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.

Join us on Saturday, May 17 for a day of informative sessions on issues in global health! They will take place at the Tupper Building at Dalhousie University and registration will be in the Link. There will be a keynote speech and workshops led by:

• John Kirk, from the Dalhousie Departments of International Development Studies and Spanish
• Lynette Reid, from the Dalhousie Department of Bioethics
• Chris Simms, from the Dalhousie School of Health Services Administration
• Ismael Aquino, from the Canadian Red Cross

Admission is free, but space is limited so please RSVP to dalglobalhealth@gmail.com
 
Presented with support from the Dalhousie IHO, DMSS, and Humanities in Medicine Program

Event Schedule:

8:30-9:00 – Registration
9:00-9:45 – Keynote Speech by Dr. Joni Guptill, Acting
President of the Board of Directors of MSF
9:45-10:45 – Your choice of one of two workshops
11:00-12:00 – Your choice of another of two workshops
12:00-1:00 – Lunch provided
1:00-2:00 – Panel discussion

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).

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.

Oxfam Canada is a member of The Humanitarian Coalition, a network of Canadian NGOs who when they decide to fundraise for a humanitarian agency, take a united approach: they use one call centre, one phone number and a joint website for on-line donations. www.thehumanitariancoalition.ca; 1-800-464-9154

The four agencies, Save the Children, Care, Oxfam Canada and Oxfam Quebec, have long established credentials as humanitarian relief organizations. Working together, The organizations are not competing for the attention of the Canadian public; we are working together for a common cause.

The United Nations is estimating that 1.5 million people have been affected by the Cyclone. It is believed that up to 100,000 are feared dead.

Immediate needs are:

• Plastic sheets for shelter and latrines
• Water purification tablets
• Food
• Health kits including medicines
• Clothes and blankets
• Gasoline as fuel prices have risen 500%.

We estimate that 40% of the people affected by this emergency are children.

We are already delivering plastic sheets for shelter and latrines, water and food along with health care supplies.

This is a very serious emergency that will require substantial international assistance. We have a network of staff already on the ground delivering the supplies.

We would not launch the appeal if we were not confident the aid would be delivered into the hands of those who need it.

The total donations that have been received to date total $70,000.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

This is a major disaster. The needs are huge and growing. After immediate humanitarian needs, recovery and reconstruction work will go on for months or years. Assessments are still underway in the country and donations are sorely needed.

Canadians are urged to support the relief efforts of the HUMANITARIAN COALITION members through cash donations.

www.thehumanitariancoalition.ca

1-800-464-9154

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.

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.

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

You have come to the new Oxfam Maritimes blog. Our latest events and campaign information can be found here as well as posts regarding the latest issues concerning our mission and organization. Users will be able to comment and discuss content and interact with other members and volunteers in the Maritime Oxfam community.

Stay tuned!