• About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
Thursday, January 21, 2021
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Arts & Culture
  • Videos
  • COVID-19
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Arts & Culture
  • Videos
  • COVID-19
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home *Opinion*

How do you wash your hands if you don’t have any water? Emergency aid needed for communities in La Guajira

by Emma Banks
April 10, 2020
2 min read
How do you wash your hands if you don’t have any water? Emergency aid needed for communities in La Guajira

La Guajira, Colombia. Photo from Emma Banks.

Editor’s note: NB Power sources coal from the Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia. Read more here.

How do you wash your hands if you don’t have any water? How do you purchase enough food for your family in order to comply with social distancing when you have no income earning possibilities?  Wayúu and Afro-descendant communities in La Guajira, Colombia, a region already struggling with malnutrition and water scarcity, are especially vulnerable in the face of COVID-19.

In order to slow the spread of the virus, rural families in Colombia are being ordered to stay at home and do their shopping one day a week. Malnutrition in Wayuu and Afro Colombian communities is an urgent concern, with many unable to afford sufficient food under normal circumstances, let alone a week’s supply. They urgently need your help to protect their families from the economic and health impacts of COVID-19.

Communities living near the Cerrejón open pit coal mine have precarious access to water. Mining companies have displaced communities and seized water sources for over thirty years. Thousands of families have to buy potable water, which is already becoming harder to find as people stockpile to prepare for COVID-19.

Most families in the region live well below the poverty line. Calls to “stay home” during COVID-19 do not account for people who struggle to put food on the table every day. COVID-19 is impacting employment in the region, putting already vulnerable people at risk for serious food shortages.

With your help, we can raise money to help provide families with water, personal hygiene products, and food.  We are a group of European and North American activists and NGOs who have done solidarity work in La Guajira for over a decade. We are in touch with our local partners about people’s needs during COVID-19.

We will split the donations raised among local leaders and organizations who are working on the ground to address people’s basic needs. Our partners will distribute water, food staples, and hygiene products to the highest need families.

Donate here.

Emma Banks is a cultural anthropologist who does research and solidarity work in mine-affected communities in Colombia.

Tags: coalColombiaColombian coalCOVID-19Emma BanksLa Guajirawater
Share29TweetSend

Related Posts

Irving-Oil-Refinery-Pete-Johnston
*Opinion*

Common Front opposes Irving Oil’s threat to raise heating costs for New Brunswickers

January 20, 2021

The Common Front for Social Justice New Brunswick opposes in the strongest terms Irving Oil’s pressure campaign to increase the...

Rent hikes and stagnant incomes leave New Brunswickers without housing this COVID winter
*Opinion*

Rent hikes and stagnant incomes leave New Brunswickers without housing this COVID winter

January 12, 2021

Imagine the shock if we were to wake to an overnight 50 per cent increase in fuel prices, making it...

Understanding the legacy of Joe Blades in the COVID-19 era
Arts & Culture

Understanding the legacy of Joe Blades in the COVID-19 era

November 30, 2020

Editor's note: Joe Blades was a Fredericton-based poet, publisher and labour activist who passed away on April 22, 2020. Joe...

Daniel Tubb on his book, Shifting Livelihoods: Gold Mining and Subsistence in the Chocó, Colombia [video]
RAVEN

Daniel Tubb on his book, Shifting Livelihoods: Gold Mining and Subsistence in the Chocó, Colombia [video]

November 8, 2020

Daniel Tubb discussed his book, Shifting Livelihoods: Gold Mining and Subsistence in the Chocó, Colombia, on November 6, 2020 by...

Load More

Recommended

shalegassidewalkoct6-2011

Fredericton South candidates, residents continue to debate shale gas

6 years ago

Mission possible, but what about the progressive economics?

2 years ago
New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance backs federal carbon pricing at Alberta’s top court

NB Anti-Shale Gas Alliance takes province to court to stop shale gas

7 years ago

Alanis Obomsawin: “A place where you have a voice” [video]

2 years ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In