Friday, April 20, 2012
Campus Engagement 2
This morning YAYA hosted a 'friday movie' screening for core YAYA members called The Other Side of Immigration.
The first half of this movie was excellent! The movie does a great job at connecting globalization to immigration patterns. It focuses on the mexican population and their need to immigrate to the United States in order to work. The movie opens up with a story of a family who is impacted by globalization daily. The father in this family has to make yearly trip to the United States in order to find work. The man recalls the gruesome journey to the US he has to make so often, were he has to pay over two thousand dollars to coyotes who in turn walk him and smuggle him across the Mexican border. He also talks about the many men and women who have died during the trips and the fact that the families only find out months afterward, through people who traveled along with them.
In the movie, several farmers and government representative talk about the negative effects law like NAFTA had had on local economies. Many farmers have had to shut down their production because they could not compete with the big 'maquiladoras' that are now their neighbors. Many business owners have also had to shut down their locales due to big superstores like Walmart, that continue to open all across Latin America. It was heartbreaking to hear all of these stories, especially because this is exactly what my family went through. Because of globalization, many families who were well off and comfortable in their countries have to be displaced in order to survive. There isn't opportunities to work south of the border, and we all benefit from it here in the U.S.
Another part of the movie I enjoyed were the many interviews of local folk who were affected by globalization. From farmers, lawmakers, district representatives to mothers, there were so many heartbreaking stories regarding immigration. There was a mother who had not seen her daughter who immigrated to the U.S for eight years. Her daughter was scared to even go outside for fear of deportation, and her mother could not afford to go, partly because it would take a lot of sacrificing to raise the two thousand dollars she would have to pay the coyote, and partly because she had to take care of her other children who were living in Mexico with her.
Its truly devastating to hear stories like these. Broken families who are struggling to survive and want nothing more than to be together, and have access to jobs. It makes me sick to hear the countless hateful comments being made about migrant workers here in the U.S, I honestly don't think that people who are in this mindset have half a clue about what families like these have to go through. They risk their lives in order to come into a country were they will be treated as inhuman and work under dangerous conditions in order to survive.
The second part of the movie was a little disappointing. A lot of the government officials started to talk about the drug problem in mexico and Nationalism. A lot of them were eluding to the fact that the Mexican community was divided and that was most of the problem. I feel that this shifts back responsibility and blame regarding the immigration system we have here in the U.S, and that its really unfair. I hope that in the future, there could be more films that talk about the U.S participation in globalization and how we are destroying many peoples lives due to it.
Campus Engagement 1
Last night a couple of students from our class got together at Sara's house for a screening of the Whistle Blower.
I had no idea what the movie was about and the fact that I did not even know about this 'U.N' scandal, prior to this screening is just a testament of how little attention the media, especially in the U.S pays to sex trafficking crimes.
The Whistleblower is a movie that covers the actual events regarding Kathryn Bolkovac's sex trafficking investigation which involved several U.N 'peace keepers' who were on duty in Bosnia. Kathryn was assigned to be the head of a gender department within the U.N and was allowed to interview several women in Bosnia who had placed complaints of sexual and physical violence. She quickly finds out that the women are often ignored and their cases are often shoved to the back of the case line and mostly never solved. Through her various investigations, she uncovers that many of her fellow co-workers are not only buying girls and women but are also receiving payouts from brothel owners in exchange for security against criminal prosecution.
I had many angry feelings through this movie. I felt that this movie does play into the victimization of the human trafficked girl. Throughout the film the viewers were constantly reminded that these 'naive' girls were only in this situations because they were tricked with false promises of 'honest' work. All of these girls were young and light skinned. It makes me wonder how the audience would have reacted to cases involving trafficked girls that were in brothels in order to survive. This movie does not go into details about why it is women, not only in Bosnia, are the majority in the sex trafficking industry and why it is they can make money off their bodies. We do not explore notions of gendered labor in the movie either, although a woman does state that when men are killed at war, 'prostitution' numbers go higher, although this shed a small light regarding trafficking problems, the audience is just left with that small sentence of a golden clue in trying to discuss systemic correlations to trafficking.
I was also very upset at the fact that non of the U.N official were officially charged with any crimes. I wish the movie would have taken that fact and stated that this 'issue' is a global one, and that if men from the U.N and especially from the U.S were willing to participate in sex trafficking, then this mean that this was trafficking was a problem occurring world wide.
Its not often that a movie like this hits the cinema screen, especially because sex trafficking or 'prostitution' is usually in the peripheral vision of most block buster hits, and although this movie has its flaws, I at least hope that its audience will be as enraged as i am and that through critical thinking, we can start to make connections with trafficking and how we participate and are connected with it as members of this world.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Activism Log
I am very happy with how this project is going. Our global class was able to raise $400 and 30 plus gardening tools. Not to mention that our attendance was a lot higher than what we originally expected. At one point, I counted 62 people from our class, the FWAF and members of the Fellsmere community. I feel that this was one of the most rewarding and challenging projects I have ever been a part of. Our class had a lot of bumps in the road and I feel like as a whole we have grown and our leadership has strengthened. I also feel that coupled with the readings, the interactions we have had with the Fellsmere community, especially Yolanda, Daniel and Christina has really helped us grow as human beings. Towards the beginning of the project we kept theorizing and making assumption left and right, but I oddly feel that this was part of the point in our activism, to learn and grow from our mistakes; to participate in productive conversations. It was amazing to hear my classmates introduce themselves in Spanish and make the effort to communicate with the people in Fellsmere. It was awesome to play soccer with the kids and sit down to have a meal with Yolanda. I always get taken aback with how kind and amazing the people in Fellsmere are, I had an awesome realization when I was there, I realized that part of the reason my heart was with this community was because I feel I am at home when I’m there. My mom and dad, and most of my brothers and sisters are 4 states away, and being around people who speak my language and eat my ‘kind’ of food makes me feel less homesick. I always learn something when I go to the garden, this time Daniel taught me how to know when a carrot was ready to be picked. It makes me think back to Mohanty’s notion of home and family, and I honestly feel that Fellsmere is one of the many homes I know.
