{"id":12874,"date":"2016-05-16T21:14:49","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T04:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=12874"},"modified":"2016-05-16T21:15:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T04:15:45","slug":"hearing-the-plea-safe-water-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/hearing-the-plea-safe-water-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing the plea: Safe water for all"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Linda Bloom<\/strong>
\nMay 16, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)<\/h4>\n

What happens to a community when there is no safe water supply? Look at Flint, Michigan.<\/p>\n

The lead that has leached from pipes there remains an ongoing concern. \u201cThe problem with Flint right now is this is going to be a generation\u2019s long issue,\u201d says Michigan Area Bishop Deborah Kiesey. \u201cThe children of Flint, particularly, are the ones most affected by this poor water.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Michigan to Liberia, and Portland to Philippines and Honduras, poor and marginalized communities are struggling with water contamination that threatens everyday life.<\/p>\n

United Methodist Women called attention to their plight during a lunchtime rally on May 16 at the Oregon Convention Center plaza. The event was part of the UMW Day celebration<\/a> during the United Methodist General Conference.<\/p>\n

Michigan United Methodists, in tandem with the United Methodist Committee on Relief, quickly responded to the Flint crisis, but more needs to be done. \u201cUMCOR has agreed to be with us through the end on this, and the end is a long way off,\u201d Kiesey noted.<\/p>\n

Michigan\u2019s UMW members also have tackled concerns over the Nestl\u00e9 Corporation water-bottling plants, said Nichea Ver Veer Guy, a UMW director and head delegate of the West Michigan Conference for General Conference.<\/p>\n

The water issue \u201cis disproportionately impacting our poor communities and our communities of color,\u201d she explained, and UMW is working with partners \u201cto defend creation, to defend the quality of life and to defend clean water for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impact around the globe<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Clean water has long been lacking for a poor community in Liberia, recently visited by Rose Farhat, a United Methodist woman from Liberia.<\/p>\n

Back in 1926, when Firestone Rubber was asked to stop polluting one of the largest rivers in Liberia, it dumped waste into streams and small rivers used for fishing and for drinking water, Farhat charged.<\/p>\n

The result? \u201cYou see one generation after the other being impoverished,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Corporate plantations have siphoned off ancestral lands and resources of indigenous peoples in the Philippines, said Norma Capuyan of an advocacy group in Mindanao.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe indigenous peoples, since time immemorial, believed that water is life,\u201d she added. \u201cBut today, we are a witness to what life is without water. We have been eating farm rats to tide our hunger caused by seven months of drought.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Honduras, the Lencas, an indigenous population, have been fighting the construction of a hydroelectric dam for years. But the fact that they were having success in their campaign put their leader, Berta C\u00e1ceres, in danger and she was murdered March 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, the dam continues to be under construction, reported Bishop Elias Galvan, who has supervised the United Methodist mission in Honduras for last 13 years. \u201cAs we remember Berta, we remember all who have died in defense of the land and water,\u201d he told the gathering.<\/p>\n

Undocumented Honduran women, children and youth seeking refuge in the United States are an example of the \u201cunprecedented amount of forced migration\u201d occurring at the present time, Bishop Julius Trimble of the United Methodist Immigration Task Force pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater rights and immigration rights meet at the intersection of justice and equality,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

Who benefits from Portland cleanup?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In Portland, the water rights of poor and homeless communities are threatened by an upcoming Superfund cleanup of Portland Harbor and the Willamette River, stressed Cassie Cohen, founder, Portland Harbor Community Coalition, and Ibrahim Mubarak, founder of Right 2 Survive, a houseless advocacy organization.<\/p>\n

Advocates are trying to hold polluters accountable, but a sustainably cleaned-up harbor will not benefit all, Cohen said.<\/p>\n

Mubarak agreed. \u201cWithout intervention, those who have suffered so much in the past will not enjoy the outcomes of a cleaned-up harbor,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Those attending the rally were given their own calls to action on the local, national and global levels:<\/p>\n