Bridges Across Borders

Panama
BAB has been working to create sustainable economic alternatives for the indigenous and refugee communities in the Darien Gap rainforest region that spans across the border of Panama and Colombia. These projects were initiated in 1994 in Choco, Colombia, until massacres in the town necessitated an exodus for a majority of the residents. Since then the project focus has been across the border in Panama to deal with the needs of the refugees and the receiving community. The Darien Projects are now based in Jaque, Panama since the war in Colombia has made it impossible to continue the projects in Choco. In the United States, BAB gives presentations in order to raise awareness about the ongoing tragedy in this region and how the US policy “Plan Colombia” contributes to the suffering. Our current projects in Panama include the Meals on Heals: Elders Food Program, Women's Paper Co-op, Sea Turtle Preservation project, Fair Trade exchanges, The Little School for Peace, and the Garbage Reduction and Transformation project.

Relevant Articles:
http://jrsusa.org/news_detail?TN=NEWS-20110325024555

Colombia
The Wayuu indigenous community of La Guajira, Colombia suffered a massacre at the hands of paramilitaries and Colombian military on April 18, 2004. For the last seven years, BAB has hosted North American solidarity tours by Debora Barros Fince, Founder and Director of Organizacion Wayuu Munsurat and international spokesperson for her people of Bahia Portete, who now live in exile in Venezuela. The mission of this annual yanama is to participate in a temporary re-occupation of Bahia Portete to honor the dead and assert the Wayuu people’s right to a peaceful return to their ancestral homeland.

Relevant Articles:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/a-return-to-bahia-portete/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/women-war-peace-indigenous-colombians-touched-by-avatar/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/women-war-peace-field-report-from-colombia-a-visit-home/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/washington-post-headline/

Mexico
Music Across Borders! Thanks to the hard work and deep dedication of Jennifer Sordyl, Michi Regier, and Sujoy Spencer, this program at the Casa Elisabet orphanage in Imuris has expanded to include lessons on recorder and viola, as well as the violins, and these teachers have made great strides in securing the necessary funding for the project by appealing to friends, family, employers, and their fellows at summer fiddle camp.