I fell that this project relates most to Minh-ha. I keep coming back to this text because I feel that these readings have been the ones that have impacted me the most. I feel that not only was it important to value and hear Yolanda’s story, but for me, I learned the importance of hearing my classmate’s story. They too have something to say and experiences to share. This was something that Yolanda and Daniel state at the beginning of each gardening day. They always stress the importance of learning from one another. This is the only way we can grow and build relationships that encourage and fuel our passion for social change. It is until we have this reciprocal relationship that we finally see each other as human beings, worth fighting for and worth listening to. I feel that this project was successful at allowing this class to learn from a community that they would have had no contact to, other than this project and I truly hope that they do not take the bonds they have made for granted. I hope to see them at future garden events, and actions that the Fellsmere community invites us to, and I hope we all think of communities like these, especially women like Yolanda every time we sit down at the table and eat.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. Print
I fell that this project relates most to Minh-ha. I keep coming back to this text because I feel that these readings have been the ones that have impacted me the most. I feel that not only was it important to value and hear Yolanda’s story, but for me, I learned the importance of hearing my classmate’s story. They too have something to say and experiences to share. This was something that Yolanda and Daniel state at the beginning of each gardening day. They always stress the importance of learning from one another. This is the only way we can grow and build relationships that encourage and fuel our passion for social change. It is until we have this reciprocal relationship that we finally see each other as human beings, worth fighting for and worth listening to. I feel that this project was successful at allowing this class to learn from a community that they would have had no contact to, other than this project and I truly hope that they do not take the bonds they have made for granted. I hope to see them at future garden events, and actions that the Fellsmere community invites us to, and I hope we all think of communities like these, especially women like Yolanda every time we sit down at the table and eat.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. Print
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Girls Like Us and the Global Discourse on Trafficking
“It allows us to overlook the fact that most of the men doing the buying are what we would consider “normal.” Many of these men wouldn’t dream of sexually abusing the girl next door but when it comes to a ‘prostitute,’ event a ‘teen prostitute,’ they figure it doesn’t really matter. She’s already out there. She kinda wants it anyway… there is an underlying belief that men have needs, and that sometimes those needs may be legitimately, if not legally, fulfilled by purchasing someone.” (Lloyd 66-67)
After reading this I felt saddened at this societies view regarding human beings who are in ‘the life’ and at our participation in the system that continue this cycle of oppression. In this society we equate someone with something once it is ‘bought,’ therefore the dehumanizing of a person who is a ‘prostitute’ brings forth the general belief that they (now it) can be treated in any way the buyer see’s fit. This is also reflected by Lloyds quote when she states that sexually abusing ‘the girl next door’ is an unthinkable act, its because the girl next door has a ‘family’, she is someone, she is ‘innocent’ and ‘frail’ and needs to be guarded, but this sentiment is non applicable to the girl who is walking the streets, its perplexing to me how a girl the same age as another is considered non human, or ‘trash’ not only by society, but by legal agencies that are said to protect us, like law enforcement. They are now a sexual object to men who can afford to purchase it and a nuisance to society, a thing who is only there to fulfill a need or a troubled kid to be corrected in a detention facility. This also speaks about constructs of masculinity and relations of power dynamics within sex. Once someone dehumanizes someone who is bought, they feel entitled to degrade, assault and abuse these humans for their personal pleasure. In the Newsweek article “The John Next Door” sex buyers assert that:
“You’re the boss, the total boss,” said another john. “Even us normal guys want to say something and have it done no questions asked. No ‘I don’t feel like it.’ No ‘I’m tired.’ Unquestionable obedience. I mean that’s powerful. Power is like a drug” (Bennetts.)
Power and control is often seen as important contributors to a strong and admirable masculinity, it is this flawed construction of what it means to be a man in all areas of ones life (especially sexually) that perpetuates this cycle of oppression where buying someone is a license which justifies abusing human beings in such a way that we would find ‘unthinkable’ when regarding ‘the girl next door.’
This view is very much classed and raced because it is those women who do not fit the mold of ‘the girl next door’ who has a loving family and the means to be a human being who is exploited. We must examine how we as a whole, view people who are in this ‘line of work’ not as humans but in contrast to how we view ‘the girl next door’, how WE construct ourselves by what we are not, the others. It is not until we examine our role in perpetuating this system that we can dismantle some of the very problematic aspects of the sex industry we all seem to want to talk about.
WORD COUNT: 475
Bennetts, L.. The john next door. N.p., 2011. Web. 10 Apr 2012. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/07/17/the-growing-demand-for-prostitution.html.
After reading this I felt saddened at this societies view regarding human beings who are in ‘the life’ and at our participation in the system that continue this cycle of oppression. In this society we equate someone with something once it is ‘bought,’ therefore the dehumanizing of a person who is a ‘prostitute’ brings forth the general belief that they (now it) can be treated in any way the buyer see’s fit. This is also reflected by Lloyds quote when she states that sexually abusing ‘the girl next door’ is an unthinkable act, its because the girl next door has a ‘family’, she is someone, she is ‘innocent’ and ‘frail’ and needs to be guarded, but this sentiment is non applicable to the girl who is walking the streets, its perplexing to me how a girl the same age as another is considered non human, or ‘trash’ not only by society, but by legal agencies that are said to protect us, like law enforcement. They are now a sexual object to men who can afford to purchase it and a nuisance to society, a thing who is only there to fulfill a need or a troubled kid to be corrected in a detention facility. This also speaks about constructs of masculinity and relations of power dynamics within sex. Once someone dehumanizes someone who is bought, they feel entitled to degrade, assault and abuse these humans for their personal pleasure. In the Newsweek article “The John Next Door” sex buyers assert that:
“You’re the boss, the total boss,” said another john. “Even us normal guys want to say something and have it done no questions asked. No ‘I don’t feel like it.’ No ‘I’m tired.’ Unquestionable obedience. I mean that’s powerful. Power is like a drug” (Bennetts.)
Power and control is often seen as important contributors to a strong and admirable masculinity, it is this flawed construction of what it means to be a man in all areas of ones life (especially sexually) that perpetuates this cycle of oppression where buying someone is a license which justifies abusing human beings in such a way that we would find ‘unthinkable’ when regarding ‘the girl next door.’
