Service Learning Activism Log #1

Activism:

                This week our liaisons attended the YAYA meeting. However we still have not made contact with our global partner, which is one of our goals for next week. The class has generally been communicating well; we have a meeting planned for Thursday to discuss fundraising and the final strides that need to be made before next week. We have been having a hard time getting full class involvement in a lot of the planning, and it has been taking much longer to get things done then it should, which has made us fall behind in fundraising. And of course another big problem is that we don’t, technically, have a global partner. Within the next week we have our big event at the community garden in Fellsmere, so we will be accomplishing that as well as, compiling donations. Also, we need to organize a committee to make sure we enter into the Service Learning Showcase. Working in such a large group has demonstrated how difficult it is to organize and actually accomplish goals, especially when everyone has other priorities. The group has also experienced first- hand the struggles of organizing with a diverse group and the issues of tokenizing, everyone keeping themselves in check, willingness to understand others and grow as a group.

Reflection:

                Not only this week’s events, working toward our participation with the community garden, but the entire project is in response to what Sarah Swider describes in Working Women of the World Unite?, about the lives of migrant domestic workers. She explains that domestic workers are often separated from their families, travel to keep work, and are under the control of their employers, she continues to say, “Isolation plus a complete one-on-one relationship make it difficult for domestic workers to advocate for better working conditions” (112).  This is similar to the conditions that farm workers face, and it is also the reason why they have decided to create a community garden, they want access to better and more sustainable food. This week’s events have changed the way I see global and transnational feminism, I see that it’s very difficult for people of different backgrounds and experiences to collaborate; even though I really don’t understand why if everyone is kind and respectful to each other that we allow discourses to get in the way of relationship building.

Reciprocity:

                Through this project I have learned so much about the farm worker community, which I think is very important living in Florida. I have become very interested in continuing my participation with YAYA and the farm worker community after this project. I think that I and the class are also benefitting their community by working with them to accomplish their goals of creating a sustainable source of food; and by supplying material donations they asked for. Also, I know I am gaining the experience of actually working with and meeting these diverse individuals and understanding a part of their story, beyond what I can read about.

Word Count: 496

Works Cited

Swider, Sarah. "Working Women of the World Unite?" Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights. By Myra Marx. Ferree and Aili Mari. Tripp. New York: New York UP, 2006. 110-12. Print.