Sveavägen 68, plan 5
Box 836, 101 36 Stockholm
Tel. 08-677 57 70. Fax. 08-677 57 71
E-post: info@palmecenter.se

"A Swedish conglomerate that coordinates the devolopment cooperation projects of the Swedish labor movement," but also "administers nearly 300 projects around the world" (Olof website). They emphasize aid t o El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Some of their projects include:

• Institutos De Estudios Centroamericanos (adult educational association). Olof Palme International Center provides support "via the Palme Center from the Swedish Worker's Educational Association in the Gothenburg suburbs of Molndal and Partille."

• Protesting execution-style mu rders of street children in San Salvador, El Salvador.

• A project designed to provide an "estimated 300,000 street children" with a market outlet for the refuse they pick at the city dumpsters by buying recyclable materials.

• Assistance and rehabilitation pro grams for street children

Olof Palme was the Prime Minister of Sweden, who had a passionate hatred for all aspects of discrimination or apartheid. Archbishop T revor Huddleston said, "To those of us engaged in the struggle to end apartheid the name of Olof Palme will aways be held in highest honour."

My Interest in this Organization

I have been interested in the educational progress in México ever since I first discovered during an Introductory Seminar Class "Earthquakes in Americas" and in an Anthropological Science class entitled "The Maya" that there were literally millions of people in México and Latin America who did not speak Spanish as a first language. With the raging debate over bi-lingual education in the U.S. I thought studying countries with many years of experience struggling with this issue would be illuminating. It has been my belief that education empowers individual with a sense of dignity, self-worth, and social knowledge. These skills should help the individual rise above barriers that exist only as a result of ignorance. When the Indian population no longer is ignorant of their rights as citizens, then they can began to make changes. In Ariel Dorfman's article "Bread and Burnt Rice: Culture and Economic Survival in Latin America," published in Grassroots Development 8:2, 1984, pp. 3-25., he relates a story about the change that education has made in the Indian population. Because positive changes result from education, I am supportive of organizations, such as Olof Palme International Center, who work to improve literacy through out all age groups.
 
 
 

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