This view is very much classed and raced because it is those women who do not fit the mold of ‘the girl next door’ who has a loving family and the means to be a human being who is exploited. We must examine how we as a whole, view people who are in this ‘line of work’ not as humans but in contrast to how we view ‘the girl next door’, how WE construct ourselves by what we are not, the others. It is not until we examine our role in perpetuating this system that we can dismantle some of the very problematic aspects of the sex industry we all seem to want to talk about.
WORD COUNT: 475
Bennetts, L.. The john next door. N.p., 2011. Web. 10 Apr 2012. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/07/17/the-growing-demand-for-prostitution.html.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Service Learning Log
Activism:
This week has been good, a lot better than any other week so far. YAYA and the Global class had a a small get-together and for the first time I felt that we were 'hanging out' instead of just put in a classroom for the sake of a project. We were also able to communicate our frustrations and accomplishments regarding the project, freely! Its a bit sad that it has taken us such a long time to get to know each other, but hey... at least its happening! I feel that we still have communication problems, but we are working through them a bit more smoothly than before. Some other great news is that two of the people from the Global Class are now YAYA officers! This is very exciting for me and YAYA because these individuals have not only demonstrated great leadership skills regarding the project, but have also show great interest in YAYA and Farmworker issues. I am really proud of them, and glad that this project has brought people and organizations together.
Not to mention that this Saturday is the day of the Fellsmere trip! I really cant believe it has come up so soon. At the beginning of this class I was trying to avoid wearing my 'organizer' cap when I was in the Global Classroom, but now that the event is so soon, I was kind of forced to realize that for the projects sake, I really cant separate my participation as a student and organizer. I wish I had realized this sooner, because although things are moving along more smoothly, things could have been further along by now.
Reflection:
Through this project along with the course readings have greatly influenced how I see and regard fellow scholars and feminists. It wasn't until Minh-ha that I finally started realizing how everyones 'story' is different... not wrong or right, but just different (Minh-ha). I realized how westernized my mindset was in regards to this, not only was I devaluing other peoples experiences, but I was also disregarding their beliefs; and that if i wished for my activism within classrooms and organizations to be effective in regards to real social change, I had to take into account everyone's story as much as I do mine. I honestly think this is one of the most important lessons I have ever learned.
Regarding Fellsmere and Yolanda, I was able to talk to her recently and she is as excited for this trip as we are! After I told her about our class fundraising efforts, she was so happy that she added breakfast to our menu! Yolanda was also able to briefly chat with some of the members from the Global Class and of course, everyone fell in love with her.
There are also many other exciting things going on with that (like the awesome attendance that well exceeds our original goal) but I will save it for another post!
Works Cited
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. 67. Print
This week has been good, a lot better than any other week so far. YAYA and the Global class had a a small get-together and for the first time I felt that we were 'hanging out' instead of just put in a classroom for the sake of a project. We were also able to communicate our frustrations and accomplishments regarding the project, freely! Its a bit sad that it has taken us such a long time to get to know each other, but hey... at least its happening! I feel that we still have communication problems, but we are working through them a bit more smoothly than before. Some other great news is that two of the people from the Global Class are now YAYA officers! This is very exciting for me and YAYA because these individuals have not only demonstrated great leadership skills regarding the project, but have also show great interest in YAYA and Farmworker issues. I am really proud of them, and glad that this project has brought people and organizations together.
Not to mention that this Saturday is the day of the Fellsmere trip! I really cant believe it has come up so soon. At the beginning of this class I was trying to avoid wearing my 'organizer' cap when I was in the Global Classroom, but now that the event is so soon, I was kind of forced to realize that for the projects sake, I really cant separate my participation as a student and organizer. I wish I had realized this sooner, because although things are moving along more smoothly, things could have been further along by now.
Reflection:
Through this project along with the course readings have greatly influenced how I see and regard fellow scholars and feminists. It wasn't until Minh-ha that I finally started realizing how everyones 'story' is different... not wrong or right, but just different (Minh-ha). I realized how westernized my mindset was in regards to this, not only was I devaluing other peoples experiences, but I was also disregarding their beliefs; and that if i wished for my activism within classrooms and organizations to be effective in regards to real social change, I had to take into account everyone's story as much as I do mine. I honestly think this is one of the most important lessons I have ever learned.
Regarding Fellsmere and Yolanda, I was able to talk to her recently and she is as excited for this trip as we are! After I told her about our class fundraising efforts, she was so happy that she added breakfast to our menu! Yolanda was also able to briefly chat with some of the members from the Global Class and of course, everyone fell in love with her.
There are also many other exciting things going on with that (like the awesome attendance that well exceeds our original goal) but I will save it for another post!
Works Cited
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. 67. Print
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Service Learning Proposal 2
3/15/12 To: Professor Tweed
From: Abigail Ruiz
WST4415 Service Learning Proposal
Mission Statement:
To fight for agricultural justice and improvement of women’s rights in the farm worker community through fundraising and volunteering with YAYA and communication and cooperation with our [to be determined] global partner.
Organizational Structure:
Secretary: record keeping (includes tracking attendance), maintenance of Google group
Scheduler: maintains Google calendar and plans attendance to events
Task-based committees: Headed by a Committee Chairperson who acts as the liaison for the committee and ensures efficiency of meetings
Community partner liaisons (2): communicate with community partners and attend YAYA meetings
Global partner liaisons (2): work with fundraising committee Ethics Committee (3): ensures mindful action, implements “three strike” policy
Three Strike Policy: Failure to complete a task or attend a designated event results in one strike First and second strikes result in voting restrictions Three strikes results in a meeting with the ethics committee and Professor Tweed
Fundraising Organizers (4): responsible for coordinating an event and/or delegating responsibilities to other members to ensure that we are able to provide at least $190 (for food), 19 rakes and 19 shovels to YAYA for the community garden project.
Every member is accountable for his or her own attendance and participation. If a member is unable to attend an event, they must notify the scheduler. The Ethics Committee and “three strike” policy were conceived to deal with situations in which a member fails to be accountable for them.
