Upcoming Medical School Program information sessions and events

This is the annual conference of the Natinoal Boricua Latino Health Organization.

IFCO will give a brief prsentation about the Latin American School of Medicine.

Registration for the conference is required.

JOIN US!

7:30PM Cris McConkey of Ithaca Friends of Cuba will present on IFCO campaign and inter-American solidarity efforts with the people of Haiti.
8:30PM Rhythm with Drumming Dance Workshop
9PM Free Survival Latin Dance Lesson
Admission $4 Students, $6 Non-Students
$1 Draft Beer, $2 Imported Drafts
18+ ID Required, $4 Students/$6 Non-Students

Palante’s solidarity work with Haiti is taking place in collaboration
with Ithaca Friends of Cuba (IFC) and other local partners. Our campaign
is grassroots – we seek broad community participation to make it as
successful as possible. We are working with the Interreligious
Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace and the
Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR), both based in New York City,
and allied with sister organizations on the ground in Jacmel and
Port-au-Prince, Haiti. IFCO and HWHR make frequent visits to bring
supplies and work with the Cuban Medical Team in Haiti, which is
comprised of 350 doctors and other medical personnel. (Learn more at
http://www.ifconews.org/node/723.) On Tuesday, IFCO sent seven doctors
with 750 lbs of medical supplies to Haiti. More is coming. Palante and
IFC's grassroots campaign kicks off this Saturday at our 7:30pm
presentation at the Big Red Barn. The collection drive is currently
underway and you can begin to help right now! Read through to bottom of
email to find out how.

PRESENTATION
Cris McConkey of Ithaca Friends of Cuba will lead presentation on IFCO
campaign and inter-American solidarity efforts with the people of Haiti.
Comparative approaches to disaster preparation and relief will be
discussed. Of particular interest is a comparison of solidarity based
crisis response, with teams already in place before disasters strike,
and models premised on good will fused with geopolitical, corporate and
military considerations, which comprise part of United States and United
Nations strategy.

FEATURING... REVEREND LUCIUS WALKER, Recorded Interview
Radio Interview of Reverend Lucius Walker with Tavis Smiley, accompanied
by slide show
Listen to interview now at:
http://www.tavissmileyradio.com/guests10/012910/LuciusWalker.html
Reverend Lucius Walker is the founder of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. In this
interview he tells us about the US-born, Cuban-trained doctors headed to
Haiti [now in Haiti] and why their unique training has prepared them for
this mission. Interview was conducted on 1/29 and aired on the Tavis
Smiley Show on 2/3.

MAY ALSO INCLUDE: MANOLO DE LOS SANTOS, Interview from the Dominican
Republic via Skype
Manolo de los Santos is a Caravan and youth organizer with IFCO/Pastors
for Peace as well as deacon of the Iglesia San Romero de Las
Americas-UCC in New York City. The goal of this ministry is “the
empowerment and enrichment of New York City’s Latino/Hispanic
communities… on the basis of the social and political dimensions of
their spirituality.” (For more info, Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7877143707.) Manolo accompanied
seven US doctors, all graduates of the Latin American School of
Medicine, into Haiti on Wednesday. The seven young women physicians
arrived in Haiti to begin a month or more of medical service alongside
the Cuban medical brigade. The doctors come from Harlem, Brooklyn, the
Bronx, and Staten Island in New York City; from Houston and from
Minnesota. Two of them are currently working in Oakland, CA. A number of
their fellow graduates are hoping to join them soon for the urgent work
in Haiti. Manolo arrived in the Dominican Republic yesterday.

HELP NOW
Join us in our local support effort on campus and in the Ithaca
community by setting up a collections box. See attached documents:
1. Print out the Haiti Donations sign and Supplies list attached to this
email. Tape them to any box that can be used for donations.
2. Set box out at your office, department, workplace, church, or other
community space you are connected to.
3. Email the supplies list to your friends, colleagues and coworkers and
tell them what you’re doing.
4. When box is full, call Jonathan Kline at the number on the donations
sign (607-387-5718) or email palante@cornell.edu. We will arrange to
have it picked up. We will store the supplies and get them to New York
City periodically.*
* Volunteer drivers for local pickup and New York City drop-off, and
offers of storage space, are welcome and much appreciated. Storage space
must be of moderate temperature and low to medium humidity.

MORE INFO
SalsaSon Latin Dance Party-Haiti Solidarity Event Website:
http://www.palantetroupe.org/events.html
Ithaca Friends of Cuba: http://www.ithacacubafriendship.org/
IFCO Website: http://www.ifconews.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=263802044309

LOCAL SPONSORS & COLLABORATORS
Proyecto Palante, Ithaca Friends of Cuba, Latino Studies Program,
Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations, Salsa en Rueda Dance Troupe
Palante. This list is growing. If your organization wants to be a part
of this, please send email to palante@cornell.edu.

