el departamento del Quiche, la expresión está muy presente tanto la necesidad como la expresión de dar respuesta, se han organizado brigadas de jóvenes que recaudan víveres y van a atender las necesidades más urgentes, comunidades también a través de los consejos comunitarios.<br /><br />El Consejo de Pueblos K’iche’s por la Defensa de la Vida, Madre Naturaleza, Tierra y Territorio (CPK) del pueblo K’iche’ fundado en 2007 para enfrentar los efectos del Tratado de libre comercio entre América Central y Estados Unidos.​ El CPK está integrado por un conjunto de comunidades que nos hemos organizado para defender nuestros derechos colectivos como pueblos originarios, nuestros territorios, nuestro derecho de autodeterminación y también los derechos con nuestro modelo de vida vinculado a la madre tierra, los derechos del y al agua. Militamos igualmente contra las violencias contra las mujeres​. Nuestro proceso de participación es asambleario democrático y comunitario. Luchamos contra el extractivismo y contra las empresas transnacionales de expresión de despojo, saqueo y destrucción territorial.<br /><br />CPK, se ha unido a esta resistencia comunitaria a través de varias iniciativas, de solidaridad, de comunicación, de denuncia y de exigencia de justicia, pues el territorio K’iche’, por las condiciones de exclusión históricas colocan a las comunidades en mayor riesgo.<br /><br />“Reconocemos que enfrentar la pandemia y enfrentar el confinamiento es un desafío de toda la humanidad, pero enfrentar la pandemia sin trabajo, sin energía eléctrica, sin agua, sin alimento, sin vivienda y con violencia a quienes somos más vulnerables, es profundamente racista y excluyente y eso es lo que le está pasando a la mayoría de la población del territorio K’iche’.<br /><br />Por ello una de las campañas más urgentes es la iniciativa “Juntas y juntos contra el COVID19”, con esta iniciativa se está apoyando la recaudación de comida, dinero, medicina, se generó centro de acopio de alimentos y se está ampliando esfuerzos de comunicación, denuncia y exigencia de justicia para denunciar violencia contra mujeres, niñez, ancianas y denunciar violencia contra comunidades más vulnerables, con ello se está apoyando directamente a comunidades más afectadas en la crisis actual.<br /><br />Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic, May 2020

