Don't Be Afraid Gringo

by Benjamin, Medea

• ISBN13: 9780060972059
• ISBN10: 006097205X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-08
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

This is the story of a courageous woman who is helping her people overcome their unimaginable poverty by discovering the roots of it. Trained by the Catholic Church to organize women's groups to combat malnutrition, Alvarado, a woman with a second-grade education, began to question the wretched conditions she saw around her. She became one of her country's leading political activists.

In a subtle sense Medea Benjamin denounces short term mission projects....that we come in to countries like hers and try to put a band-aid on a skull fracture. She urges the facts that if we are to really help the poor; we need to make a long-term commitment to get at the root of the problems.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Foreword	xiii
Elvia Alvarado
Introduction	xv
Medea Benjamin
Childhood to Motherhood	1	(10)
The Church Opened Our Eyes	11	(8)
The Real Honduras Is Hidden	19	(10)
Jesus Was an Organizer	29	(12)
Marriage Campesino Style	41	(10)
Taming Macho Ways	51	(8)
I Learned to Judge for Myself	59	(8)
Our Struggle to Recover the Land	67	(18)
Organizing Brings Change	85	(16)
We Don't Want to Beg	101	(8)
Gringos and Contras on Our Land	109	(8)
What's Democracy? What's Communism?	117	(10)
Facing Repression and Prison	127	(14)
Turn Your Tears into Strength	141	(32)
Appendices:
1. Honduras Fact Sheet	149	(2)
2. Honduran Chronology	151	(4)
3. Political Parties and Armed Opposition	155	(4)
4. Major Campesino Organizations	159	(2)
5. U.S. Economic and Military Aid to Honduras	161	(2)
6. U.S.-Honduran Military Establishments in Honduras	163	(3)
7. Resource Guide	166	(7)
Pledge of Support	173