Why I studied medicine in Cuba

Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine prepares new doctors at absolutely no cost to the students. Some 10,000 of them are studying there, and 1500 graduate every year. They come from 30 countries, including eight African nations. They have committed to serving the underserved when they become physicians.

Lillian Holloway will be speaking in Maine about Cuban Health care and about opportunities for U.S. students to study at the Latin American School of Medicine.   Presently 120 of them are enrolled at the School.

Dr. Holloway grew up in West Philadelphia and worked as a certified nursing assistant before deciding to study medicine. She will soon enter a residency training program preparing her either for family practice or emergency medicine.

In Maine Dr. Holloway will be accompanied by Ellen Bernstein, Associate Director of Pastors for Peace. That organization recruits students for the Latin American School of Medicine and provides them with administrative support.

There will be three presentations

Wednesday, April 14 at 6:30 PM at the University of Southern Maine, Glickman Library, 7th Floor, 314 Forest Avenue in Portland

Thursday, April 15 at 12 PM at the University of Maine, Augusta, Honor’s Lounge of the Randall Technology Building

Thursday, April 15 at 7 PM at Bowdoin College Cram Alumni Barn, 83 Federal Street, Brunswick

For more information, call Tom Whitney at (207) 743-2183

For information about the Latin American School of Medicine, go to: www.ifconews.org.

Join us as we welcome Dr. Luther Castillo to New York City.

“After the Media Spotlight Leaves: Continuing Solidarity with Haiti
and Honduras”

Forum, film and discussion
Friday April 16th
7:00pm
La Resurreccion United Methodist Church
790 Elton Ave @ E 158th St, the Bronx, 10451
(1 Block East of E 158th St and 3rd Ave, take the 2 or 5 train or the
BX19 bus to E 149th St and 3rd Ave or take the BX06 bus to E 161st and
Washington Ave)

We will be showing the new film “Fireflies in the Night” about the
Henry Reeve Cuban Medical Brigade in Haiti.

Dr. Luther Castillo M.D., spokesperson for the People’s Front for
National Resistance in Honduras, joins us once again in New York City
to share his recent experiences in the struggle to defend democracy
and human rights in Honduras following the military coup of June 28th,
2009.

As a graduate of the Latin American School of Medicine (LASM), Dr.
Castillo, a young Garifuna (African and indigenous descendant) doctor,
is the founder and director of the first hospital on the Atlantic
coast of Honduras that provides the Garifuna community with
healthcare.

Dr. Castillo is also the co-coordinator of the Latin American School
of Medicine's International Henry Reeve Brigade, and has spent the
last 2 months in Haiti working alongside more than 1000 Cuban doctors,
LASM graduates from 26 nations, and Haitian LASM students and
graduates providing emergency medicine as well as basic medical and
psychological care to hundreds of thousands of Haitians.

We will also have updates about IFCO’s collaboration with Local 100 of
the Transport Workers Union to organize a container shipment of
medicines, medical supplies, tents and cots to Haiti at the end of
April.

For questions and more information please call 212-926-5757 or e-mail
ifco@igc.org

* Leaflet attached below - print some to give to a friend!

US Graduates of Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine will speak about their month of medical service in Haiti.

The doctors will be speaking about their first-hand experience working in the Croix des Bouquets Field Hospital, where they spent a month working and living in tents, seeing and treating hundreds of patients each day since their arrival in Haiti in early February.

These young women physicians - who come from Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island are the U.S. part of an international contingent of more than 200 young doctors from 25 different countries, all graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine, currently providing medical services in Haiti.

Co-organized by the Riverside Church Haiti Project and IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

On Sunday October 24, Pastors for Peace friends and supporters from the San Francisco Bay Area will celebrate the life of Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., founder and guiding light of IFCO/Pastors for Peace who died peacefully September 7, 2010.  

You are invited to join in honoring this great man from 5pm to 9pm at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists at 1606 Bonita Ave. Berkeley,

Rev. Walker led, taught, organized, inspired, moved, revitalized, challenged and pushed us to always do the right thing. It is with profound sadness that we face a world without him. A world without the man whose vision – growing out of his experience in the Civil Rights Movement - built the Pastors for Peace caravans to challenge the criminal blockade against Cuba. A world without the man who led hundreds of us calmly and resolutely through illusive borders to bring aid and show solidarity to our neighbors.  It is world without the man whose love and commitment to justice led him to develop the program for U.S. students to study medicine in Cuba and involved him in the conflict over Elian Gonzalez and the struggle to free the Cuban Five.

Join us as we share our memories and our grief and renew our commitment to Lucius’s vision of a better world – a compassionate, egalitarian world that includes a U.S. policy that respects the integrity and sovereignty of Cuba.

