Aung San Suu Kyi is now free, over 6,000 political prisoners have been released, and sociopolitical change is slowly engaging the nation.

Community organizations and businesses are encouraging travelers to support the democracy movement and the national economy now that the travel boycott has ended.

Finally Reality Tours can travel to Burma in good conscience and engage with people as citizen diplomats. We hope you will consider joining us in 2013.

Some of what you’ll experience on a Reality Tour trip to Burma:

• Journey to important historical and cultural sites (Shwedagon Pagoda, the pagodas of Pagan, the ancient cities around Mandalay, U Bein Bridge, etc.).
• Dialogue with opposition leaders and former political prisoners, human rights advocates and members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy.
• Engage with artists, craftspeople, farmers and educators to hear their hopes for the future.  Our local guides will offer unprecedented access to local people and groups.
• Explore how Burma will face a burgeoning tourism industry, and question who will reap the benefits of a vibrant tourist industry.

Ethical tourism can offer a much needed boost to Burma’s economy while contributing to community development. We will explore this issue by partnering with The Ethical Traveler on this trip, and one of its representatives will help facilitate these important relationship building tours.

Hope to experience Burma with you!

We hope you are able to join us on our first year of building people to people ties in Burma. A trip-of-a-lifetime just waiting to happen.

Photo Credit Global Exchange

New regulations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regarding legal travel to Cuba were released in July that contain a number of new guidelines and directives for organizations that are licensed to provide travel to Cuba, including Global Exchange.

While these new regulations are leaving people confused and unclear about what this means for future educational travel to Cuba, Global Exchange along with many other organizations are thoroughly reviewing the regulations so as to be in compliance.

So why are OFAC’s new guidelines problematic?  As Anya Landau French, Director of the New America Foundation’s U.S. – Cuba Policy Initiative and the editor of The Havana Note explains:

Restricting contacts in the first place is a bad idea, but this sort of ‘Big Brother is watching’ approach to people to people engagement is counterproductive (and more than a little ironic). Providing a full itinerary, explaining how contacts with the government helps to make people more independent of the government, and so on, is an odd way to try to open up what many consider a closed society. And therein lies the problem: the objective of such travel is to open up Cuba, instead of to foster mutual understanding, a principle that should stand on its own. In this way, the Obama administration has backed itself into a policy corner.

Ellen Creager of the Detroit Free Press also offers us a critical look at the challenges that may lie ahead despite the few positive changes that have come in the last year.

While here at Global Exchange we continue to review these new regulations, the Cuba section of our Reality Tours website will be “under construction.” Please feel welcome to contact us should you have questions, since we do retain our license as an authorized Travel Service Provider to Cuba.

TAKE ACTION!

1. Direct OFAC and the State Department to carry out President Obama’s Cuba policy - Sign this petition!
2. Keep updated about Cuba travel regulations, subscribe to our Reality Tours blog and sign up for the Reality Tours email list to receive regular updates.

Lea Murray (left) with fellow Reality Tours Venezuela delegation participants

The following post was written by Global Exchange Scholarship recipient Lea Murray who participated in a Reality Tours delegation to Venezuela last month. She shares her experience with us:

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Venezuela Vision: A Tale of Remembrance

I traveled to Venezuela for two reasons:  1) my friend and ESL student Lorena was going to be there at the same time that Global Exchange (GX) scheduled the Afro Venezuelan tour and 2) I was able to receive a generous scholarship from Global Exchange.

Had it not been for those two serendipitous events my life would be completely different from what it is today. I would have remained the same middle class American who is only concerned with those issues directly impacting my life.  Outside of my travels to Senegal and The Gambia in 2007, I hadn’t traveled to any place where it was obvious that people had financial need. I almost always traveled to resorts or timeshares in nice well-kept tourist areas.  I had forgotten my training in public health nutrition. I had forgotten how it felt to work with and be around people who are struggling to meet their basic needs.  I had forgotten my previous non-profit work with under-served communities.  This trip to Venezuela reminded me of my idealistic college days at UC Berkeley.

Many people in Venezuela love Chavez.  What a shocking revelation for someone like me who has only heard bad things about Chavez from some of the Venezuelans that I have met and taught in my English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.  Of course living in South Florida there is a very large Hispanic community mostly from South America and Cuba—mostly wealthy and white.  I heard stories from some of these people about how dangerous it is to live in Venezuela, and how Chavez is poisoning the minds of poor people so that it is unsafe for the hard working Venezuelan to travel in public places for fear of being attacked.

