Help Out with The Affecting Change Project

The purpose of this project is to observe and aid collectives of fatally ill sugar cane workers from failed policy adherence at local and international levels. The hypothesis is that grassroots populations have limited access to environmental, social, and economic justice due to a lack of intellectual, social, and material capital crucial to participate in the necessary negotiations.



Project Goals
Currently there are four initiatives we are pursuing for which all donations will go directly towards:

• Hosting of an organizational website $20
• Trash clean up initiative (garbage bags and bins) $40
• Site improvement materials (chairs, organizational sign) $40
• Computer classes
  

All additional funds raised beyond these three costs will go towards setting up a rotating micro-finance fund available for former sugar cane workers as start-up funds for business initiatives. Currently we are running classes in drafting business plans, computer skills, management, and proposal writing as we work with local cooperative members to start a small “cafetin” taco stand.

Future Delegations
For anyone interested in joining us on one of our future trips down here, please contact timothy.dzurilla(at)gmail.com for more information.

A Sign of Progress

Where: Chichigalpa, Nicaragua
When: July 22, 2009

ASOCHIVIDA (Association of Chichigalpa for Life) is a group of 1,800 terminally-ill ex-sugar cane workers or widows of ex-sugar cane workers. This short video is a pretty good summary of the situation though the director, Jason, works with a different community nearby.

One of our initiatives is to help the association strengthen their negotiation and business capacity. Their "office" is little more than some black plastic held up by branches. One of our projects this week was to plan out the costs and labor for a sign and then follow through with the plan collectively. With my stenciling skills picked up in Colombia and their knowledge of how to get the materials needed at the best price
we were able to produce this sign. While it seemed a bit silly, association members beamed with pride as they saw it from the street.

Working Papers

Someone asked me the other day to see some of the research projects I'm working on and I figured I'd make it available for everyone who likes to read academic geekspeak every now and then.

You can find a link to a couple of essays here on causes of civil wars and responsible research. I'm also working with a colleague on a paper about revolution tourism you can read more about here.

Photo Gallery in Colombia

Where: Medellin, Colombia
Photo: 3458

Bello Oriente is a neighborhood in Melledin, Colombia filled with families displaced by the civil war. One of our projects was to work with a local school putting together a street photography project as a way of opening dialogue about local issues. This is one of the final images that portrayed a typical scene in the streets of the area.

Day Dreaming in London

Where: London, England at University College of London next to the Gordon Square

I was taking a course on the history of London learning about how Henry VIII seized all the church property and redistributed it to all of his buddies. Gordon Square is one of those little pieces of property and I figured it'd be nice to snap a photo instead of listening to the end of the lesson.

Lake at Selva Negra

Where: Selva Negra Cloud Forest Preserve. Just north of Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

Selva Negra is an impressive examples of sustainable development. The lake next to restaurant is used to raise tilapia, farm seaweed for compost, and provides water to the hydroelectric dam on site.

For more photos and a full description you can check out this article I wrote.

New Format

It turns out I'm a horrible blogger. So much has happened since I started this that never showed up. I've decided to change the format to make it more fun for me to do.

Using a random number generator, I will pick a photo from my personal collection, post it with a description of where, when, and a short story. Fortunately the first number to come up is 7712, a photo from Selva Negra, Nicaragua which will make this a smooth transition.

Enjoy!