The program will include music, a slide show, speakers, and an open mic.   Please bring a dish to share. If you have any questions about what to bring, please call Carol Cross at 650-575-7305   For more information about the event please call John Waller at 831-512-6688 or Alicia Jrapko at 510-219-0092

The DC Metro Coalition to Free the Cuban Five is hosting the Second
Annual Holiday Festival Fundraiser
and Tribute to the late Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. of Pastors for Peace

$5.00- 10.00 - no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Part of Kwanzaa 2010 observance, Ujima (collective work and responsibility), viewing and discussion the documentary People to People.

Film is the story of courageous women and men of Caravans for Peace and their tireless campaigns to oppose the US government's travel ban to Cuba, in order to build solidarity with our neighbors in Cuba.

Thank you, Cuba! - The Latin American School of Medicine, Haiti Medical and Humanitarian Aid, Healthcare, Education, the Cuban Five 

Setting the standard for the world to follow!

Don't miss it!
MC: Sierra Thai-Binh, Venceremos Brigade Program Featuring:   - Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond, California  - James Early, Cuba Solidarity Activist, Institute for Policy Studies: Democracy and the Maturation of Cuban Socialism  - Alicia Jrapko, International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5  - Melissa Mitchell MD & Revery Barnes, Latin American Medical School Graduates: Service in Haiti & Oakland  - Pablo Menendez, Grupo Mezcla, DIRECT FROM CUBA!  - Saul Landau's "Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?"   $10-15 Donation requested

DETROIT M.L.K. DAY–2011
RALLY & MARCH
FOR JOBS, PEACE & JUSTICE
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. & The Spirit of Detroit

Indoor Rally • Spirit of Detroit Awards • Music Woodward March Cultural Program • Refreshments

~ Speakers ~

JoAnn Watson,  Detroit City Councilwoman - Tribute to Rev. Lucius Walker

Willie “Mukasa” Ricks, Keynote Speaker, Field Secretary for SNCC, member of Black Panther Party & All African People's Revolutionary Party & more

In the spirit of Dr. King’s call to service, please bring a donation of warm winter wear
items for the Homeless Outreach Program at Central United Methodist Church.
Plus, find out about full medical school scholarships to the Latin American School of Medicine

For information, call 313-405-2185

Dream to be a doctor - but, can't afford med school? This could be you!

The African American Studies Program, UM Dearborn; Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, Detroit MLK Day Ctte., MECAWI and Justice for Cuba Coalition with Judghe Claudia Morcom; Prof. Gloria House, Cheryl LaBash, Abayomi Azikiwe, and Dorothy Aldridge invite students, parents, clergy, teachers, volunteers...and you to find out more!

Meet Mukasa Ricks whose son is a US medical student with full scholarship at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba --

And Ellen Bernstein, from IFCO/Pastors for Peace, (the US application center for LASM) to learn about this program and discuss how we can make an amazing difference for young Detroiters and our medically underserved community. 

versión en espaňol sigue abajo

Save the Date!
Join us October 28th  for a
welcoming reception at Colors Restaurant
for Gail Walker and Father Luis Barrios
6:00 - 9:00 PM
417 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10003

September 29, 2011

Dear Friends,

The past year has been a busy and hectic one for us here at IFCO. September marked the one year anniversary of the death of our visionary founding director Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. While it has been a very challenging time for our organization and our work, in the spirit of Lucius and thanks to your continuous support, we have persevered.

Despite tremendous economic challenges this year, we were able to organize an outstanding 22nd Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba. Our caravan stopped in 130 cities in 40 US states, Canada and Mexico collecting tons of valuable aid for Cuban schools, hospitals and churches and delivering the message that we must bring an end to the brutal US blockade of Cuba.

During our stay in Cuba we were overwhelmed by the love and respect the Cuban people showed for Rev. Walker and IFCO/Pastors for Peace. Memorial services were held in churches and seminaries throughout the island. Cuban church leaders, Vice President Esteban Lazo and National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon joined with the Caravan for a moving ceremony inside the Jose Martí Memorial in Havana where we paid tribute to our founder.

One of the proudest moments we experienced this year was meeting with recent graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine. Many of these young people are now engaged in residency programs in US hospitals, practicing what they have been trained to do: offering medical care in communities that need them the most. Just this week,a new graduate came by our office to tell us that she is headed to Mississippi to work in a clinic serving a rural community desperately in need of medical care.

On September 1st we began our work as Co-Executive Directors of IFCO bringing our combined passion, skills and commitment to the fight for justice on multiple fronts to help guide the organization ahead. We both possess a strong commitment to community organizing rooted in a faith-based tradition from a liberation perspective.

We need your financial support now to continue our existing programs and to expand our work into the future.

