Weekly Activism Log #1

This week has been interesting and thought provoking. I started working on some boxes in order to collect cans and other non perishable food items for the migrant workers. I am hoping to use my resident assistant job to my benefit and put them around the living communities. However, I still need to get permission to put them in the halls and offices so I am waiting on that. This week I also went and volunteered in the UCF community garden at the Arboretum.

Working in the Arboretum really made me think about these migrant workers. I was in the sun, sweating, and working hard. It was definitely not my idea of a “fun” time. In one sense I felt connected to these migrant workers because I could feel an ounce of their struggle, but at the same time I felt even more disconnected from them because comparing what I was doing to what they do is almost absurd. I was working in the garden for like two hours. These workers work all day long… and then have to go back the next day. Another thing is that UCF’s Arboretum is an organic garden. So I did not have to worry about pesticides or anything of that sort. I knew that I would be able to leave and go to my air conditioned room and take a shower and eat a tasty lunch, and this is not a luxury those workers experience. It makes me feel slightly like Trinh Minh-ha’s “anthropologist” who can never completely understand (68).

This experience definitely made me able to empathize for these migrant workers and feel more empathy towards their situation. It is one thing to read about something, but to experience it is completely different. I didn’t even experience the situation, but it has still affected my mindset. I am very excited for the Garden day when we travel to work side by side with the women!

Works Cited:

Minh-ha, Trinh. Woman, Native, Other. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989. Print.