Our group is democratically structured and focuses on working with, rather than for, our community. We have chosen this organizational strategy because, based on the NGOs that have come before us, operating through task-based committees (where personal accountability and leadership can foster) promotes efficiency in goal achievement. Women, Food, and Agriculture Network (WFAN), as discussed in Women’s Activism and Globalization, have a similar mission. One of their goals is to “instigate change” by building community and sustaining relationships with farmworkers (144).
We also have an ethics committee to monitor our progress. In “Unlikely Godmother,” Margaret Snyder characterizes the United Nations as a “godmother,” which acted as a guardian and advocate for women’s issues (25). Our ethics committee is cognate to the UN, in that it will monitor the efficacy and ethical compliance of our project. We are facing the global challenge of farmworker rights based on local realities, specifically the lack of resources to farmworkers in the community of Fellsmere, FL. We will be participating in discussion that takes place on a global level with our global partner. By building solidarity between our local and global partners, and ourselves, we will either discover or develop new ideas to cater to the needs of the farmworker population.
Group effectiveness will be measured by involvement of the majority of class members at each event, as well as our ability to fulfill each of the goals we have set. We are also considering the individual gains of each class member, outside of the group as a whole, to be an accomplishment of overall group effectiveness. This includes phone banking with YAYA, fundraising, and planning. We will also strive to maintain sincere communication and ethical interactions with each other and our community partners. We will assess ourselves via individual surveys on group effectiveness.
Community Partner/Global Theme Profile:
We propose to address the larger systemic issues of the treatment and unfair conditions of farm workers, focusing specifically on women farm workers. We know that "women produce 70% of the food on earth but they are marginalized and oppressed by neoliberalism and patriarchy" (What Is 1). These systems of oppression often deny those who produce the food basic, equal access to the products they produce. As the price of food increases and becomes scarcer, women become malnourished, "as they eat last after providing for their children and family members" (Desai 21). One possible way of addressing this issue is to "produce food for local consumption" (Desai 24). To lay a foundation for both environmental and production sustainability, it is key that the community eats the food it grows. Local production and consumption can also indirectly address situations of "unsustainable exploitation of workers," who are denied not only equal access to food, but also other resources, such as safe housing and acceptable working conditions (Two Years 1). By establishing themselves as producers of their own food and giving value and recognition to both the unpaid and poorly paid labor, farmworkers can pave the way for change in regard to equal access and fair treatment.
We have not yet been able to contact a global partner. However, when we do, we will be able to find out more about their needs and goals as they relate to our own and therefore participate in both shared learning and activism. By working in solidarity with YAYA, we are supporting activism enacted “to change the oppressive social, political and economic conditions of farm workers” (“About”). Human rights violations; such as those our local farmworkers face, are worldwide issues and are experienced in many forms across many communities. While YAYA is “[i]nspired by the principles of nonviolence of the farm worker movement,” we are inspired by the efforts of YAYA and the organization’s slant towards working with, not simply for farm worker communities (“About”). As we work with each other and with YAYA, we will cultivate ethical activism through focusing on our communicative and social interactions.
I feel that this project addresses several of the goals and objectives of the course. For example, it involves a marginalized community that is usually made invisible in our society despite their massive contributions to essential components of our every day lives (what we eat and how this food gets to us). Secondly it helps us see the ways groups and even feminist organizations usually enact ‘volunteer’ work and the problematic assumptions and implications that are a result of them. Like Minh-ha writes “The perception of the outsider as the one who needs help has taken on he successive forms of the barbarian, the pagan, the infidel, the wild man, the “native’ and the underdeveloped” (Minh-ha 54). We see how service based in charity ‘others’ and positions marginalized groups as sole benefactors of our good graces. I believe that through actual human interaction and community building we will see the community as human and not as a subject to be discussed amongst ourselves. Hopefully through this project will we learn to analyze and unpack our assumptions more critically and examine how our western perspective of the world might’s skew how we treat and interact with ‘different’ communities.
Our intentions for this project are to forge relationships with farm worker communities on a local to global level, with a focus on women and how their lives are impacted by the work they do. We will accomplish ours goals by dividing them up between the various committees we have created. We will begin to develop a relationship with our local community partner, YAYA, by attending meetings and fulfilling their requested needs for gardening tools and long sleeve shirts. We will also be participating in the Fellsmere Community Garden Event, where we will be gardening, sharing, and preparing a meal, while also learning from one another. We will determine the needs of our global partners through email and meet whatever need(s) they express at that time.
We will complete our service-learning project via the combined resources of each of us as individuals, the resources we have available as UCF students, and the resources of our greater Orlando community. Through the expertise of YAYA and FWAF, we will be able to better understand the ways in which we can use our resources to best serve the needs of the farmworker community. Simultaneously, we will be continuously communicating as a group in order to reevaluate (and therefore possibly alter) our initial methodology, resources, and group organizational structure, in order to best serve our goals.
One of our immediate goals in supporting YAYA and FWAF in the Fellsmere community gardening day is to fundraise one shovel and one rake per student. Another goal is to fundraise the cost per person for our visit, which includes meals and transportation. We believe that these immediate goals are feasible because we have access to different types of resources that will help our fundraising efforts. For example, on-campus technology to make and print materials to advertise fundraising, as well as access to various campus organizations that may support our fundraising events.
Our most important goal is to support our community partner and their sustainable relationship building with farmworker communities. Our fundraising efforts will provide the Fellsmere community with the tools that they currently need and will use in the future. We will also be providing labor within the Fellsmere community garden and helping with the upkeep of the plots, a service that FWAF has asked YAYA and our Global class to provide. We hope that through this project we help YAYA strengthen their already established relationship with the Fellsmere community, and that through our collaborative efforts, we also create a sustainable relationship with our community partner.
Project Timeline:
1.February 22: Initial contact with Lariza Garzon of YAYA to confirm partnership
2.February 24: Contact Global Partner
3.March 1: In-class presentation by YAYA
1.The historical events that have led to the current oppressive conditions of the agricultural industry
2.Solidarity (sustainable relationship), privilege, power dynamics, etc.
3.March 10: Fundraising Event
4.March 17: Fundraising Event
5.March 31: Participate in YAYA’s Community Garden Project:
1.8 am Depart Orlando from NFWM office
2.10 am Arrive To Fellsmere
3.10:15 am Welcome, introductions and instructions
4.10:45 am Gardening begins!
