Stamp Auction for Stamp Out Poverty Campaign

 

Once a year our Stamp Out Poverty campaign holds a Mail and E-mail auction of stamps.  The proceeds from this year’s sale will be going to support a project in Cuba. 

 

If you are a stamp collector, please check out our on-line catalogue at www.ohmygosh.on.ca.

 

Bids can be made at stamps@oxfam.ca or by mail to: 

 

Oxfam Stamp Programme

250 City Centre Avenue

Ottawa, ON K1R 6K7

Canada

 

 

Please pass this letter on to your stamp-collecting friends as well.

 

Closing Date for bids is 30 May. 2008.

 

Many thanks for your help.

Dear Supporters of Fair Trade

JUDES and Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op are pleased to present an evening with Francisco VanderHoff - a co-founder of Fair Trade.

His idea was so simple – to organize small coffee farmers into co-operatives and build their capacity to produce, transport, process and export their high quality coffee at a fair price. This would allow them to escape the clutches of “coyotes” or intermediaries and give them dignity, control and hope for a better future.

Fair Trade now includes many different products and has great potential as a model for social change. It is also in danger of being hijacked by big business. Join us for a presentation and discussion about the Future of Fair Trade.

• Fr. Francisco VanderHoff will share his experience and thoughts on the future of Fair Trade (with an introduction from the Town of Wolfville in Wolfville)
• Errol Sharpe of Fernwood Publishing will speak about his recent visit to a Fair Trade coffee community in Mexico
• Screening of Wisdom of the Mountains—a short video capturing the spirit and experience of the indigenous Zapotec peoples, Fair Trade coffee farmers in Chayotepec, Mexico

Fair Trade refreshments will be served.

When & Where (2 locations):

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 @ 7—9 pm
K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre Auditorium, University Avenue, Wolfville, Acadia University

OR

Thursday, May 22, 2008 @ 7—9 pm
5657 North Street Church, Halifax (at the Corner of North and Fuller Terrace)

For more information, please email info@judesfairtrade.ca or phone 902-542-7474 xt 230

This event is also co-sponsored by: Fernwood Publishing, the Town of Wolfville, and the F.C. Manning School of Business (Acadia University).

Celebrate Mothers at Mudder’s Day on the Commons

On Sunday, May 11, 2008, Oxfam and other community groups from around Halifax will be hosting the Mudder’s Day Festival on the Halifax Commons from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Mudder’s Day event will celebrate not only mothers, but women, culture and community, through musical performances, family fun for children and adults, educational workshops and local artwork.

 

This free event will showcase discussions on urban agriculture and community gardens, planning and community design, and raise awareness about issues affecting women worldwide.

 

In many countries, women and girls haul 20 litres of water six kilometres a day just to meet basic household needs. For millions of women and girls this exhausting task is the only way their families will have water to cook, to clean, to bathe or, most importantly, to drink.

 

During the Mudder’s Day celebration, join Oxfam as we host “Pail Walker”, an advocacy action challenging everyone to carry buckets of water to show solidarity for women and girls in the Global South responsible for finding and transporting water for their families. The challenge will be adapted into races for children and families to make the activity fun as well as educational. The Pail Walker races will begin at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

 

Mudder’s Day Film Screening

Everyone is invited to the Mudder’s Day Film Screening on Thursday, May 8, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Halifax North Branch Library.

A number of short films will be shown as a lead up to the May 11 Mudder’s Day event on the Halifax Commons. Among others, filmmaker Oren Hercz will show his film “Charles’s Farm” and Louise Hanavan’s short on the Musicians For Farmers event held last winter at the North Street Church. There will also be a film from Vancouver documenting guerrilla gardening.

There is not cost for the film screening but we will be accepting donations. All proceeds will go to funding the Mudder’s Day event.

Educating for Change: Fair Trade

Oxfam will ring in their Fair Trade Weeks on Wednesday, April 30 with Educating for Change, a training session focusing on tools and techniques for presentations regarding fair trade and other social justice issues. The training is open to all Oxfam members and volunteers and is a partnership between JUDES (Just Us Development Education Society) and Oxfam. It will be held at the Oxfam Halifax Office (2099 Gottingen St.) from 6-8 p.m.

Sundays for Change: Celebrating volunteers and active citizenship

Are you an Oxfam volunteer and/or an active citizen? Come join us on Sunday, April 27 from 6-8 p.m. to celebrate the invaluable volunteer energy that has gone into Oxfam’s work in the last year. Complimentary coffee, tea, snack and sweets will be served, along with engaging dialogue on the relationship between active citizenship and women’s rights.

The event will take place at the Just Us Café on Spring Garden Road in Halifax