I heard stories of multiple kidnapping, theft, and political unrest.  That Chavez is bad for business and it is difficult to fire bad workers and employees who don’t have incentive to excel at work because they can’t be fired.  Chavez is crazy like Castro.

The many Venezuelans that I have met here in South Florida believe the USA is a refuge from the turmoil that they have endured in their homeland.  How was I to know any different?

But then I visited the missions, the university, the labor union, the farming coop, the black owned Cocoa plantation, and I heard and I saw what Chavez has done for the disenfranchised.  Chavez is making a difference in the lives of people who believed they were previously excluded from the benefits of living in an oil rich country.  Why didn’t I know this?

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is Chavez in the eye of beholder.  It all depends on your perspective.  Now I know differently.

Now that I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, what will I do? I will re-think my life. I have a new vision.  I want to see how other people live and experience life.  I want to travel to even more places where black Africans were dispersed during the slave trade. I will travel to Haiti and Cuba and examine the plight of my black brothers and sisters in these small island countries.  I will re-think my business.  Instead of solely working with those students who can afford to pay my hourly rate I will diversify and incorporate students with less financial means to pay for my services as an ESL instructor.  I will open my eyes—see the vision—and do something to make a difference.  I will participate.

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Lea Murray is a California native living in Florida and a part time ESL instructor with an interest in Latin American and Caribbean culture. Last month Lea participated in a Reality Tours Afro Venezuelan delegation, thanks to a Global Exchange scholarship.

TAKE ACTION!

• Travel to Venezuela: check out our list of upcoming trips to Venezuela
• Learn about Global Exchange Scholarships: visit this web page for scholarship application, fundraising advice and more!

During Global Exchange delegation visit to Venezuela. Photo Credit: Blair Redlin

A Glimpse of Venezuela: Part 1

Ten yearsafter the failed coup attempt of 2002, revenue from huge oil reserves and widespread popular mobilisation are supporting grassroots change for many parts of Venezuelan society. Despite media demonisation of the Venezuelan experiment here in Canada, the changes are significant and deserve to be better understood — especially given the increasing importance of oil revenue for our country too.

In order to get a glimpse of the Bolivarian Republic in 2012, I recently took part in a fascinating “reality tour” of Venezuela organised by San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange.

The 10-day tour featured meetings with activists from many sectors, as well as a visit to the San Juan tambores festival in the Afro-Venezuelan Barlovento region. We spent time in the sprawling capital of Caracas, in the small Andean community of Sanare, in the industrial city of Barquisimeto and the Afro-Venezuelan town of Curiepe.

My main takeaway was of a population deeply committed to social change within the context of historic inequality and class divisions. The country has numerous problems, including poverty and deadly gun crime, but it was inspiring to see the energy and enthusiasm that both local communities and the government are bringing to bear.

Particularly striking are the efforts to circumvent bureaucratic obstacles to change through community based initiatives. Whether it’s the numerous “misiones” (to tackle poverty, housing, adult literacy and more) or empowerment of communal councils and co-ops, a significant theme of development in Venezuela is local democratic control.

Our group met with a variety of locally based mission activists, in addition to actors in the women’s, students, co-op, community media and labour movements. Here are a few of my impressions:

Progress on Inequality – the focus on reducing inequality and poverty is producing results. The United Nation’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reports that Venezuela now has the third lowest poverty rate in Latin America and is the least unequal country in the region. So-called “extreme poverty” rates have been reduced from 21 per cent of the population in 1999 (when Hugo Chavez first came to power) to 6.9 per cent by 2010. Venezuela had the second highest rate of poverty reduction in Latin America from 2002 to 2010, exceeded only by Ecuador.  Venezuela ranks 73rd out of 187 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index.

Gasoline Absurdly Cheap – given that the world price of oil is hovering above $85 a barrel, it seems incredible that the price of gasoline in Venezuela is approximately .05 cents/litre. You read that right. Less than one cent a litre. or pretty close to free. This represents a massive public subsidy of gasoline prices — an expensive policy that has to be making global warming worse. To an outsider, super cheap gasoline seems like a crazy way to spend scarce resources in a country with numerous social needs, but the historical and political context is important. In 1989, Venezuelans rebelled en masse against austerity policies imposed by the IMF that included a 100 per cent increase in consumer gasoline prices and a doubling of transit fares. That rebellion was dubbed the Caracazo. As a result of the Caracazo thousands were killed, former President Carlos Perez was removed from office, the IMF restraint policies were modified and Hugo Chavez began his political career. In light of all that, it is apparently politically challenging to raise gasoline prices today. Meanwhile, Venezuela is overwhelmingly dependent on oil revenues and its economy needs to diversify. Oil accounts for 90 per cent of export earnings, 50% of federal budget revenues and 30 per cent of GDP.