5.1:00 pm Lunch (vegetarian options available)/ short soccer game
6. 2:00 pm Back to gardening!
7.4:30 pm Debrief
8.5:15 pm Dinner
9.6:00 pm Depart Fellsmere
10.8:00 pm Arrive to Orlando at NFWM Office
11.Date TBD: Debriefing meeting
Word count: 1512
Works Cited
Desai, Manisha. "Transnational Solidarity: Women's Agency, Structural Adjustment, and Globalization." Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 15-33. Print.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. 67. Print
Naples, Nancy A. "The Challenges and Possibilities of Transnational Feminist Praxis." “Two Years After the Events…”
From: Abigail Ruiz
WST4415 Service Learning Proposal
Mission Statement:
To fight for agricultural justice and improvement of women’s rights in the farm worker community through fundraising and volunteering with YAYA and communication and cooperation with our [to be determined] global partner.
Organizational Structure:
Secretary: record keeping (includes tracking attendance), maintenance of Google group
Scheduler: maintains Google calendar and plans attendance to events
Task-based committees: Headed by a Committee Chairperson who acts as the liaison for the committee and ensures efficiency of meetings
Community partner liaisons (2): communicate with community partners and attend YAYA meetings
Global partner liaisons (2): work with fundraising committee Ethics Committee (3): ensures mindful action, implements “three strike” policy
Three Strike Policy: Failure to complete a task or attend a designated event results in one strike First and second strikes result in voting restrictions Three strikes results in a meeting with the ethics committee and Professor Tweed
Fundraising Organizers (4): responsible for coordinating an event and/or delegating responsibilities to other members to ensure that we are able to provide at least $190 (for food), 19 rakes and 19 shovels to YAYA for the community garden project.
Every member is accountable for his or her own attendance and participation. If a member is unable to attend an event, they must notify the scheduler. The Ethics Committee and “three strike” policy were conceived to deal with situations in which a member fails to be accountable for them.
Our group is democratically structured and focuses on working with, rather than for, our community. We have chosen this organizational strategy because, based on the NGOs that have come before us, operating through task-based committees (where personal accountability and leadership can foster) promotes efficiency in goal achievement. Women, Food, and Agriculture Network (WFAN), as discussed in Women’s Activism and Globalization, have a similar mission. One of their goals is to “instigate change” by building community and sustaining relationships with farmworkers (144).
We also have an ethics committee to monitor our progress. In “Unlikely Godmother,” Margaret Snyder characterizes the United Nations as a “godmother,” which acted as a guardian and advocate for women’s issues (25). Our ethics committee is cognate to the UN, in that it will monitor the efficacy and ethical compliance of our project. We are facing the global challenge of farmworker rights based on local realities, specifically the lack of resources to farmworkers in the community of Fellsmere, FL. We will be participating in discussion that takes place on a global level with our global partner. By building solidarity between our local and global partners, and ourselves, we will either discover or develop new ideas to cater to the needs of the farmworker population.
Group effectiveness will be measured by involvement of the majority of class members at each event, as well as our ability to fulfill each of the goals we have set. We are also considering the individual gains of each class member, outside of the group as a whole, to be an accomplishment of overall group effectiveness. This includes phone banking with YAYA, fundraising, and planning. We will also strive to maintain sincere communication and ethical interactions with each other and our community partners. We will assess ourselves via individual surveys on group effectiveness.
Community Partner/Global Theme Profile:
We propose to address the larger systemic issues of the treatment and unfair conditions of farm workers, focusing specifically on women farm workers. We know that "women produce 70% of the food on earth but they are marginalized and oppressed by neoliberalism and patriarchy" (What Is 1). These systems of oppression often deny those who produce the food basic, equal access to the products they produce. As the price of food increases and becomes scarcer, women become malnourished, "as they eat last after providing for their children and family members" (Desai 21). One possible way of addressing this issue is to "produce food for local consumption" (Desai 24). To lay a foundation for both environmental and production sustainability, it is key that the community eats the food it grows. Local production and consumption can also indirectly address situations of "unsustainable exploitation of workers," who are denied not only equal access to food, but also other resources, such as safe housing and acceptable working conditions (Two Years 1). By establishing themselves as producers of their own food and giving value and recognition to both the unpaid and poorly paid labor, farmworkers can pave the way for change in regard to equal access and fair treatment.
We have not yet been able to contact a global partner. However, when we do, we will be able to find out more about their needs and goals as they relate to our own and therefore participate in both shared learning and activism. By working in solidarity with YAYA, we are supporting activism enacted “to change the oppressive social, political and economic conditions of farm workers” (“About”). Human rights violations; such as those our local farmworkers face, are worldwide issues and are experienced in many forms across many communities. While YAYA is “[i]nspired by the principles of nonviolence of the farm worker movement,” we are inspired by the efforts of YAYA and the organization’s slant towards working with, not simply for farm worker communities (“About”). As we work with each other and with YAYA, we will cultivate ethical activism through focusing on our communicative and social interactions.
I feel that this project addresses several of the goals and objectives of the course. For example, it involves a marginalized community that is usually made invisible in our society despite their massive contributions to essential components of our every day lives (what we eat and how this food gets to us). Secondly it helps us see the ways groups and even feminist organizations usually enact ‘volunteer’ work and the problematic assumptions and implications that are a result of them. Like Minh-ha writes “The perception of the outsider as the one who needs help has taken on he successive forms of the barbarian, the pagan, the infidel, the wild man, the “native’ and the underdeveloped” (Minh-ha 54). We see how service based in charity ‘others’ and positions marginalized groups as sole benefactors of our good graces. I believe that through actual human interaction and community building we will see the community as human and not as a subject to be discussed amongst ourselves. Hopefully through this project will we learn to analyze and unpack our assumptions more critically and examine how our western perspective of the world might’s skew how we treat and interact with ‘different’ communities.
Our intentions for this project are to forge relationships with farm worker communities on a local to global level, with a focus on women and how their lives are impacted by the work they do. We will accomplish ours goals by dividing them up between the various committees we have created. We will begin to develop a relationship with our local community partner, YAYA, by attending meetings and fulfilling their requested needs for gardening tools and long sleeve shirts. We will also be participating in the Fellsmere Community Garden Event, where we will be gardening, sharing, and preparing a meal, while also learning from one another. We will determine the needs of our global partners through email and meet whatever need(s) they express at that time.
