Brief Update

Hello and Feliz Navidad! There appears to be more and more Christmas decorations up every day here. The first appeared in my house almost a month ago and now in addition to fairy lights on the outside and inside of houses (this in a place where power cuts are so common!), model Santas and consumer advertising there are fireworks almost daily, and sometimes actually in broad daylight, which I would of thought defeats the object but hey...

Busy week for INSTRAW as there are two big players from New York here to work with the senior staff team to review the implementation of a change strategy and set key priorities for the next 6-12 months (INSTRAW needs extra leadership at the moment as there is only an interim Director in post) and in the name of participation the whole staff team is obliged to attend sessions for most of this week to contribute. Thus I'm learning about the organisation from a different angle, and one that is more suited to my academic background (Voluntary Sector Management as opposed to Development), but some of the work I had in hand that was shaping up nicely is on hold for a few days.

Spent some time with a group of Dominican friends during and after their Catholic Youth Group this weekend and went to a graduation party at an American theme bar that was blasting Ultimate Fighting Championship on pay per view from massive flat screen TVs. That was pretty surreal considering we'd come from a community meeting where they plan voluntary activities and where a really talented band played songs of peace, unity and praise. One of the fighters did have a slogan all over his clothes saying "Jesus didn't tap" which made me smile. The singer of the group is also the Latin America and Caribbean coordinator for the Alpha Course, an outreach programme originated by the Anglican Church in the UK for people with questions about Christianity. He's traveling to London in May and it would be nice to connect with him again as he seemed a very cool guy. On the flip side of the generosity and tolerance the strong role the church has here allows it to promote however, there is a darker moral edge.

Currently there is a panel of senior Dominican Judges sitting at the moment on the issue of abortion. One of the favored options, at least int he mainstream media, is to to make abortion equal to murder, as far as I understand it, for anyone involved in procuring, performing or receiving a termination, with a minimum sentence of 40 Years! This really came as a shock to me.Considering how big a class divide there already seems to be here this would probably have a disproportionate impact on poor women. Whilst I certainly wouldn't ascribe all blame for this at religions feet, one can't discount the cultural influence Catholic value have over attitudes towards such issues here and it really leaves a bitter taste in the mouth sometimes.