Hello Friends and Family!
Hopefully I will be updating this page often about fundraising events, informational meetings and my organizations progression! Let me tell you a little bit about my group, 'Community Action for Social Change'. This year we are organizing in two main groups: A trip to Chiapas, Mexico and opening a Cultural Center in Silicon Valley.
Group 1: Trip to Chiapas. Chiapas is in the south of Mexico, bordering on Guatemala. The people there have lived for many years off the land the Mexican constitution promised them in Article 27. But in 1994, to approve NAFTA (the Noth American Free Trade Association), Mexico had to rewrite its constitution and in the process brought an end to land reform. Because many of the Chiapans still lived on community land and had not yet resolved their land claims, they found themselves out of luck. Overnight their land was sold to international corporations to be farmed and ranched.
Homeless and largely invisible to the Mexican government, many of the indigenous people united to form the Zapatistas. They called for democracy, land reform and fair wages. These people are drawing global attention to the crisis that has arisen from Mexico’s economic globalization, and are assisting many of the indigenous people who have no jobs and little hope.
Through Global Exchange, a nonprofit human rights group working for change, we will be meeting with leaders of the community of Chiapas and learning more about their plight and how we can help them. As empowered youth we will support these people in whatever way we can. Our main goals are to provide aid (medical supplies, food etc.), to raise public awareness about Chiapas and to set up a way for these people to market their products here in the U.S.
Group 2: Cultural Center. Our second goal for the year is to conduct research on our community here in Silicon Valley and see if there is a need for a community center where anyone -regardless of age, race, gender or social background- could get together to volunteer, hang out and be a part of a bigger community. If we find that there is indeed a need for a Cultural Center in Silicon Valley (ie Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos...) we will, as a soon to be feduciary of Act-Terra, begin scouting for a venue and talking with city governments. Our goal, even if we do not succeed, is to raise awareness of the necessity of such a place and to make it easier for one to be set up in the future.
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