Women’s Rights a Priority (Except for One Key One) – in a region where the culture of machismo remains strongly embedded, it’s encouraging that women’s rights are a priority of the government. There is a Ministry of Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, a Mision Madres del Barrio for working and single mothers, a Women’s Bank and mass participation in International Women’s Day. But Venezuelan women are still denied the right to reproductive choice, as abortion remains illegal. The National Assembly has had a committee studying abortion reform since 2010, but no actual legislative change appears to be forthcoming. Our delegation met with representatives of the “Popular Feminist Circle” organisation in Barquisimeto, which provides a range of programs, including prevention of violence against women and children. They told us it has made a big difference that the President clearly identifies himself as a feminist, but until women gain improved rights to reproductive choice in Venezuela, full equality rights are a long way off.

Venezuela 2012 Photo Credit: Blair Redlin

A Glimpse of Venezuela: Part 2

Venezuela has been undergoing big changes since the failed coup attempt of a decade ago . The first part of this blog report discussed how the Chavez government is implementing change at the grassroots level through  “missions” and communal councils; the progress that has been made in reducing inequality and poverty; the context for Venezuela’s policy of  almost free gasoline; and efforts to promote the rights of women in a country where abortion remains illegal.

Here are some further reflections on my brief glimpse of Venezuela in 2012:

A new labour law for working people – on May 1 of this year, a new fundamental labour statute came into effect. Entitled the Organic Law of Work and Workers, the new law is the culmination of a major mobilizing effort by the National Worker’s Union (U.N.T.)  labour central that included over 657,000 signatures on a petition demanding a new labour law as well as the presentation of more than 20,000 specific legislative proposals to a 16 member special Presidential commission.

Important changes in the new law include: reduction of the work week to 40 hours from 44 and the requirement for a full two days off per week; 25 weeks of maternity leave for women, plus a guaranteed right to return to one’s job for up to two years after birth of the child; 6 weeks of paternity leave for men, plus the same employment guarantee for up to two years; a prohibition on out-sourcing; and restoration of a retirement bonus scheme which provides one month of pay for every year of service. The government has also instituted a 32 per cent increase in the minimum wage, taking it to approximately $700(U.S.) per month. This is now the highest minimum wage in Latin America.

The status of trade unions in Venezuela has been controversial and complex since Carlos Ortega, the former President of the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (C.T.V.) worked closely with the U.S. in support of the 2002 coup attempt.

Ortega was sentenced to 16 years in jail for his role in the 2002 oil company lockout and coup attempt, but escaped in 2006 and was given asylum in Peru. Subsequent to the failed coup, the C.T.V. still exists and represents some 200,000 members, but it has been supplanted by the U.N.T. (with 1.2 million members) as the main labour central in the country. The U.N.T. is affiliated with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (P.S.U.V.) which is currently the governing party.

During our visit to the industrial city of Barquisimeto, we met with trade union leaders in a large office building (the “Casa Sindical”) housing many unions. The local labour council they are part of represents 80 different union locals from most parts of the private sector economy. The unionists told us the story of how they took over the union building in 2009, occupying it due to alleged corruption and lack of representation by the C.T.V.. They said they had found a “chop shop” in the building where stolen cars were dismantled so parts could be sold. When asked how they had fended off armed members of the C.T.V. who tried to take the building back, they said they had discovered 100 cases of beer in the building so they threw beer bottles at them from the upper floors until the police came!

Adult education a big priority, but easier said than done – in the small Andean town of Sanare, our group met with activists with two missions related to adult education. “Mision Robinson”  is based on a Cuban methodology which uses volunteers to teach reading, writing and arithmetic to illiterate adults while “Mision Ribas” provides remedial high school classes to adults who have dropped out of high school. For those who complete Mision Ribas, the government has also organized “Mision Sucre” to provide free college and graduate level education.

All this focus on adult education is bearing fruit. UNESCO’s 2010 Education for All monitoring report  and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics report that Venezuela has a literacy rate of 95.5 per cent for adults and 98.5 per cent for youth. The reports project that adult literacy will reach 97 per cent by 2015. In terms of adult literacy, the country is 55 out of 128 countries, while its standing in the Education for All Development Index was 59 out of 128 countries, up from 64 three years previously. Venezuela scored better than 18 other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It was moving to see the enthusiasm with which adult education is pursued at the grassroots. We were told that in the small town of Sanare alone, they have graduated people as old as 89 years and that one 65 year old is now studying medicine. It was also striking that a big part of the Mision Ribas program was the requirement for a written report on development of a concrete community improvement project such as reforestation, improving the electric grid, building a new school, etc. We also learned of integrated linkages between the education programs and “Gran Mision Vivienda” which is building badly needed public housing throughout the country. Workers taught construction skills through Mision Ribas are subsequently paid as apprentices in the construction of new housing.

