In May, we traveled to Oslo to participate in the Oslo Freedom Forum, a large gathering of human rights activists from around the world hosted by the Human Rights Foundation. In a place where Latin America seldom receives much attention, the OAA team shared with participants about the continuing and constantly intensifying campaign against religious freedom and associated human rights in Cuba and Nicaragua, and met with activists and human rights defenders from these countries.

These included Berta Valle, a Nicaraguan journalist whose husband, presidential candidate Felix Maradiaga, has been unjustly imprisoned for more than 300 days simply for challenging Daniel Ortega in last year’s presidential elections; Carolina Barrero, an exiled Cuban artist and human rights activist; and Lilian Tintori, a Venezuelan democracy activist also living in exile and the wife of Leopoldo López, an opposition leader who was jailed in 2014 during mass protests against Nicolás Maduro.

On June 17, OAA with its partner International Republican Institute held an event at Summit of the Americas highlighting the issue of religious freedom in Cuba. IRI presented findings from a survey of Cuban religious leaders about religious freedom conditions on the island, and attendees heard from the Reverend Cristina Maria Rodriguez Pentón, a leader of Cuba’s Christian Apostolic Movement who has previously been among the “regulados” — those barred by the dictatorship from leaving Cuba. We also heard from U.S. Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Rashad Hussein.

In addition, we were all treated to a special performance of the Grammy-award winning song “Patria y Vida” by the Cuban rapper Yotuel and a gospel choir. You can watch the entire event here.

Early in July we had the privilege of participating in a very informative conference on gender equity in Sonsonate, El Salvador, along with our partners AGAPE Association of El Salvador and USAID El Salvador. Dr. Teo Babun said that it is critical to support girls and women to fully participate in society if a better future is sought. It was great to see the conference room full of young students pursuing careers in healthcare who showed a lot of interest in the topics of discussion, including human rights and violence against women. During a break, they crowded the tables of some of the other presenters who were there, including the Salvadoran police and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.

We also visited some of our partners in the country. The first was the Moody Foundation in Santa Ana, led by Pastor Kenton Moody, which runs the Hosanna School and provides vocational training and rehabilitation services, including psychological counseling and religious instruction, to young former gang members. Here we met young men who are using their skills, such as shoemaking and woodworking (the photo below of the young man on the red chair? He made it!), to make valuable products that they sell to visitors and at the market. One of the young men said that at the Moody Foundation he has found love and acceptance, which has made all the difference for him. Another young man moved us when he said that he felt that he had wasted his life until now; we encouraged him by telling him that it is never too late to make a change for the better and that in God he has more than he can imagine.

Our other partner was Pastor Carlos Nieto in Apopa, a very poor rural town. Even with what little resources he has, Pastor Nieto carries out a wonderful ministry which we are privileged to be able to support. He with his wife and sons regularly go to schools in the town where they distribute Harvest Lentil Pro meal packets to impoverished children, and they also feed close to 150 children three days a week in a small comedor (dining room) that has a kitchen and enough space to fit a few tables for half of the children (they eat in two groups). A stew of lentils and pupusas are prepared by a team led by Pastor Nieto’s wife Yesenia, and then the pastor leads the children (the youngest of whom are sometimes accompanied by their older sibling, mother, or grandmother) in a beautiful prayer, which goes:

The OAA team was blessed to be able to join Pastor Nieto in these activities, serving alongside the pastor and his team and getting to meet and speak with many of the children.

Clockwise from top left: Dr. Teo Babun with schoolchildren in Apopa; children with their mothers in Pastor Nieto’s comedor; Dr. Babun with Pastor Nieto; OAA board member Irina Vilariño helping with lunch at the comedor.

Through our Community Port Resilience Planning and Preparedness (C-PReP) initiative, and in close coordination with government institutions, ports, airports, and private sector partners, from July 18 to 22 we conducted two Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Resiliency workshops in Guyana and Suriname. One of the main objectives of these ports and airports resilience planning and preparedness workshops is to build their capacity to ensure these critical facilities remain fully ready to function effectively in the event of a natural or other national disaster.

Clockwise from top left: Dr. Teo Babun with schoolchildren in Apopa; children with their mothers in Pastor Nieto’s comedor; Dr. Babun with Pastor Nieto; OAA board member Irina Vilariño helping with lunch at the comedor.

The workshops were held in Georgetown, Guyana, and Paramaribo, Suriname, and were sponsored by FedEx and the host governments. Approximately 150 people from ports, airports, national emergency planning agencies, law enforcement, relevant non-government organizations, and government ministries participated in the workshops.

We’ve previously held workshops in Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Dominica, and the Dominican Republic.

As always, we thank you for your prayers and support! For more information and to learn how you can join our work, visit our website, follow us on Facebook at OAAUSA and on Twitter at @OutreachAid, or reach out to our Communications and Outreach Director Javier Peña at [email protected].