Studier ved IØR
To Bolivia with the solidarity brigades
Ann Christin Slettvold
Signe Vingelsgård Rugtveit went this spring with the solidarity brigade of The Latin America Solidarity Organisation in Norway (LAG) to Bolivia. She is now a MSc student at UMB, just started on the MSc programme in Development and Natural Resource Economics at IOR.
MARKEDET: Besøk på det legale kokamarkedet i La Paz. Hit kommer kokabønder fra hele regionen for å selge sin koka. Til høyre styremedlem i ADEPCOCA, Eugenio Calle.
Foto: Privat
Signe Vingelsgaard Rugtveit has lived for four and a half months in rural districts in Bolivia, where the main industry is coca leaf cultivation. Having lived with a family over time, Signe has obtained a close insight in everyday life for small farmers in Bolivia, and an insight into a difficult international subject . As part of the information work, she committed herself to in the program, she wrote an article based on her experiences from the rural community in Bolivia. The article was printed in Østlendingen this October:
KOKAHØSTING: For de fleste kokabøndene, særlig kvinnene, består det daglige arbeidet av å høste inn kokabladene.
Foto: Signe Vingelsgård Rugtveit
Where coca is legal medicine and livelihood for small farmers Coca Leaves in Bolivia has been cultivated by indigenous people for thousands of years. The traditional use, such as chewing the leaves, tea, and as a means toward various health problems has therefore existed for a long time. It is important for the coca farmers to emphasize this when pressure are put upon Bolivia to do more to fight the drug traffic problem the country are struggling with.
The area of Los Yungas in the county of La Paz is one of the traditional coca producing areas in Bolivia. Here are most of the Aymara-descent, which is one of the largest indigenous groups in the country. The people here can not envisage anything other than coca to live of in this area. Here also the soil has become very exhausted and cannot produce as much as before.
You can read the entire article
here.
The LAG Brigades Participants at the brigade are staying with families and work on projects together with local organizations. The objective of the brigades is to build solidarity and relationships through the exchange of knowledge and presence. They want to support actively people's struggle for a fairer distribution of natural resources, and to demonstrate that mutual respect, friendship and determined work for change give results.
Publisert: 27.10.09
Oppdatert: 28.10.09
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