Guatemala's White Flags: COVID Community Response

(Spanish translation below)<br /><br />On June 3rd, the Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala, located between Antigua and Escuintla, erupted. Pyroclastic flows of ash accompanied by hot gases raced down the volcano at high speeds, and small towns such as El Rodeo and Los Lotes were essentially destroyed. At least 65 people were killed; I suspect that number will be over 100 by the time this is over. Thousands were displaced.<br /><br />Here’s a <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/MU7HMHkNccL2">google maps link to the affected area.</a> Obviously, the sattelite view comes from before the disaster. The volcano is to the northwest of this map. The main pyroclastic flow emerged southeast following the existing rivers. Where those split in two, the flow was more chaotic, and hit the town of El Rodeo in between those two more or less head on. The smaller town of Los Lotes, just to the north, was hit even harder. The image above of the buildings and trucks is located in between the Antigua Golf Club and “Granja Porcino Toledo”, both visible/labeled in Google Maps.<br /><br />From 2003 to 2006, I lived in La Trinidad, located in between El Zapote and El Rodeo, visible at the south edge of this view. La Trinidad was not directly hit by the dangerous pyroclastic flow but it has nevertheless been buried in fallen ash and evacuated.<br /><br />La Trinidad is a community of returned refugees. During the Guatemalan civl war in the 80s, the genocidal campaign of the government forced them to flee from their home in the west of the country across the border to Mexico. There in Mexico, strong community organization was an essential survival strategy, as they built relationships with local communities to find work, with the local Catholic Church to help build a voice capable of articulating their concerns, and with NGOs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to establish their legal status in the country and get logistical aid in rebuilding their community as they were forced to move several times. After the peace accords in 1996, the UNHCR helped them buy a coffee plantation in the south of the country, an area less affected by the civil war. <br /><br />They maintained their strong community organization through such structures as their new coffee cooperative. Their coffee and agricultural land has now been badly damaged through ash-fall. It will surely be fertile again soon, but in the mean time, they will probably need to invest thousands of quetzales per family — tens of thousands of dollars overall — in rebuilding their houses and restoring their agricultural land. Also, some members of the community were in the harder-hit areas during the eruption; we know of one family where two people who were selling shoes in El Rodeo had serious burns and one of them was charged over $1500 for a single night of emergency treatment in a private hospital. Obviously, given local incomes, this is a lot of money.<br /><br />My wife and I became connected to this community through her undergraduate thesis research in anthropology. She had also grown up as a refugee in Mexico, although her more-urban experience differed from the rural story of La Trinidad. After she finished organizing a community mural for her thesis, the town approached us to ask our help in opening an afternoon middle school in the same rooms as the elementary school in the mornings. We organized and taught at the middle school for two years, and that school still exists (though classes are of course interrupted by the eruption). Our daughter was born while we lived there.<br /><br />When disaster strikes, direct assistance is often the most effective. The problem is that it can be difficult to know how and where to give such direct assistance. When there is an existing community structure, this is ideal; I believe such organization is exactly what it takes to avoid corruption and use the funds efficiently. La Trinidad is not the hardest-hit community by this eruption; those are El Rodeo and Los Lotes. But in my opinion, La Trinidad, because of its pre-existing organizational solidarity, is where my support can do the most good.<br /><br />The bulk of any money we raise will be transferred directly to the Coffee Cooperative. This is a community cooperative; the current legal representative is Simon Camposeco. Insofar as we become aware of direct medical expenses that have not been covered by other organizations, we may give some small fraction of the funds to cover these; this may end up including people from El Rodeo and/or Los Lotes insofar as we can verify their cases. In no case would that be more than 1/3 of the funds we raise.<br /><br />Every amount helps. This campaign will help all of the hundreds of families in La Trinidad, and in many cases just being able to get a change of clothes or some diapers for a baby can make a big difference. Larger amounts will help begin the difficult task of rebuilding and repairing the damage.<br /><br />El 3 de Junio, el Volcán de Fuego en Guatemala, entre Antigua y Escuintla, hizo erupción. Flujos piroclásticos de ceniza, acompañados de gases calientes, corrieron para abajo, destruyendo los pueblos de El Rodeo y Los Lotes. Por lo menos 65 personas se han muerto, y sospecho que este número montará a más de 100 antes de que eso se acabe. <br /><br />Aqui hay un <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/MU7HMHkNccL2" target="_blank">enlace de Mapas Google</a> del área afectada. Obviamente, la vista satelital viene de antes del desastre. El volcán se encuentra al noroeste. El flujo piroclástico bajó hacia el sureste siguiendo los rios que se ven en el mapa. Donde esos se dividen en dos, el flujo se volvió más caótico, golpeando el pueblo de El Rodeo entre los dos. El pueblito de Los Lotes, un poquito al norte, recibió el golpe aún más  directamente. El imagen de arriba, de los edificios y trailers soterrados, se ubica entre el club de golf de Antigua y la "granja porcino Toledo", ambas visible en Google Maps.<br /><br />Entre 2003 y 2006, mi familia vivió en La Trinidad, entre El Zapote y El Rodeo, visibles en el lado sur del mapa. La Trinidad no se golpeó directamente por el flujo piroclástico, pero sin embargo se le ha caído una capa de ceniza/arena y han tenido que evacuar.  <br /><br />La Trinidad es una comunidad de refugiados retornados. Durante la guerra civil guatemalteca en los 80, la campaña genocida del gobierno les forzó huir de sus hogares en el oeste de Guatemala hacia México. Allí, su nivel de organización comunitária fue una herramienta de sobrevivencia esencial. Forjaron relaciones con las comunidades mexicanas para encontrar trabajo, con la iglesia católica para fortalecer su voz y articular sus necesidades, y con ONGs y el Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para Refugiados (ACNUR) para establecer su estatus legal y obtener ayuda logística para reconstruir su comunidad mientras se tuvieron que desplacarse varias veces. Despues de los acuerdos de paz en 1996, el ACNUR les ayudó comprar una finca de café en el sur de Guatemala, una área menos afectado por la guerra, para su retorno.<br /><br />Mantuvieron su fuerte organización comunitaria a traves de estructuras tales como su cooperativo de cafe. Sus terrenos de café y de agricultura ahora se han dañado por las cenizas del volcán. Seguramente pronto será otra vez fértil, pero mientras tanto, tendrán que invertir miles de quetzales por familia — decenas de miles de dólares en todo — arreglando sus casas y redimiendo sus siembras. Además, algunos miembros de la comunidad estaban en las áreas más directamente golpeadas cuando la erupción; sabemos de una familia con dos personas que estaban vendiendo zapatos en El Rodeo y que les están cobrando 12000 quetzales por una noche de tratamientos de emergencia en un hospital privado. Obviamente, en vista de los salarios locales, eso es mucho dinero.<br /><br />Mi esposa y yo nos conectamos con esa comunidad a traves de sus investigaciones de tésis de licenciatura en antropologia. Ella también creció como refugiada en México, aunque su experiencia fue más urbana que el de la gente de la Trinidad. Cuando se acabaron sus investigaciones, la gente de la Trinidad nos pidieron ayuda abriendo una escuela básica (nivel medio) en horario vespertino en las instalaciones de la escuela primaria. Organizamos y fuimos maestros de esa escuela durante 2 años. Aún existe, aunque por supuesto las clases se han suspendido por la evacuación. Nuestra hija nació mientras vivíamos allí.<br /><br />Cuando llegue un desastre, yo creo que la ayuda directa es lo más eficaz. El problema es que puede ser difícil saber cómo y dónde dar tal ayuda. El caso ideal es que ya haya organización; creo que es exactamente lo que se necesite para evitar la corrupción y para usar los fondos de manera eficaz. La Trinidad no es la comunidad más golpeada por esa erupción; esas son El Rodeo y Los Lotes. Pero en mi opinion, La Trinidad, por su nivel de solidaridad y organización, es donde mi apoyo puede ser de mayor ayuda.<br /><br />La mayor parte de cualquier dinero que se junte aquí se va a transferir directamente a la cooperativa de café de La Trinidad. Es una cooperativa comunitaria, que actualmente tiene por representante legal don Simón Camposeco. En tanto que nos enteremos de otros gastos médicos por heridos del volcán, que no se han cubiertos por otras organizaciones, puede que demos una fraccion de los fondos para tal fin; eso puede incluir a personas de El Rodeo y/o Los Lotes si podemos verificar sus historias. En ningun caso dariamos menos que 2/3 a la cooperativa de café.<br /><br />Cualquier cantidad es una ayuda. Es para todos los cientos de familias de La Trinidad y en muchos casos el solo hecho de recibir un cambio de ropa o unos pañales hace una gran diferencia. Sumas mayores pueden servir para empezar con el trabajo difícil de reconstruir y reparar lo dañado.

Guatemala volcano (La Trinidad)

Aisling Walsh

Aisling Walsh

Aisling Walsh

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