Posts Categorized: Advocacy

Advocacy for Mining Wealth to Benefit All

Joining Hand Congo works for community development in mining zones By Jean Marie Kabanga | POM, Joining Hands Democratic Republic of Congo Despite its vast mining potential and all the wealth mining brings to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it ranks among the poorest countries in the world, with a human development indicator of… Read more »

Fighting on the side of peasant farmers

FONDAMA is committed to the long road to justice By Fabienne Jean | FONDAMA, Joining Hands Haiti In my country, Haiti, hunger, poverty and deprivation destroy the dignity of more than 70% of the population. People are reduced to spending all their lives in one and only quest – the quest for survival. Coming from… Read more »

Tell TIAA to stop grabbing farmland and forests!

The Presbyterian Hunger Program has been a long time advocate of efforts to defend the land rights of communities. Much of our work through the Joining Hands initiative is to support communities in their efforts to prevent forced evictions, displacements, destruction of the environment, and loss of livelihoods due to land grabbing. Too often we… Read more »

Land Rights Victories Post Tsunami

Joining Hands Sri Lanka continues to make gains in the fight for land rights as tourism grows By Herman Kumara | Praja Abhilasha “Building Back Better” continues to be the World Bank’s motto for “rebuilding stronger, faster, and more inclusively” after natural disasters. The motto was first introduced during the post 2004 tsunami development process…. Read more »

Poem: I Can’t Breathe

By Rev. Ellie Stock Inside the glass a young man says his last goodbye, a phone call to his mother, vigiling outside, a cough and a sneeze now a pandemic disease, soon he is whispering, I can’t breathe— isolated and trapped by a ventilator machine, a masked nurse holds his hand to ease his pain… Read more »

Let’s join hands against racism and white supremacy

By Valery Nodem | Presbyterian Hunger Program The whole world has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic over the past few months. Almost 7 million people have been infected globally, and more than 400,000 have died. People have been confined in their homes for months, millions of jobs have been lost, and the world economy… Read more »

Two decades of journey for social change

Joining Hands Cameroon celebrates gains for communities By Jaff Bamenjo | RELUFA In September 2009, I joined RELUFA, the Joining Hands network in Cameroon, as an intern after finishing my master’s degree in development at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands. As a young Cameroonian graduate, I came back home with a… Read more »

Falling in Love with Peru

By Ellie Stock | Teaching Elder, Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it…Psalm 24:1 For I am longing to see you…that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith… Romans 1:11-12 Fifty-five years ago, in the spring of 1965, as a Junior in college, I was preparing… Read more »

Take Action on Environmental Rollbacks

As we approach Earth day which is on April 22, it is important that we assess the health of our Earth. With the halting of many industrial activities and a drastic decrease in air and land travel with the Covid-19 crisis we have seen nature make some incredible recoveries due to the reduced pollution levels…. Read more »

Beyond Serendipity

Communities in Peru and the U.S. join forces in the fight against  toxic metals By Jed Koball | Mission Co-worker Peru The encounter between residents of Herculaneum, Missouri and La Oroya, Peru over 15 years ago was nothing less than serendipitous. Twenty years ago, when the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) was launching its Joining Hands… Read more »