We will complete our service-learning project via the combined resources of each of us as individuals, the resources we have available as UCF students, and the resources of our greater Orlando community. Through the expertise of YAYA and FWAF, we will be able to better understand the ways in which we can use our resources to best serve the needs of the farmworker community. Simultaneously, we will be continuously communicating as a group in order to reevaluate (and therefore possibly alter) our initial methodology, resources, and group organizational structure, in order to best serve our goals.
One of our immediate goals in supporting YAYA and FWAF in the Fellsmere community gardening day is to fundraise one shovel and one rake per student. Another goal is to fundraise the cost per person for our visit, which includes meals and transportation. We believe that these immediate goals are feasible because we have access to different types of resources that will help our fundraising efforts. For example, on-campus technology to make and print materials to advertise fundraising, as well as access to various campus organizations that may support our fundraising events.
Our most important goal is to support our community partner and their sustainable relationship building with farmworker communities. Our fundraising efforts will provide the Fellsmere community with the tools that they currently need and will use in the future. We will also be providing labor within the Fellsmere community garden and helping with the upkeep of the plots, a service that FWAF has asked YAYA and our Global class to provide. We hope that through this project we help YAYA strengthen their already established relationship with the Fellsmere community, and that through our collaborative efforts, we also create a sustainable relationship with our community partner.
Project Timeline:
1.February 22: Initial contact with Lariza Garzon of YAYA to confirm partnership
2.February 24: Contact Global Partner
3.March 1: In-class presentation by YAYA
1.The historical events that have led to the current oppressive conditions of the agricultural industry
2.Solidarity (sustainable relationship), privilege, power dynamics, etc.
3.March 10: Fundraising Event
4.March 17: Fundraising Event
5.March 31: Participate in YAYA’s Community Garden Project:
1.8 am Depart Orlando from NFWM office
2.10 am Arrive To Fellsmere
3.10:15 am Welcome, introductions and instructions
4.10:45 am Gardening begins!
5.1:00 pm Lunch (vegetarian options available)/ short soccer game
6. 2:00 pm Back to gardening!
7.4:30 pm Debrief
8.5:15 pm Dinner
9.6:00 pm Depart Fellsmere
10.8:00 pm Arrive to Orlando at NFWM Office
11.Date TBD: Debriefing meeting
Word count: 1512
Works Cited
Desai, Manisha. "Transnational Solidarity: Women's Agency, Structural Adjustment, and Globalization." Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 15-33. Print.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. 67. Print
Naples, Nancy A. "The Challenges and Possibilities of Transnational Feminist Praxis." “Two Years After the Events…”
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Service Learning Proposal
DATE: 2/23/12 To: Professor Tweed
From: Abigail Ruiz
WST 4415 Service Learning Proposal.
Mission Statement: To engage in local-to-global activism by supporting sustainable relationship-building alongside members of the farm working community, the Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry (YAYA), and La Via Campesina. Through communication and cooperation we will strive to work with our community partners towards the shared aim of agricultural justice. Furthermore, we intend to make connections from the local farm worker community to the global food sustainability movement.
Organizational Structure:
•Task-based committees:
•Hold members accountable to completion of assigned tasks
•Maintain effective communication with group members and community partners
•Committee Chairperson: liaison for committee
•Meeting facilitator
•Ensure meetings run smoothly and in a timely matter
•Hold meetings with Committee Chairpersons
•Co-liaisons:
•Communicate with community partners
•Attend YAYA meetings
•Secretary
•Record keeping
•Attendance
•Ethics Committee
•Ensure mindful enacting of project
•Oversee three strike policy
•Failure to complete task or attend a designated event results in one strike
•First and second strikes result in voting restrictions
•Three strikes result in a meeting with the Ethics Committee and Professor Tweed to discuss the member’s role and future participation in the project
By learning about the issues faced by farm workers as systemically correlated with the adverse effects of globalization, we are learning from the Network of Maquila Workers Rights in Central America discussed by Nancy A. Naples, as Maquila workers also face oppression in the workforce based on oppressive neoliberal policies (273). In this vein, our group is democratically structured and focuses on working with, rather than for our community partner. In the spirit of feminist NGOs that have come before us, we endeavor to work as professionals within a committed network of organizers, activists, students and farm workers to prioritize an ethic of communal involvement and relationship building across national borders and global landscapes. We have chosen a model that stresses personal accountability, which is imperative to success in any cooperative situation, and we are organizing by committees with leadership positions to stress personal strengths, but avoid stringent hierarchy.
Our group’s effectiveness shall be accessed through measures of active participation, thoughtful communication, and shared aims of members, which work together to create group cohesion. We will assess the effectiveness of our project by working in solidarity with our community partners as well as attempting to examine our assumptions, by involving the Fellsmere farm worker community in our debriefing and work assessment meeting.
Community Partner/Global Theme:
We attempt to address the larger systemic issues of the treatment and unfair conditions of farm workers, by focusing on women farm workers and the issues they face. We know that “women produce 70% of the food on earth but they are marginalized and oppressed by neoliberalism and patriarchy” (What Is 1). These systems of oppression often deny farm workers and food producer’s access to the food they produce. Farm workers usually live in communities that are isolated as a result of environmental racism, which limits their access to affordable food and produce.
Farmers benefit from the isolation farm workers face by becoming the sole merchant of the food they consume, pricing food at higher value than the farm worker can afford with their sub poverty wages, thus maintaining these individuals within a cycle of oppression. One possible way of addressing this issue is to “produce food for local consumption” (Desai 24). By the FWAF organizing a community garden, they create access within their own community to organic produce, thereby empowering the community through their labor and leadership building especially within the women who help sustain the garden. By creating a community garden and facilitating plans of an animal farm, the farm workers of Fellsmere are establishing a self-sustainable community that benefits people within the community and develops closer relationships where they share and trade the fruits of their labor.
