Service Learning Log #2

A few weeks have passed since my last Service Learning post, and, as could be expected, a lot has happened. We met our fundraising and tool goals, and the class went to the garden. As I did not go to Fellsmere, the fundraising and tool collecting is most pertinent to me. Fundraising was left to the last minute. Not purposefully, but Spring Break caused everyone to lose the momentum for a week, and the garden day went from feeling far away to being right upon us. Thankfully, everyone banded together to table for donations, and it worked out well. The tool drive operated similarly. It was also left to the last minute, and I think because everyone felt like they only had a couple tools, the whole class must only have a few, but we ended surpassing our goal of 30 tools. In this coming week we will complete our project through a tabling initiative to disseminate information about global environmental issues affecting women, and present in the Service Learning Showcase.

In doing the reading for class lately, as well as in class discussion, the issue of choice vs. non-choice in regards to prostitutes/sexually exploited girls (and women) keeps coming up again and again. It appears in the text where Lloyd states that “It is presumed that somewhere along the line they ‘chose’ this life, and this damns them to be seen as willing participants in their own abuse” (74). While this perception of those involved in sex trafficking, especially domestic, is quite common, it is also a common perception, in my experiences, of those who are involved with labor trafficking. In fact, according to the Excluded Workers Congress, “some 15,000 to 20,000 workers in the United States are subject to labor abuse severe enough to merit the term ‘human trafficking’” (“Farmworkers”). Despite this little known fact, I have encountered many people who do not see the plight of farmworkers as pressing as it really is. On one tabling day, I was speaking to one man who worked on farms himself in his childhood and does not remember it being bad and that it paid well. Upon hearing that farmworkers now often do not make minimum wage, he says that they need to pick faster. It is this sort of thinking that leads to the belief that farmworkers could have better conditions if they just worked harder, and therefore are choosing their lifestyle.

In regards to what I am getting from this class project, I am getting a greater desire to work to remove the injustices in this world, but I can decisively say that at this point I do not want to lead any sort of global activism work but would rather be a participant. Despite what was said in class about their being too many people who are only thinking “What can I do?” I honestly think that is the best thing that can happen from this class project (along with a greater understanding of course materials, of course) because the only way to effect a positive change in the world is to take steps, however small, towards that change, and that cannot happen easily without public support.

Works Cited:

Lloyd, R. Girls like us. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011.

NA, . "Farmworkers." excludedworkerscongress.org. The Excluded Workers Congress, n.d. Web. 13 Apr 2012.