But we also discussed amongst ourselves the challenges of keeping children and youth in the basic education system. Despite laws requiring school attendance and banning child labour, we had occasion to  meet 16 children from one family who are all required to work on the family farm. Only one of them can read or write. This anecdotal experience helped us realise that family and cultural issues make education policy extremely complicated in a developing country like Venezuela. Adult education is in part necessary because it is so challenging to keep children in school. Still, high school drop out rates fell by half in Venezuela between 1998 and 2011.

Bolivarian University – speaking of education, our delegation paid an interesting visit with student activists at the campus of the main Bolivarian University in Caracas. During the failed coup of 2002, the state oil company P.D.V.S.A. assisted the coup plotters by shutting down the oil industry and locking oil workers out. After the coup was thwarted one government response was to convert the former headquarters of P.D.V.S.A. in Caracas into the main campus of the new Bolivarian University.

As with the unionists we met in Barquisimeto, the student activists in Caracas were very militant. They view their own personal educations and the activities of the university as key parts of the Bolivarian project. The university is closely linked to “Mision Sucre.” There is a central campus in nine of the country’s main regions, combined with Mision Sucre university level classes in most major towns. There are therefore 4,000 students at the main Caracas campus, but 350,000 in the  wider “Bolivariana” taking university and college level courses nationwide.

The Bolivarian University has a unique entrance requirement process. As opposed to entrance exams or acceptance based on previous grades, applicants must take a three month long pre-university course. If they pass that, then they are eligible to enter the university.

Given the intense debate in Quebec and Canada about tuition and the costs of post-secondary education, it was interesting to learn that not only are there no tuition fees at the Bolivarian University but the government also covers three free meals at day at the cafeteria, student housing, free health and dental care, transportation, insurance and other student costs.

As with Mision Ribas, students are expected to complete projects that contribute to the development of the country.

Afro-Venezuelans – one focus of our trip was the Afro-Venezuelan community, descendants of slaves who were in the main brought from the Congo and Angola. Today, Afro-Venezuelans are mostly concentrated in the Barlovento region of Miranda state, which we visited.

Cacao is the main raw ingredient for chocolate and Venezuelan cacao is among the best in the world. Many slaves were brought to work in cacao plantations, so it was interesting to visit a modern-day cacao plantation which has been farmed by the same Afro-Venezuelan family for generations. A state owned chocolate processing plant (“Oderi”) is nearby, as well as six smaller co-operative chocolate factories for artisanal products.

The Marquez family told us of several recent government steps to improve the cacao economy. In April 2011, cacao was declared a national strategic project. Chocolate processing has been nationalised through the Venezuelan Cocoa Socialist Corporation and a “fair price” is paid to farmers that is 20 per cent above the market rate. Many new co-operatives have been assisted and through the A.L.B.A. alternative trade agreement, new international cooperation and trade measures have been put in place to improve cacao markets. The Marquez family told us none of this has been popular with international chocolate companies, but the quality of Venezuelan cacao is very high, so the higher prices are being paid.

Afro-Venezuelans continue to struggle against racism. The 1999 reform of the Venezuelan constitution included significant recognition of indigenous rights, particularly land, cultural and language rights. However, no similar recognition was provided for Afro-Venezuelans. Particularly since the 1999 inclusion of indigenous rights, Afro-Venezuelans have argued for their own constitutional inclusion though — as Canadians know well — the land rights of aboriginal peoples are in a different category than rights for settler communities. In 2007, Hugo Chavez proposed a series of constitutional amendments that, among others, included significant recognition of Afro-Venezuelans. Unfortunately, those proposals were defeated by citizens in the subsequent referendum so the campaign for better constitutional recognition continues.

In 2011, the National Assembly passed a new law against racial discrimination and the new basic education law of 2009 included specific recognition of afro-descendants.

Final observations – 21st century Venezuela is deeply involved in democratic change at many levels, as evidenced by the big push for communal councils, regional assemblies and co-operatives. Of course, intensive electoral democracy is also key. Venezuelans have voted repeatedly over the last 15 years, in both general elections and constitutional referenda, and the next national election for president will take place this October. Despite a spirited campaign by opposition leader Henriques Capriles Radonski, most polls show a commanding lead for Hugo Chavez. Certainly, most of the people we met were very enthusiastic about the changes Chavez has been leading. This enthusiasm and mass participation is in marked contrast to the disempowerment and low participation rates that too often characterise politics in Canada.

