It has been a year of storms; economic, political, COVID-19 and in November, two category 5 hurricanes in less than 2 weeks hammered Nicaragua and Honduras. Communities and huge swaths of land remain under mud and water as we write. Extensive crop loss means hunger in the year ahead. Millions of people, have lost everything, yet again.
The brunt of these climate-change intensified storms is borne by those least responsible for it: indigenous communities, the poor, animals, crops, land and waters of Central America.
We are shaken to the core by the devastation wrought by these interconnected storms. From the flood waters of Central America, partners warn that the way forward cannot be a return to the old normal. They implore us to stand with them in resisting the predatory, interventionist, neo-colonial policies that drive these interconnected storms. Recovery must be built on a new foundation.
Our solidarity is needed!
The Friendship Office will send support to women-led organizations in Honduras and Nicaragua that are building this new foundation. In Honduras, we will send funds for hurricane relief to the Committee of the Families of the Disappeared in Honduras, COFADEH to respond to the needs of their networks of human rights defenders.
In Nicaragua, funds will be sent to the Foundation Among Women, FEM an organization of peasant women, to support recovery of crops due to hurricane damage, food security and ongoing programs empowering women in 17 communities and 8 farming cooperatives throughout Estelí.