Activism Blog 2

Activism:  YAYA and many members of the global class traveled to the farmworker community of Fellsmere and worked in their organic community garden. We worked hard on the plot of land and were able to clear it of most trash, weeds, and large roots and twigs. We shared two meals with many members of the community and had a soccer game with the Fellsmere kids. We were successful in our fundraising and were able to donate several tools to the community, which we used while working in the garden.

Our material accomplishments were met by showing up to work, with tools, however my real goal in the trip was to communicate with the people that I met in Fellsmere. I feel that I got a really good start creating a dialogue with the Fellsmere community; I introduced myself to Yolanda, the leader of the community garden, and made sure to express my gratitude to her and Fellsmere for their accommodation and hospitality, particularly for the food she made for us from ingredients that she grew. If you feed me, I will never forget you. Now that I’m learning more about food security in relation to both the farmworker movement and transnational feminism, I am able to observe Yolanda’s work from a broader, more contextual standpoint, and take notes on how she is working from local to global, how she is building her own community, and solidarity networks with others.

Reflection:  The garden is located on an empty plot of land on a generic block in Fellsmere.  Yolanda’s daughters and nieces, who sustain the garden, see the importance of involving the neighboring homes in the project, and took a small group of class members on a door-knocking trip around the block. Ashleigh and I were asked to go because the women thought that because we are both generally good-natured and easy to talk to, we could be assets in speaking to younger members of the community and expressing the importance of their involvement in the garden project.

This situation is one concrete example of a trend I’ve been noticing in my experiences with activism: communication is probably the most important skill in doing this work. I feel really encouraged while watching Yolanda organize; she is not an intimidating figure. She is kind, loving, funny, and caring. She is also incredibly confident in what she does, and she expects us to acknowledge her and learn from her. Naples and Desai stress “the empowerment of women in local communities that result from their activist engagement in transnational networks and local community actions” (Naples and Desai 37). I see this at work in Fellsmere, and I see it in myself in my involvement with YAYA.

Reciprocity:  Becoming involved with YAYA has given me opportunity to meet and learn from women like Yolanda from Fellsmere and Sylvia from AMA, the Alliance of Active Women. These women DO global and transnational feminism every day. They show me what it can look like. Learning what is effective in terms of communication and organizing through lived experience, and seeing that I have some of those skills and know how I can improve them, is incredibly empowering.

Naples, Nancy A. and Desai, Manisha. “Women’s Local and Translocal Responses.”

Women’s Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and

Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York:

Routledge, 2002. 34-41. Print.