Last week AMICHOCÓ and a representative of the small scale miners of Segovia, Antioquia attended a workshop on the FAIRTRADE/FAIRMINED standard organized by the Alliance for Responsible Mining – ARM.
Miners from Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia met to evaluate the standard after its first year of publication and to exchange experiences and good practices. Additionally, ARM presented its strategy for the coming years and issues like the creation of new certified producer groups and the growing demand of fair-trade metals was also discussed.
This was thefirst time the small scale miners of Antioquia participated in a fair-trade workshop and it was a great introduction to the activities AMICHOCÓ will develop over the next 24 months in that part of the country.
Segovia, were this project is being implemented, is one of the most contaminated places on earth by mercury and over 95% of its economy depends on mining activities.
It is incredible how time passes; it started as a good idea and became a great reality. The determination of the communities to protect their territory and to improve their quality of life allowed the implementation process of the analog forestry methodology.
30 families from these communities have now better incomes as a result of their hard work. Patience and perseverance was the key to their success, it took a lot of time to set the land, to build the greenhouses and to plant the species.
The families overcame all the obstacles and learnt during the process. Thanks to the team effort, and the support from the donors, the 30 families have now the capacity to keep going by themselves. They have the tools, the knowledge, the expertise and most of all the enthusiasm to keep working for the benefits of their communities.
From Ceferino, Eloy, Farneth, Pedro, Leonardo, Gilberto, Tulio, Modesto, Norberto, Wiston, Felipe, Manuel, Melkin, Antonio, Jesús Aledson, Candelario, Robinson, Tiberio, César, Jhon, Deison, Elías, Mincho, Chachito, Daflin, Eutimio, Tomás and from our team receive our thanks!
It was a very intense day; the children should choose their representatives for the committee. There were so many good candidates, each one with great proposals, but at the end, all of them wanted the same thing: Become Children´s Land in a place where people can take care of their environment and their community.
After a few hours the elections were officially closed, it was time to count the votes; one by one the winners were announced. There were some tears, but a lot of smiles and joy, now a group of boys and girls will be watching for Children´s Land. They will be responsibilities for make the activities work,and will be the spokesmen that spread the voice everywhere, as Ana Karina does it: “I want to send a message to all the children of the planet, to all Children´s Lands, to people from AMICHOCÓ, take care of the trees, to plant, an do not mistreat the animals!”. (Video)
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