dec 13-15, 2004

Mayor's visit to South America offers a 'true picture' of women's lives
Funds from Lutheran World Relief assist a group of women who collectively grow flowers on 15 beautiful acres at Mira Flores, in the agricultural region near Cajamarca, Peru. Women and children like this family were a familiar sight in a country where women work to sustain their families without the advantages of daycare
Mayor Cheryl Mader got a rare opportunity last month. She got a glimpse of people's lives that were very different from her own. She got a chance to examine the differences and to find the similarities, too. Mader visited Peru and Brazil as part of a group of women from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Mader is a member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Prairie du Chien and an interim vice president of the La Crosse ELCA synod. She made the trip to South America with a group of 19 American women representing the Women's group and the Global Mission group from several churches across the U.S. The American visitors had a group of seven South American women from the Lutheran church as their escorts. Some of the South American women spoke English and several of the American women spoke Spanish, so communication was not too difficult. The purpose of the trip was to connect with the congregations in Peru, which the La Crosse synod is developing a relationship with, and to see the Global Mission's work for women in the two countries. "The wonderful thing about traveling with these women- if 19 American women go down to South America, you know, we're trooping around, we're seeing things-from an American frame of reference, with American eyes. Having these women with us we were able to put everything we saw in context, sort of get the true picture of what we were seeing from the women who live that life," said Mader. The first stop on their trip was to the bustling city of Lima, Peru. It was Sunday, so the American women joined a local congregation to worship and share a meal. The church was in what is known as a 'zone 4' neighborhood of the city, 'zone 10' being the poorest. The neighborhood had electricity and regular water delivery to fill the tanks in people's homes. According to Mader, poverty is a major issue in South America, and Peru is not a very rich country. And poverty has a very powerful effect on women and children. Many women have no job skills, and are often the primary providers for their families. Children often must work to help support their families. School is not free or compulsory, and many families cannot afford it. Domestic abuse is also a common problem. The ELCA has several different mission activities in South America to help women. After the Americans left Lima, they went to a village high in the mountains to the north called Cajamarca, to visit a women's business cooperative. The Mira Flores cooperative, supported by Lutheran World Relief, is a business enterprise "where women are being empowered to support themselves," said Mader. At the cooperative women grow flowers on 15 acres which they can bring to the markets and sell, thereby earning a living to help support their families. Mader did have a little time to play tourist before leaving Peru. The group had the opportunity to visit the 15th century Inca ruins high in the Andes, at Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu was a summer retreat and religious site for Incan royalty. The experience of visiting Machu Picchu was inspiring for Mader. "The feeling there is very spiritual, actually," she noted. In Cuzco, the women visited a shelter for abandoned and negelcted children called Huchie Runa. About 80 children live at Huchie Runa, but the center serves about 220. The children can come there during the day to learn craft skills such as pottery, gardening and needlework. They also participate in lots of organized play and receive love and nurturing. "This is money well spent," Mader said with conviction as she spoke of the place. Next, Mader group flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of the 16 flights the group took during their trip. The distances the group travelled necessitated the many flights, although they did travel some by bus and by train. Brazil, Mader noted, was very different from Peru. Much more westernized and industrialized, Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world in size as well as population. Europeans, and particularly Germans, have long been established there, so there is a large Lutheran church in the country, compared to the 1,000 Lutherans in Peru.
While the differences between women's lives in the U.S. and South America were very obvious, there were of course, similarities, too ‹ the love within families is the same everywhere. And some of the problems are the same too. The globalization of corporate power is having a tremendous affect on these countries and is a problem everywhere. For example, the governments in many South American countries are selling their mineral and oil rights to multinational corporations. The corporations come in and develop the resource, but there are no labor or environmental laws to protect the people. Then the corporation produce products from the resources that locals cannot afford to buy anyway. The affect, according to Mader, is devastating. Mader said that Americans do not think about how global corporation affect us here at home. But a Minnesota woman in the group was able to make the connection. Her husband's family used to own an Amoco station in a small town. When BP (British Petroleum) bought out Amoco, the company said they had to replace the signs at the station at a cost of $60,000 or go out of business. The family was forced to choose the latter option. Big problems for any individual to face, but Mader says she was inspired by the women she met. They were not afraid. "These women are passionate about the issues," she said.