An interesting side note . . . just as the long-time popular Latin American (and farm worker) slogan of “si, se puede” was picked up by Barack Obama last election as “Yes, we can,” so this year the main slogan for Hugo Chavez is “Pa’lante” which in English means “Forward.” Barack Obama’s main slogan this time out? Also “Forward.”

The efforts in Venezuela to fight poverty, reduce inequality, develop the economy and provide social improvements are largely funded by the oil revenues that are unique to Venezuela. But other Bolivarian countries such as Ecuador and Bolivia are also using the specific resources available to them to make improvements at the local and community level. All three countries, are working with Cuba, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (and soon Suriname and Saint Lucia) within the alternative trading bloc called A.L.B.A. (“Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas”).

Unlike in Canada, oil and other resource revenues  are not being squandered on tax cuts or royalty reductions. In Venezuela and the other Bolivarian countries, secondary processing of resources is a strategic priority as opposed to the focus here on export of raw resources. And rather than corporate rights deals like NAFTA or CETA, the priority in ALBA is international cooperation and the raising of standards.

The changes in Venezuela are big and they’re happening right now in the real world. They deserve a lot more attention and understanding from our part of the hemisphere.

• Our “reality tour” to Venezuela was put together by Global Exchange, which did a great job. For information on future tours to Venezuela, or many other countries in the world, go here.
• Global Exchange helped publish a very informative book on Venezuela called Venezuela Speaks!: Voices from the Grassroots by Carlos Martinez, Michael Fox and Jojo Farrell. Go here to get a copy.
• One of our hosts in Venezuela was Lisa Sullivan, who is involved with School of the Americas Watch, a group that is having great success at persuading Latin American governments to withdraw military personnel from the notorious School of the Americas in the U.S..For information about the work of S.O.A. Watch, go here.
• Another host was the Prout Centre in Caracas. “Prout” stands for Progressive Utilisation Theory. Developed by Indian philosopher Prabhat Ranjan Sarker, Prout makes a case for economic democracy and localised development. For information on the new edition of a book by Caracas author Dada Maheshvaranda called After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action, go here. 

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Blair Redlin is a B.C. based trade union researcher, whose priorities have included privatization, trade agreements and local government. He’s vice-chair of the Board of Oxfam Canada. In the 1990s, he was a Deputy Minister in the B.C. public service.

Travel to Venezuela! To find out how you can travel to Venezuela with Global Exchange, we invite you to visit our website.

Arirang Mass Games Photo: Global Exchange

This September, on the day of the 64th Anniversary of the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), a group of international travelers will be among those to attend what may be one of the last performances of the Arirang Mass Games during a whirlwind trip to North Korea.

You could be among them. There are some spots still open for Global Exchange’s Beyond the Bamboo Curtain Reality Tour to North Korea this September 7th-15th.

Arirang Games Photo: Global Exchange

Started in 2002, the Airang games, named after the most well known Korean song and emblem of nationalism during the Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, takes place at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang. The event features about 100,000 performing artists, divided into five acts each developing a part of the DPRK history, focusing on unification and national unity and featuring political developments and themes.

The Airang games is just one of the highlights of the Beyond the Bamboo Curtain Reality Tour.

During our stay in the DPRK travelers will also have the opportunity to gain first-hand perspective on the effects of both U.S. and North Korean policies.

We will experience a slice of daily life at schools, hospitals, a bowling alley and farming cooperative, local restaurants and more. Other stops will include a visit to the Sinchon War Museum (Museum and Site of U.S. Korean War Atrocities in Sinchon) and the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

Is it Time for You to Visit North Korea?

If you would like to see what’s behind the bamboo curtain, now is your chance. Visit our website for all the details about this upcoming trip and perhaps you’ll join us for this adventure of a lifetime!

Reality Tours participant in Esphahan.

As the political and diplomatic crisis surrounding the Iranian nuclear agenda continues, Global Exchange invites you to travel and visit Iran on a Citizen Diplomacy Reality Tour.

We believe U.S. travelers to Iran can build people-to-people ties and foster dialogue and peace between the countries.  As past participant Alexa Stevens wrote of her 2011 trip:

“My journey does not boast military might nor invasive power; rather, I travel simply with the hope of bringing back knowledge”.

The exquisite ruins of Persepolis.

