Article written by Melissa Mundt

Although we will not have space for resident volunteers until January, we
are always excited to facilitate connections between organizations and volunteers
who will live elsewhere in San Cristobal or in communities. Don't hesitate
to contact us! This month the Peace House made
several new connections that have the following volunteer needs:

Maya Vinic is a coffee cooperative
of Abejas communities (Abejas, pacifist Christians who were massacred at
Acteal in 1997) that they started to sustain themselves after the massacre
and after the other regional coffee buyer (with known paramilitary members)
began rejecting their coffee. Since it's rocky start, Maya Vinic has succeeded
in getting fair trade certification and is about to finalize an organic
certification. All their profits are divided among the members of the co-op
and often put towards community improvements. They have made great strides
but are still looking to expand their sales (coffee that they don't sell
on the fair trade market must be sold to coyotes for a pittance) and are
receiving volunteers with experience or interest in fair trade marketing.
See also www.mayavinic.com

 

The autonomous Caracol of Oventic,
thanks mostly to the support of Schools for Chiapas (www.schoolsforchiapas.org
), now has a fully equipped bike workshop. But the work is not done yet!
They still need monetary donations to complete the cement floor (which floods
during the rainy season) and wire the workshop with electricity. They have
received short-term classes in bike maintenance, but are in need of a more
long term volunteer to train community members in bike repair, building
and painting. The hope is to train community bike mechanics that can repair
the communities' bikes and bring in income to the collective by repairing
bikes of the surrounding communities. A later phase in the project will
be organizing bike donations from the States and workshops in other autonomous
communities. If you have bike maintenance experience contact us!

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