In addition to our current work in the coming months we will be:

• Helping to itinerate representatives of Cuban churches and the Cuban youth theater group La Colmenita which will bring a creative and special message about the plight of the Cuban 5 from a child’s perspective.

• Exploring how to incorporate environmental justice into our ongoing work. Industrial pollution including hydrofracking - the use of high pressure water to release natural gas underground - is generating immense toxic conditions resulting in serious chronic illness particularly for people of color and working people across the country.

• Organizing mini-medical clinics, with the help of our capable Medical School grads, we hope to further fulfill the promise of the Medical School Scholarship Program to have those students return to underserved communities to provide preventative medical care.

• Focusing our efforts on issues related to the prison industrial complex and abolishing the death penalty.

• We also plan to continue supporting the struggles of our brothers and sisters in Honduras, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, New Orleans and the Appalachia region.

As you can see we are hitting the ground running and will continue the great work IFCO has been engaged in since 1967 but your financial support is vital to help make that happen.

Won’t you please take a moment to make an online donation or write a check now to help support IFCO’s ongoing work for social justice?

Únase a nosotros para una recepcion de bienvenida
para Gail Walker y Padre Luis Barrios
6:00 - 9:00 PM el 28 de octubre de 2011
Colors Restaurant 417 Lafayette Street New York, NY 10003

Estimados amig@s,

Este ha sido un año ocupado y agitado para nosotros aquí en IFCO.  El 7 de Septiembre marcó el primer aniversario de la muerte de nuestro director y fundador visionario Lucius Walker, Jr.  A pesar de que ha sido un período muy difícil para nuestra organización y nuestro trabajo, en el espíritu de Lucius y gracias a su apoyo continuo hemos perseverado.

A pesar de las enormes dificultades económicas este año pudimos organizar nuestra 22 da Caravana de la Amistad a Cuba. Nuestra caravana visito a más de 130 ciudades en EE. UU., Canadá y México recogiendo toneladas de ayuda valiosa para escuelas, hospitales, e iglesias cubanas y a la vez transmitiendo el mensaje de que tenemos que ponerle fin al brutal bloqueo de EE.UU. contra Cuba.

Uno de los mejores momentos que hemos tenido este año fue la reunión con los últimos jóvenes graduados de la Escuela Latino-Americana de Medicina. Muchos de los graduados están participando en programas de residencia en hospitales de EE.UU., practicando para lo que fueron entrenados- ofrecer atención medica en las comunidades que más lo necesitan. Esta misma semana, una recién graduada llego a nuestra oficina para decirnos que ella se dirige a Mississippi a trabajar en una clínica que sirve a una comunidad rural que desesperadamente necesita atención medica.

El 1ro de septiembre empezamos nuestra función como Co-Directores Ejecutivos de IFCO. De manera combinada contribuimos nuestra pasión, habilidades y el compromiso con la lucha por la justicia en múltiples frentes y ayudaremos a guiar la organización hacia adelante. Los dos poseemos un fuerte compromiso con la organización comunitaria arraigada en una tradición basada en la fe desde la perspectiva de la liberación.

Necesitamos su apoyo financiero para continuar con nuestros programas ya existentes y ampliar nuestro trabajo en el futuro.

Además de nuestro trabajo actual, en los próximos meses estaremos:

• Acompañando a representantes de las iglesias cubanas y jóvenes cubanos del grupo de teatro infantil La Colmenita, que traerán un mensaje creativo y especial sobre la situación de las 5 Cubanos presos en los EEUU desde la perspectiva de un niño.

• Explorando la forma de incorporar la justicia ambiental en nuestro trabajo en curso. La contaminación industrial, incluyendo hydrofracking – el uso de agua a alta presión para liberar el gas natural subterráneo – generando inmensas condiciones toxicas resultando en graves enfermedades crónicas, sobre todo a personas de color y personas trabajadoras alrededor del país.

• Organizando mini-clínicas medicas con la ayuda de nuestros graduados de la Escuela de Medicina esperando seguir cumpliendo con la promesa del programa de becas para la Escuela de Medicina, de que los graduados regresen a las comunidades marginadas a proporcionar atención medica preventiva.

• Concentrando nuestro esfuerzo en temas relacionados con el complejo industrial de prisiones y la abolición de la pena de muerte.

• También planeamos seguir concentrando nuestro esfuerzos en las luchas de nuestros hermanos y hermanas de Honduras, Haití, República Dominicana, Nueva Orleans y la región de los Apalaches.

Como ustedes pueden ver, no nos detenemos y tenemos la intención de continuar la gran obra con la que IFCO tiene un compromiso desde 1967, pero su apoyo financiero es vital para hacer esto posible.

Por favor ¿podría usted tomar un momento para hacer una donación en nuestra página del internet o enviarnos un cheque y así apoyar el trabajo de IFCO a favor de la justicia social?

TBA