Citizen diplomats to Iran experience both the complex and engaging fabric of contemporary Iranian civil society while exploring also the tremendous historical and cultural sites in Iran. Travelers will visit the ancient ruins of Persepolis, the tomb of renowned Sufi poet Hafez, and the towers of silence in Yazd.

Interested in traveling to Iran?

Apply now! The application deadline for our September trip is this Friday, June 22nd, so please act quickly to join this life-changing excursion.

Jane in Iraq, Embedded with the Marines in Anbar

Our guest blogger today is Jane Stillwater, a woman whom the folks here at Reality Tours have known for over a decade. We might tease her as being a “serial tripper”, and tell her not to worry about sending in  her registration as she is in the database, but in all seriousness we honor Jane for her adventurous, compassionate spirit and for being a true citizen diplomat!

It’s wonderful to read on Jane’s blog about how each journey has impacted her. Her blog begins with: “Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved.” Jane is preparing to take her 6th Reality Tour this summer.

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In the last ten years, I’ve participated in five different Global Exchange Reality Tours  and each one of them has been both awesome and jaw-dropping. GX has taken me to Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and Belfast! And I’ve gotten to see places and meet people there that nobody, not even the locals, hardly ever get to see or know.

Jane Stillwater, Reality Tours Alumni

And I’ve also been able to come back home and write about what I have seen and to help tell other Americans that Iran, Cuba, Afghanistan. etc. are not filled with evil terrorists and boogeymen but rather with just ordinary people like you and me, trying to make a life for their families just like we do.

So when Global Exchange recently announced that it was sponsoring a new trip to Uganda on July 2, I was SO there! Signed up immediately. The trip will focus on efforts in Uganda to stop human trafficking and eliminate the use of child soldiers — what’s not to like about that?!

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Jane, you are a welcomed addition to any Reality Tours trip!

TAKE ACTION!

• You can read more about Jane’s hopes for our upcoming Uganda Reality Tours trip on her blog.
• Learn more about our powerful advocacy delegations that examine human trafficking, child soldiers and human rights.
• Interested in going on a Reality Tours trip but low on funds? Here are 3 free resources to help you fundraise:

1. Financial Scholarship Application  
2. Fundraising Tips
   
3. Fundraising Pack

Photo credit: David Deriso

It’s true, you can travel to Cuba this summer with Global Exchange and the Center for Cuban Studies! From August 7 – August 14, 2012 anyone can  join this people-to-people licensed, educational trip to explore the ‘Greening of Cuba’. Sign up here!

Throughout the 20th Century, Cuban agricultural production mainly centered on large industrial farms producing crops (mostly sugar) for export while food has been imported.  Prior to the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the largest market for Cuban sugar was the United States. After the Revolution the Soviet Union became the primary purchaser. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc in the early 1990’s, imports plummeted as did the guaranteed market for Cuban sugar. Cuba began to transform its agricultural infrastructure out of necessity.

Photo credit: Laura Lee

One success of the Cuban Revolution was giving every Cuban the chance to have an education. For the first time children of farmers could aspire to a university education, but this has created unexpected challenges as well. With the movement from industrial, mostly mechanized, farms to organic small farms and cooperatives, there is a shortage of people who want to live and work in the countryside. This delegation will meet with Cuban farmers, experts, and policy makers who will provide an in depth view of the movement towards organic farming in Cuba, its successes, and the challenges it faces.

Program Highlights may include:

• Visit the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation
• Visit with a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture
• Visit to the UNESCO designated biosphere reserve of Las Terrazas
• Visit to the National Botanical Garden
• Visit to an organic farming cooperative in Alamar
• Visit a tobacco plantation in Viñales
• Meeting with National Urban Agriculture Group

Cost:
$2,900.00

Price Includes:

• RT flight:  Miami/Havana/Miami
• Cuban visa and required Cuban health insurance
• Double room accommodations
• Two meals per day
• Conference fee
• Site visits
• Translation
• Transportation (with group)

Global Exchange is thrilled to offer this unique, co-sponsored Reality Tour with the Center for Cuban Studies and hope that you will join us! Please call Carol Steele for more information at 415.255.7296. Sign up here!

Read more about traveling in Cuba and learn more about traveling on a Reality Tour.

Last June I journeyed to one of my favorite destinations on the planet, Cuba. Despite the fact that I have lived and worked there off an on since 1991, and have had the honest pleasure of facilitating over twenty some delegations over the years, this last group was one of my most enjoyable ever. I am not sure really why. We were 13 dynamic, well traveled and inquisitive individuals with only one thing in common…the intrepid travel writer Jeff Greenwald.