Farm worker communities face isolation, marginalization and significant underrepresentation within our community, which this service-learning project aims to address by bridging these two communities in order to build relationships between Fellsmere and the UCF students. Our class is taking steps toward working in solidarity with FWAF by organizing a garden tool fundraiser that they requested our class to facilitate in the UCF area. These tools will be utilized by the FWAF to sustain their community garden project. We may engage our global partner, La Via Campesina, in the fundraisers with our local community partner. Throughout this project, weekly email with La Via Campesina will establish a relationship based on open communication regarding the organization’s needs.
I feel that this project addresses several of the goals and objectives of the course. For example, it involves a marginalized community that is usually made invisible in our society despite their massive contributions to essential components of our every day lives (what we eat and how this food gets to us). Secondly it helps us see the ways groups and even feminist organizations usually enact ‘volunteer’ work and the problematic assumptions and implications that are a result of them. Like Minh-ha writes “The perception of the outsider as the one who needs help has taken on he successive forms of the barbarian, the pagan, the infidel, the wild man, the “native’ and the underdeveloped” (Minh-ha 54). We see how service based in charity ‘others’ and positions marginalized groups as sole benefactors of our good graces. I believe that through actual human interaction and community building we will see the community as human and not as a subject to be discussed amongst ourselves. Hopefully through this project will we learn to analyze and unpack our assumptions more critically and examine how our western perspective of the world might’s skew how we treat and interact with ‘different’ communities.
Project Proposal:
Through working together actively and effectively as a group, we plan to carry out this service-learning project by breaking up into task-based committees that address specific facets of our project in a focused manner. While initial jobs are divvied out based on personal interest and skill, we seek to learn collaboratively with and from each other through engaging roles and tasks which may be new to us and supporting each other through the process, but critically assess our interactions in order not to tokenize experiences and knowledge from class members of color. We are using our privilege and access of communication tools such as social media and email to make decisions and share feedback. To create longevity of our project’s objectives, we will focus on educating ourselves about our community partners and the local-to-global issues our project encompasses. We will foster sustainable relationship building by educating ourselves first – by participating in human interactions and talking directly with the community members as we work together by intentionally participating in conversations that include the voices and experiences of the farm workers in Fellsmere, and sharing of knowledge. We will develop a sustainable relationship with the shared goal and efforts of sustaining the community garden.
Building on our community partner YAYA’s existing relationship with the Fellsmere farm worker community, we intend to learn the most effective way of utilizing our local resources, privilege and access, in order to maximize our outreach to other organizations and within the UCF community.
Project Timeline:
1.February 22: Initial contact with Lariza Garzon of YAYA to confirm partnership
2.February 24: Contact Global Partner
3.March 1: In-class presentation by YAYA
1.The historical events that have led to the current oppressive conditions of the agricultural industry
2.Solidarity (sustainable relationship), privilege, power dynamics, etc.
3.March 10: Fundraising Event
4.March 17: Fundraising Event
5.March 31: Participate in YAYA’s Community Garden Project:
1.8 am Depart Orlando from NFWM office
2.10 am Arrive To Fellsmere
3.10:15 am Welcome, introductions and instructions
4.10:45 am Gardening begins!
5.1:00 pm Lunch (vegetarian options available)/ short soccer game
6. 2:00 pm Back to gardening!
7.4:30 pm Debrief
8.5:15 pm Dinner
9.6:00 pm Depart Fellsmere
10.8:00 pm Arrive to Orlando at NFWM Office
11.Date TBD: Debriefing meeting
Works Cited
Desai, Manisha. "Transnational Solidarity: Women's Agency, Structural Adjustment, and Globalization." Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 15-33. Print.
Naples, Nancy A. "The Challenges and Possibilities of Transnational Feminist Praxis."
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. 47-65. Print
Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 267-81. Print.
“Two Years After the Events…” La Via Campesina: International Peasant’s Movement. La Via Campesina International Peasant’s Voice. 12 January 2012. Web. 23 February 2012.
“What is La Via Campesina?” La Via Campesina: International Peasant’s Movement. La Via Campesina International Peasant’s Voice. 9 February 2011. Web. 23 February 2012.
From: Abigail Ruiz
WST 4415 Service Learning Proposal.
Mission Statement: To engage in local-to-global activism by supporting sustainable relationship-building alongside members of the farm working community, the Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry (YAYA), and La Via Campesina. Through communication and cooperation we will strive to work with our community partners towards the shared aim of agricultural justice. Furthermore, we intend to make connections from the local farm worker community to the global food sustainability movement.
Organizational Structure:
•Task-based committees:
•Hold members accountable to completion of assigned tasks
•Maintain effective communication with group members and community partners
•Committee Chairperson: liaison for committee
•Meeting facilitator
•Ensure meetings run smoothly and in a timely matter
•Hold meetings with Committee Chairpersons
•Co-liaisons:
•Communicate with community partners
•Attend YAYA meetings
•Secretary
•Record keeping
•Attendance
•Ethics Committee
•Ensure mindful enacting of project
•Oversee three strike policy
•Failure to complete task or attend a designated event results in one strike
•First and second strikes result in voting restrictions
•Three strikes result in a meeting with the Ethics Committee and Professor Tweed to discuss the member’s role and future participation in the project
By learning about the issues faced by farm workers as systemically correlated with the adverse effects of globalization, we are learning from the Network of Maquila Workers Rights in Central America discussed by Nancy A. Naples, as Maquila workers also face oppression in the workforce based on oppressive neoliberal policies (273). In this vein, our group is democratically structured and focuses on working with, rather than for our community partner. In the spirit of feminist NGOs that have come before us, we endeavor to work as professionals within a committed network of organizers, activists, students and farm workers to prioritize an ethic of communal involvement and relationship building across national borders and global landscapes. We have chosen a model that stresses personal accountability, which is imperative to success in any cooperative situation, and we are organizing by committees with leadership positions to stress personal strengths, but avoid stringent hierarchy.
Our group’s effectiveness shall be accessed through measures of active participation, thoughtful communication, and shared aims of members, which work together to create group cohesion. We will assess the effectiveness of our project by working in solidarity with our community partners as well as attempting to examine our assumptions, by involving the Fellsmere farm worker community in our debriefing and work assessment meeting.
