NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
October 14, 2004
For more information contact
Mike Maus at (303) 422-4280
.
In this news release:
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Faith Group Leaders Ask Bush, Kerry for Just New Colombia Policy Focused on Peace and Security
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Minnesota Lutherans Welcome Coffee Farmer Representative
FAITH GROUP LEADERS ASK BUSH, KERRY FOR JUST NEW COLOMBIA POLICY FOCUSED ON PEACE AND SECURITY
Washington, DC, October 14, 2004 — Protestant and Catholic Americans are urging President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry to give more attention to Colombia. They have sent a letter to the candidates calling for a “reassessment” of U.S. Colombia policy.
More than forty years of war in Colombia has devastated the country, killed thousands, and caused the internal displacement of three million people from their land and homes, forcing them to live as refugees in their own nation.
The letter urges a “new strategy” that responds to the needs of both nations by focusing on ways to strengthen the peace and security of people in the U.S. and Colombia.
The letter is signed by the Presiding Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church, U.S.A., the Presidents of Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, and the United Church of Christ, an executive of World Vision, and hundreds of local church leaders from across the country. It says now is the time for “a greater commitment to a negotiated, political path toward peace.” It also calls for more “attention to social concerns” and for “humane drug policies that meet the needs of those most directly affected.”
The faith group leaders urge Mr. Bush and Senator Kerry to keep the United States engaged with Colombia’s government and the organizations of civil society in “a manner that will support aspirations for a just and sustainable peace….”
Lutheran World Relief President Kathryn Wolford says, “The United States can make a significant contribution to the long-term sustainability of peace in Colombia by shifting the focus of its aid to that country toward a great emphasis on effective social development.” Such development funding, she adds, would acknowledge the efforts of churches as well as local governments and other civil institutions that are “working together for lasting alternatives to violence and the inequality and poverty that sustain it.”
The faith groups laud the “great courage…of our Colombian brothers and sisters” and point to their “great needs.” The letter says its Protestant and Catholic signers “hope to work with” the candidates in a search for “durable solutions” to the problems related to the United States’ Colombia policies.
The letter was sent to each campaign this week. A copy is attached along with a list of some of the more than 600 people who have signed the letter.
From Peru with Love
MINNESOTA LUTHERANS WELCOME COFFEE FARMER REPRESENTATIVE
Baltimore, October 14, 2004 – Lutheran World Relief is pleased to announce the “From Peru with Love” tour of small-scale coffee farmer representative Ms. Silvia Arispe. During her Minnesota visit, October 21-26, Ms. Arispe will speak about the benefits of basic health care, nutrition, and education which fair trade affords the members of her Peruvian–based coffee grower's cooperative, COCLA.
A graduate of the Agrarian University in Peru with a specialty in marketing, Ms. Arispe works with COCLA in the areas of exports, imports, organic certification, and quality control. COCLA, an acronym that roughly translates to Agrarian Coffee Cooperative, is a 33-year-old Peruvian coffee organization which provides member benefits to farmer co-ops such as business training, warehousing, agricultural extension services, and auditing.
Ms. Arispe's itinerary includes visits with communities associated with the Lutheran World Relief Coffee Project, an initiative to encourage the use of fairly traded coffee among Lutheran parishes, homes, and institutions. (See below for venues and contact people.) A leader in the fair trade movement, Lutheran World Relief recently concluded a yearlong “90-Ton Challenge” campaign, doubling the amount of fair trade coffee purchased through the LWR Coffee Project from 45 tons to almost 100 tons. The campaign was jointly led with Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Equal Exchange, LWR’s partner in the LWR Coffee Project.
Local hosts for this tour include Minnesotans who recently visited Central American coffee farmers on a Lutheran World Relief Study Visit, including Jim and Sondra Mericle, a Minnesotan pastor and physician respectively. The Mericles returned home inspired to buy the local Nesting Grounds Coffee Shop and convert the product line to virtually all fair trade.
Equal Exchange, a Boston-based worker-owned fair trade coffee organization, is sponsoring Ms. Arispe's speaking tour, which also includes stops at local food co-ops.
Fair trade guarantees coffee farmers a $1.26 minimum price per pound, covering the cost of production and ensuring basic needs for families and communities. It is one way that LWR fulfills its mission of working with partners around the world to grow food, improve health, strengthen communities, end conflict, build livelihoods, and recover from disasters.
From Peru With Love, Coffee Farmer Tour Schedule:
(Additional information will be added at lwr.org/coffee as details or other venues are determined)
Thursday, October 21, 3 p.m.
Luther Seminary, Northwestern Hall
St. Paul, MN
Contact: Jeni Falkman
Phone: 651-641-3299
Sunday, October 24, 9 a.m.
Casual conversation with Ms. Arispe and representatives from Lutheran World Relief and Equal Exchange during Fellowship Hour, followed by worship at 10:30 a.m.
Immanuel Lutheran Church
204 Snelling Ave. South
St. Paul, MN
Contact: Karen Osen
Phone:
651-690-0186
Sunday, October 24, 2 p.m.
The Nesting Grounds Coffee Shop
Wyoming, MN
Contact: The Rev. Jim Mericle
Phone: 651-408-8505
Monday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Concordia College
Moorhead, MN
Contact: Kattie Somerfeld
Phone: 218-299-3258 (home), 406-899-2579 (cell)