I met Jeff in 2003, after he had recently founded, the Ethical Traveler. I  loved the idea of ET and was honored when a few years later he asked me to serve on its advisory board. Since then we’ve been on countless panels together; collaborated on campaigns that mobilize the international community of travelers as a global PAC to use their clout and advocate on important social and ecological justice issues; and promoted “voting with your travel budget” at the World’s Best Ethical Destinations.

I remember the day Jeff and I spoke about creating a tour for him and his friends. I felt awestruck. There is so much to see, do and learn. As we brainstormed about an itinerary, he said, “Malia, I want to see your favorite places and meet some of your favorite people”. I smiled and thought, well it will be one trip of many for you then.  I love that personally he trusted me with this challenge and a few months later, our group met in Miami and were off to soak up the sights, sounds and stories of Cuba.  It was wonderful to reconnect with communities and friends from the Mureleando arts project and the intergenerational voices at the Convento de Belen in Havana, to engaging with the teachers, parents and kids at the Love and Hope arts program for children with Down’s Syndrome and advocates for community development and conservation at Las Terrazas in the provinces.  I encourage you to read more about Jeff’s ever thought provoking insights from his “Dispatches from Cuba”. Today, I have the honor to feature a few of Jeff’s thoughts and share the word about his upcoming and yes, second trip back to Cuba.

The Beauty of the Vinales Valley, Pinar del Rio

The trip was a watershed event in my travel career. The country affected me profoundly—just as Nepal did, during my first visit in 1979. The art, music and mojitos were a revelation …. Not to mention Piñar del Rio’s gorgeous landscape, Havana’s neoclassical architecture,  and the warm, generous Cubans we met along the way.

This coming June, I will be leading another trip to the island. It’s called “Exploring Cuba: Sustainable Development, Community & Art,” and will take place June 12th-20th. Though the trip is a benefit for Ethical Traveler, the cost is very reasonable. Like last year’s trip, we’ll meet with social leaders, artists, naturalists and entrepreneurs. We’ll explore spectacular landscapes, and tour World Heritage Sites like Old Havana. Again, this will be a fairly small group — between 12-18 people. This really is a wonderful opportunity to visit a remarkable, fast-changing country. I hope to hear back from you, and promise that this will be a journey to remember (in a good way!!).

Sonrisas en Havana

Learn more about the background of Global Exchange’s  Cuba program and future Reality Tours to Cuba after you have read Jeff’s Dispatches. If you still want to read more, check out more coverage from our Alumni in the news. Recently Stelle Sheller and Janet Young, traveled with us and were featured in their local newspaper in the article, “ Local women travel to Cuba and discover two worlds” and they share  their “unexpected” findings.

A4T Science Fair in Kabul Afghanistan. These students (4.5 to 7 yrs. old) sang the Afghan National Anthem to the audience before the Fair's presentations.

Today’s special blog  is the last commemorating a decade of Reality Tours in Afghanistan and features the insights of Marsha MacColl, on behalf of our partner Afghans4Tomorrow (A4T). On behalf of Global Exchange we thank all the tremendous energy and efforts of A4T and look forward to a dynamic future of continued collaboration.

Congratulations to Global Exchange Reality Tours on the 10^th Anniversary of your tours to Afghanistan and on your partnership with Afghans4Tomorrow (A4T). Each delegation has stayed in the A4T Guesthouse since 2004, enjoying the warm hospitality of the staff.  The house, located in a quiet secure area of West Kabul, has 5 guest bedrooms upstairs and a lovely garden in the back. Depending on the size of the group, the rooms sleep between 2 and 4 people.  The guides who helped plan the tours and activities of these Global Exchange Reality Tours are Najibullah Sedeqe and Wahid Omar, who also have volunteered with Afghans4Tomorrow for 10 years and serve on its board. Their tours have included, among other things, interesting in-depth meetings with Afghan women from all sectors of Afghan society, visits to primary schools, hospitals, universities, watching a buzkashi games and attending the International Women’s Day celebration in Kabul.

Najib has also been a wonderful guide for these delegations. The many delegates I’ve talked with over the years highly recommend these tours. They said Najib put them at ease with his warm welcome, his concern for their safety, his quick wit, compelling stories and the Afghan history he shares on the tours. Many have kept in touch with him over the years.  Some delegates in fact have been inspired to get involved in helping one of the many Afghan-related NGOs (or start one of their own) after they return from the tour.