Crawford County citizens seek state plan to eradicate wild hogs
Ten concerned citizens met at the Satter Building in Prairie du Chien Thursday afternoon to discuss setting up an eradication program to eliminate wild hogs in Crawford County. The county's wild hog population has apparently grown drastically in the last three years and the hogs have become a major concern for a number of reasons. "We need the state to have a program to eliminate or greatly reduce wild hogs," said Crawford County Conservation Congress Chairman Bill Howe, "They're not a help to agriculture or terrain." Howe went on to say that wild hogs not only do a great deal of crop damage and root up hillsides, they also pose quite a threat for the spreading of disease, not only to domesticated animals but potentially to humans. Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Dave Matthews said that wild hogs tend to denude any area that they are in. "Apparently, they eat anything they can get their lips on," Matthews said. The concern is that wild hogs will take away the food base of many of the county's wild species. Another problem with wild hogs is that they live relatively long, perhaps 10-15 years, and reproduce at a rapid rate. "These things are survivors and will not go away on their own," said Matthews, who noted that he knows of 100 wild hogs reported shot within the past two years in the Gays Mills-Bell Center area. Matthews said that the DNR will conduct an aerial survey, probably in February when there is snow on the ground, in an effort to determine the numbers and whereabouts of wild hogs in Crawford County. There have been small numbers of wild hogs reported in other counties, but Crawford, with its abundance of "wild" terrain, has by far the largest population and for the longest duration. Matthews said that 80 to 90 percent of reports of wild hogs in the county have come from the Gays Mills-Bell Center area. Matthews said that the DNR has been working with a man who is a wild hog trapper in Florida, which has an extensive wild hog problem. One live trap has been set up in Crawford County but so far no hog has been captured. Also, hunters have not had much success, said Matthews, who noted that he has received about 250 phone calls within the past year, mostly from people outside of Crawford County who are interested in hunting wild hogs. The DNR classifies wild hogs as a nuisance species, not a wild animal, and they can be hunted year Œround. Landowners have the right to shoot wild hogs and non-landowners need a small game license, Matthews said. Hunting wild hogs is harder than most people think and Matthews said that there is a "learning curve with hunters" because hunting hogs is something new to them. Also, wild hogs are mostly nocturnal, which may make hunting more difficult. Many people are under the impression that they can just come to Crawford County and easily shoot a hog, and it just doesn't work that way, Matthews said. A combination of hunting and trapping will probably yield the best results. "Winter is the key for trapping and hunting," said Matthews, who explained that snow cover makes it easier to see and track the animals. Matthews said that anyone who shoots a wild hog should contact the DNR so that biologists can gain a better understanding of the range of the hogs and also take a blood sample. A half dozen hog blood samples have been taken so far in an order to determine if diseases are present. Nobody is certain what the origin or makeup of the wild hog population in Crawford County is. Sightings of wild hogs began to be reported about three years ago. Some of the hogs may be farm escapees that have since gone wild, sporting thicker hair and a "wilder" look than domesticated pigs. Others, though, look much more like true wild boars, with very thick, dark, long hair, small hind quarters, massive upper bodies and very large tusks. These animals are considered extremely tough. Bill Howe said that there were two game farms in Crawford County that became defunct in recent years. He said that it is unknown if any true wild hogs had escaped from those game farms. Matthews said that the next step in obtaining an eradication plan would be to contact members of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. A January meeting will be set up in order to formulate a proposal that will later be presented before the Department of Natural Resources Board asking for the state to provide a wild hog eradication plan for Crawford County. In order to convince the DNR Board, the proposal must show hard evidence, facts, statistics and other data which prove the severity of the wild hog problem.
All those in attendance at the Satter Building Thursday afternoon agreed that the hogs must be eliminated before the problem mushrooms out of control. "We need to start now," said Howe, "before it's too late."

December 15, 2004

December 13, 2004