So far, you have only heard about Global Social Entrepreneurship from two voices… but I feel as though I could never emphasize enough how much of a team effort it was to get to where we are today in the program’s development. Here is an update from one of those key contributors, Laura Valencia (there is no way the 76-page business plan could have ever been finished without her!). True to her (wait, our) style, it’s a bit lengthy, but nonetheless a very worthwhile read!
Hello world! My name is Laura Valencia and I am part of the GSE student leadership team. Like Marianne, this spring I invested a semester of time and energy founding GSE.
This summer I have supported Marianne and Professor Moledina’s efforts from afar. I am currently living in Raleigh, North Carolina and am at the end of an internship with the Durham-based nonprofit Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF). I am one of their thirty interns that are spending the summer advocating for farmworker rights and community organizing.
Although farmworker exploitation is prevalent all across the country, it is particularly harsh in the south. North Carolina has the fastest growing Latino population in the United States. Currently, there are over 150,000 farmworkers in the state and over 1,200 labor camps. Nationally, only 3% of farmworkers are here under a legal visa, the rest are undocumented.Problems arise for both documented and undocumented workers. There is very little contact between the patrón (the boss) and the farmworker, and nearly all of the time there is a language barrier. The patrón is generally not only the boss of the farmworker, but also the landlord. This gives them double the power over the worker: imagine if your landlord (with whom you could not communicate) controlled who can visit you, when you can work, when you can go to the store, your wage, and even whether or not you are allowed to stay in the country.
This summer, part of my job has been conducting interviews. One of the most powerful statements I have heard a farmworker say was the following:
“Aquí los patrones no quieren gente que platique. No queiren gente que sepa. Ellos quieren esclavos, que les hagan el trabajo, machinas. … nosotros no pensamos, no sentimos, no mas trabajamos.”
“Here the bosses don’t want workers who chitchat. They don’t want workers who are knowledgeable. They want slaves, who will get the job done, like machines…. We don’t think, we don’t feel, we just work.”
From my experiences, I have seen anywhere from eight to seventy farmworkers living in barracks, trailers, or run-down houses on their patrón’s land, oftentimes without transportation. Another intern who works in South Carolina told me that she sees camps of hundreds of workers every day. Every step of securing safe housing for them is difficult: recently farmworker advocates won the victory of forcing growers to provide not only bed frames for the workers, but also mattresses with a mattress cover. The fight ensued about how to define “mattress cover”… would a sheet count? Advocates still celebrate though, because before the mattress law, workers would use cardboard.
Farmworkers do have some rights: the have the right to 1 bathroom for every 10 men. They have the right to 1 laundry machine for every 15 men. They have the right to a fifteen minute break every five hours. They have the right to earn minimum wage (in North Carolina, it recently dropped to $7.25). However, very little government support exists to see that these rights are enforced.
Here is a conundrum I have seen in the field: growers oftentimes use pesticides on their fields to increase production. There are laws about how soon after fields are sprayed workers can enter, but so far I have not talked to a single worker whose boss respects these rules. When a worker enters the fields to work with sprayed tobacco (or any other crop) he or she should use protection on their eyes, nose, mouth, and skin. This translates to wearing gloves, long sleeves, a hat, a bandana, and a mouth covering… in 100 degree weather. As soon as they get home, they are supposed to strip down, wash their clothes, and take a shower, in order to lessen their exposure to pesticides. With one shower for every ten and one laundry machine for every fifteen, these suggestions are barely feasible. When farmworkers arrive, usually after four days straight of travel from México, they are shown a video that teaches them about pesticides. When I ask about the video, workers usually respond, “I don’t know why they show it to us… They should show it to our patrón! What can we do about it? If the patrón sprays and sticks us in there, what can we do? How will we know?”.
So why don’t farmworkers seize the rights that the government promises? They are afraid. According to one worker, “Los patrones no quieren líderes… quieren trabajadores” or “The bosses don’t want leaders… they want workers.” If a documented worker challenges a boss, the worker will be sent back: his visa is only good for that one grower. If an undocumented worker challenges his boss, the worker will be reported to the government and be deported. Workers rarely know where they live, their phone number, or even how to pronounce the name of their boss, so seeking services to help with medical, legal, or any other problems is no simple task. Even simple problems create huge barriers. If a worker wants to complain about pesticide misuse, there is a hotline he can call. However, it is only operated Monday through Friday, 9-5 (when workers are working), and, even more shockingly, only operated in English.
SAF places thirty interns every year across the southeast with jobs relating to farmworker advocacy and community organizing. Interns work in a variety of fields: some work in medical clinics, some do legal outreach, others teach ESL. I am spending the summer with Toxic Free NC, the only non-profit organization in North Carolina that fights pesticide pollution. Under their guidance, and under the guidance of DC-based One Economy Corporation, I have spent the summer producing a set of web-videos that all relate to the food system.
Two of my videos specifically relate to farmworker issues: one examines the contrast between searching for the “American dream” and the reality of working here, another concerns the misuse of pesticides in the fields and the effects this has on the farmworkers. My two other videos are about gardening and entrepreneurship. The video gives portraits of Latino families in their gardens, emphasizing how gardening is healthy, green, and affordable!
All four of my videos are primarily in Spanish. The intended audience is the middle-class Latino community, and they will be put on a website that offers advice about how to live La Buena Vida or “The Good Life.” I also hope to translate them into English and use them to raise consumer awareness of farmworker conditions. Some other potential venues are a video collective’s weekly TV show, fundraising art shows, and even a Latino Film Festival here in NC in November!
Coming back to school in the fall will be challenging. Multiple times this summer I have experienced culture shock… more often from gringos than from Latin Americans! I have gotten accustomed to twelve hour days, with perhaps a half a day of rest over the weekend. I am looking forward to a break… and I doubt school will provide it! In the fall, I’ll be working with Professor Moledina to complete the Pre-GSE phase. I’m excited for the grantwriting and curriculum building it will entail. Even though working for global engagement and promoting social entrepreneurship is a completely different language than what I’ve been speaking this summer, I feel that all social justice issues are interrelated. We are fighting the same fight, just from different angles!
If you are interested in learning more about farmworkers, visit ncfoodforthought.wordpress.com. There are lots of resources there for people to learn more about issues and take action! Keep an eye out for my photography, video, and audio online soon! You can also e-mail me at laura@toxicfreenc.org.
-Laura