Here are some of the 35 third graders reading in their home school class. If you would like to help us raise funds for chairs and school supplies for these students, please make a donation at: http://www.afghans4tomorrow.org/donate

There have been several GXRT alumni who have helped Afghanistan through A4T since their tours. They are:  Kim O’Connor (GXRT ’04), who joined A4T when she returned in 2004 and recently served as President for the past 2 and a half years;  Adrienne Amundsen (GXRT ’10), who joined A4T in January ’12 after volunteering since ’10; and Asma Eschen (GXRT ’03), an honorary A4T Board member, who co-found the Bare Root Trees Project and has led a group to plant trees in Afghanistan six times since 2005. The Bare Roots group has planted/distributed a total of over 130,000 trees in rural and urban Afghanistan. See Asma’s post on this GXRT Blog in this series.

As an A4T member since 2004, I’ve enjoyed the stories and photos that many GXRT alumni have shared with me over the years. It has been a life-changing experience for many! Our board members have helped the GX program directors over the years with information they’ve needed for their delegates, guesthouse arrangements and helping delegates to meet some of our members and staff. I volunteered to teach English in our A4T school in Kabul for 10 days in 2007 and greatly appreciated Najib’s help with all the arrangements of my work and also a visit during the Nowruz holiday to Istalif village near the Shomali Valley. This reality tours program is great for travelers wanting to learn more about ordinary Afghans, their culture, history and how they’re overcoming many difficult challenges.

The NGO which inspired me to volunteer to help rebuild Afghanistan is Afghans4Tomorrow.  A4T is a non-profit, non-political, humanitarian organization founded in 1998 and dedicated to the development of sustainable, community driven projects focused on education, agriculture and healthcare.  A4T has an all-volunteer board residing in both the US and in Kabul. We are able perform our work thanks to the generosity of our donors and volunteers from around the world.  We hire local Afghans to be the managers of our programs and teachers in our schools. We have established relationships with multiple sponsors, foundations, and non-profit organizations. 

In our Shekh Yassin School, Wardak Province, 162 girls are in three Home Schools, from 1st to 6th grade. Here are the 25 first graders reading their books in Pashto.

Afghans4Tomorrow currently operates a school in Kabul and one in Wardak Province. Our school, located in the Chelsetoon area of Kabul, opened in 2004 and has nearly 300 students, 170 girls in kindergarten through 9^th grade and 110 boys in 1st through 7^th grade. This school is one of the best private schools in Kabul. We plan to add 10^th grade this year.  The school started in 2005 as a “catch-up” school for older girls who had been deprived of an education during the wars. Now most all those students have caught up and are the normal age for their grade level. Several A4T alumni have graduated from high school and are in a community college or a university.

Our School in Shekh Yassin, which opened in 2005, serves students from three villages in the Chak district of Wardak Province. It has a boys’ school of 568 students, in 1^st to 9^th grades in two shifts per day, and more than 175 girls in three Home Schools, from 1st to 6th grade. We plan to add 7^th grade this year. We are unable to add 10^th grade to the boys’ school until we can build 3 new classrooms. 

A4T held its second Science Fair program on Oct. 15, 2011 in which 17 students participated in 9 teams. They did research on their experiments for one month, assisted by their science teacher.

The students presented their research results to 4 qualified judges at the fair. After their evaluation the judges gave prizes to the top 3 winning teams. The project that won 1^st place showed the filtration of dirty water using four kinds of sand and one kind of charcoal. Government officials, private school principals and the media were invited to attend the Science Fair celebration.  A4T hopes to see this same program in all government and private schools throughout Afghanistan in the future.

Afghans4Tomorrow’s goal for both schools is to help improve Afghanistan’s very low literacy rate, to provide a superior education and to have a substantial number of our graduates continue to college.

Teacher demonstrates an experiment in copper and iron ions in solution to a 7th grade Chemistry Class at A4T Boys School in Shekh Yassin, Wardak.

Since 2007 A4T has operated the A4T’s Abdullah Omar Health Post in Sheikh Yassin village which provides a doctor, pharmacist and staff offering basic health care, medicines and immunizations. Last year A4T added a midwife to better serve the women coming for pre-natal checkups, deliveries and post-natal and baby checkups and to help reduce the high maternal and infant mortality rates in Afghanistan. Our health post has improved the lives of thousands of people each year.

A4T’s Agriculture Stream is pleased to report the successful training of 120 rural farmers the last two years by helping them to raise poultry and supplying them with equipment for their chicken coops, and healthy birds. The women poultry farmers sell the eggs to help support their family.

Volunteers are needed to help A4T continue there great work. Please visit their website to learn about their projects, affiliates, members, photos, videos, and how you can make a difference.

Join Us on an Upcoming Reality Tour to Afghanistan! Learn more. Visit our website for all you need to know about upcoming transformative journeys.