Neal Deles is CRS’ new area coordinator and education program manager in West Darfur. Here he shares first thoughts from our field office in El Geneina.

In October 2008, Neal Deles began serving as CRS area coordinator and education program manager in West Darfur, working out of our El Geneina field office. Photo by CRS staff.

Since arriving in early October, there has been so much to learn, understand and reflect on about CRS’ life-giving work in Darfur. One word I have heard a lot (and often say now) is “tamam” or “good.” I think it also sums up my experience here so far.

I had prepared for a challenging life out here, but I can actually say that I am quite comfortable. I like that we live simply and can clearly see the stars when the electricity goes off in the late evening. The food is good too—a lot of okra, tomatoes and beans—and the people are friendly and hospitable. Most of all, I am grateful for the collegiality and commitment of our 114-strong team here in West Darfur who have managed to keep things moving along.
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Fair Trade is a easy way to give gifts to loved ones and help working poor families around the world. If you’re looking for gifts you won’t find on department store shelves, check out the CRS Fair Trade web site and blog. Below, more on our Fair Trade mission.

CRS works through the Fair Trade Program to build right relationships with the people overseas who create the things we enjoy here in the United States.

The CRS Fair Trade program offers four ways to be involved with Fair Trade, the Coffee Project, Chocolate Project, Work of Human Hands, and the Fair Trade fund.

Our overarching goal is to educate Catholics and others about what Fair Trade is and help them spread the word about how to get involved.

The CRS program offeres Fair Trade trainings that cover details about Fair Trade, the projects, and how to become involved. Many of these trainings involve a visit to one of our partners in the United States to meet folks who are 100% dedicated to Fair Trade.

Abraham Desta, a Catholic bishop in Meki, Ethiopia visited Milwaukee and talked to editors and reporters of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His visit resulted in, among other things, an article by Patrick McIlheran on how a little can go a long way in helping people across the globe.

The article quotes Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan, head of CRS’s board, and mentions use of arbor loos, described in Voices in November.

McIlheran wrote: “World Toilet Day wasn’t invented to sell either cards or plumbing. Rather, Nov. 18 was the day on which one was reminded that roughly 2.5 billion people around the world lack what the United Nations calls “improved sanitation” – anything from a pit latrine on up.”

“… As the absurdity of World Toilet Day reminds you, even a few dollars can do good.”

Fair Trade is a easy way to give gifts to loved ones and help working poor families around the world. If you’re looking for gifts you won’t find on department store shelves, check out the CRS Fair Trade web site and blog. Below, a bit of history on CRS involvement with Fair Trade.

Catholic Relief Services has worked to alleviate suffering and promote genuine human development for poor and marginalized people overseas for more than 60 years. We also work to create opportunities for Catholics and others in the United States to live their faith more fully by living it in solidarity with the people we serve around the world. The CRS Fair Trade Program creates opportunities for Catholics in the United States to live their faith in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world, and to honor core principles of Catholic Social Teaching through the choices we make every day as consumers.

The CRS Fair Trade Program strives to build right relationships between our two constituencies—poor and marginalized people overseas and Catholics here in the United States—through collaboration with mission-oriented Fair Trade companies.

An Egypt Today article reports on CRS programs that help women become economically and politically empowered.

According to the article, “Microfinance loans from the existing CRS program start at LE 500 and can increase over time, with repayment schedules varying according to the circumstances of the borrowers. However, it is not the sum of money that is important. The concept of group lending, that is, loans guaranteed by a group of women who will meet the payments of any member of the group that defaults, prepares borrowers for the political process. Each group must have an elected leader, and each individual has a responsibility towards the group. Democratic concepts are established through microfinance.”

Brother Xavier Passat, the National Coordinator of the labor slavery program of Pastoral Land Commission of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference, introduced the topic of labor slavery in Brazil.

The labor slave population he works with is comprised of mostly young men (ages 18-35) who are trafficked to remote northern areas of Brazil. The regions that have seen the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon also have some of the highest rates of human trafficking and labor exploitation.

Conditions in these areas are terrible (poor water, no medical care, little food) and workers are not given protective gear (gloves, sturdy shoes).

As he painted this dire picture one statement really stood out: “Freeing slaves doesn’t eradicate slavery.” He went on to describe how cycles of human exploitation will continue until root causes are addressed – things such as lack of educational opportunities, poverty, and lax environmental regulation enforcement.

CRS has funded programs to assist in the identification of labor trafficking victims in Brazil as well as to return them to their home communities.

- Jennifer Hardy, CRS communications coordinator

While the majority of the Response to Trafficking in Persons in the Americas conference focused on international human trafficking, there was a great presentation this afternoon on trafficking in the United States.

Brigitte Gynther of Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida talked about her work to end exploitive labor practices of workers in Florida tomato fields.

Owners of massive tomato fields hire subcontractors to take care of finding fieldworkers, and these subcontractors pick out the most able-bodied laborers each morning around 4:30 from gathering places. Conditions in the fields can be brutal even for practices that are technically legal, but there are three ways she has seen people move from unfair treatment to being actual victims of trafficking in farm labor camps:

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“The Human Trafficking in Persons in the Americas,” conference being held at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington D.C. is in its third and final day. The first session focused on trafficking of children in India, Honduras and the United States. Here are a few stats from the information this morning:

*One-fifth of all the children in the world live in India.

*In India, 35 million of 440 million children are involved in child labor, and half of children who work are forced to work 7 days a week. Many work long hours under unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

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At the a trafficking convention in Washington, CRS Country Representative for Moldova Michael McKennitt told the story of Moldova’s transformation with storybook charm

Once upon a time in a country far, far way in Eastern Europe there’s a story with no princesses, no frogs, and no castles. In Moldova, a country that looks like Iowa, there’s a sad and happy story. Moldova is a country if you’re a farmer, you’ll feel at home and if you’re not a farmer you’re wonder what you’re doing there.

In Moldova they speak Romanian. More than 60 percent of the population live in little villages. In those little villages there is no electricity and people live on less than a dollar a day. It is in those little villages Moldova is experiencing the terrible problem of human trafficking.

The little country of Moldova was part of the Soviet Block. Because it was an agricultural country it became the most densely populated country in Eastern Europe. And it is from this little country that the largest proportion of women trafficked for sex are recruited to work throughout Europe. This little country also has high numbers of trafficked children and trafficking in organs. But this is not the happy part of the story. This is just the context for the bigger story I’m about to tell.

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The fight against human trafficking is a difficult one, primarily because of how hard it can be to identify trafficking victims. In many cases trafficked persons are lumped together with undocumented workers. In order to better serve victims of trafficking a three-part test has been created:

1. Has there been transport, shelter, harboring, and/or exchange of services that in some way has affected the person?

2. Has the person lived in conditions of forced prostitution, labor slavery, or conditions similar to slavery?

3. Was there coercion, violence or threats that compelled the person to stay?

- Sara Fajardo, CRS communications officers