Community Partner/Global Theme:
We attempt to address the larger systemic issues of the treatment and unfair conditions of farm workers, by focusing on women farm workers and the issues they face. We know that “women produce 70% of the food on earth but they are marginalized and oppressed by neoliberalism and patriarchy” (What Is 1). These systems of oppression often deny farm workers and food producer’s access to the food they produce. Farm workers usually live in communities that are isolated as a result of environmental racism, which limits their access to affordable food and produce.
Farmers benefit from the isolation farm workers face by becoming the sole merchant of the food they consume, pricing food at higher value than the farm worker can afford with their sub poverty wages, thus maintaining these individuals within a cycle of oppression. One possible way of addressing this issue is to “produce food for local consumption” (Desai 24). By the FWAF organizing a community garden, they create access within their own community to organic produce, thereby empowering the community through their labor and leadership building especially within the women who help sustain the garden. By creating a community garden and facilitating plans of an animal farm, the farm workers of Fellsmere are establishing a self-sustainable community that benefits people within the community and develops closer relationships where they share and trade the fruits of their labor.
Farm worker communities face isolation, marginalization and significant underrepresentation within our community, which this service-learning project aims to address by bridging these two communities in order to build relationships between Fellsmere and the UCF students. Our class is taking steps toward working in solidarity with FWAF by organizing a garden tool fundraiser that they requested our class to facilitate in the UCF area. These tools will be utilized by the FWAF to sustain their community garden project. We may engage our global partner, La Via Campesina, in the fundraisers with our local community partner. Throughout this project, weekly email with La Via Campesina will establish a relationship based on open communication regarding the organization’s needs.
I feel that this project addresses several of the goals and objectives of the course. For example, it involves a marginalized community that is usually made invisible in our society despite their massive contributions to essential components of our every day lives (what we eat and how this food gets to us). Secondly it helps us see the ways groups and even feminist organizations usually enact ‘volunteer’ work and the problematic assumptions and implications that are a result of them. Like Minh-ha writes “The perception of the outsider as the one who needs help has taken on he successive forms of the barbarian, the pagan, the infidel, the wild man, the “native’ and the underdeveloped” (Minh-ha 54). We see how service based in charity ‘others’ and positions marginalized groups as sole benefactors of our good graces. I believe that through actual human interaction and community building we will see the community as human and not as a subject to be discussed amongst ourselves. Hopefully through this project will we learn to analyze and unpack our assumptions more critically and examine how our western perspective of the world might’s skew how we treat and interact with ‘different’ communities.
Project Proposal:
Through working together actively and effectively as a group, we plan to carry out this service-learning project by breaking up into task-based committees that address specific facets of our project in a focused manner. While initial jobs are divvied out based on personal interest and skill, we seek to learn collaboratively with and from each other through engaging roles and tasks which may be new to us and supporting each other through the process, but critically assess our interactions in order not to tokenize experiences and knowledge from class members of color. We are using our privilege and access of communication tools such as social media and email to make decisions and share feedback. To create longevity of our project’s objectives, we will focus on educating ourselves about our community partners and the local-to-global issues our project encompasses. We will foster sustainable relationship building by educating ourselves first – by participating in human interactions and talking directly with the community members as we work together by intentionally participating in conversations that include the voices and experiences of the farm workers in Fellsmere, and sharing of knowledge. We will develop a sustainable relationship with the shared goal and efforts of sustaining the community garden.
Building on our community partner YAYA’s existing relationship with the Fellsmere farm worker community, we intend to learn the most effective way of utilizing our local resources, privilege and access, in order to maximize our outreach to other organizations and within the UCF community.
Project Timeline:
1.February 22: Initial contact with Lariza Garzon of YAYA to confirm partnership
2.February 24: Contact Global Partner
3.March 1: In-class presentation by YAYA
1.The historical events that have led to the current oppressive conditions of the agricultural industry
2.Solidarity (sustainable relationship), privilege, power dynamics, etc.
3.March 10: Fundraising Event
4.March 17: Fundraising Event
5.March 31: Participate in YAYA’s Community Garden Project:
1.8 am Depart Orlando from NFWM office
2.10 am Arrive To Fellsmere
3.10:15 am Welcome, introductions and instructions
4.10:45 am Gardening begins!
5.1:00 pm Lunch (vegetarian options available)/ short soccer game
6. 2:00 pm Back to gardening!
7.4:30 pm Debrief
8.5:15 pm Dinner
9.6:00 pm Depart Fellsmere
10.8:00 pm Arrive to Orlando at NFWM Office
11.Date TBD: Debriefing meeting
Works Cited
Desai, Manisha. "Transnational Solidarity: Women's Agency, Structural Adjustment, and Globalization." Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 15-33. Print.
Naples, Nancy A. "The Challenges and Possibilities of Transnational Feminist Praxis."
Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Women Native Other.” Indiana: Indianapolis, 1989. 47-65. Print
Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 267-81. Print.
“Two Years After the Events…” La Via Campesina: International Peasant’s Movement. La Via Campesina International Peasant’s Voice. 12 January 2012. Web. 23 February 2012.
“What is La Via Campesina?” La Via Campesina: International Peasant’s Movement. La Via Campesina International Peasant’s Voice. 9 February 2011. Web. 23 February 2012.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Introduction!
Hey All!
My name is Abigail Ruiz and I am an Education Major with a Women Studies minor knight! I love cheesecake, Beyonce and my community. I strongly believe that those are the tree best things in the universe.
This year, I am very involved with YAYA (The Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry). An amazing organization that works alongside with the Farmworker movements and works for the needs of the community. I've met so many lovely people who are working together in order to reform and amend laws in favor of the Farmworker community.
Im very excited for this semester, and especially for this class. I am looking forward to learning and growing with you all!
I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.
My name is Abigail Ruiz and I am an Education Major with a Women Studies minor knight! I love cheesecake, Beyonce and my community. I strongly believe that those are the tree best things in the universe.
This year, I am very involved with YAYA (The Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry). An amazing organization that works alongside with the Farmworker movements and works for the needs of the community. I've met so many lovely people who are working together in order to reform and amend laws in favor of the Farmworker community.
Im very excited for this semester, and especially for this class. I am looking forward to learning and growing with you all!
I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.
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