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Published: January 21st 2007
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Friendship House
The shelter where we stayed I have been getting much more involved with volunteer work ever since I started my life at Saint Michael's College. Through the MOVE (Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts) which also works through Campus Ministry there are limitless options and opportunities are open to anyone willing to put the effort and devotion in. There are trips to New Orleans, Kentucky, Boston, New York City, Florida, the Dominican Republic, Calcutta, Tanzania and many others.
Having grown up around manual labor, hardware, and construction I am really interested in Habitat for Humanity; I also am interested in the issues with immigration and migrant workers. So, over Christmas Break from January 6-13 me and 8 other SMC'ers headed down to Immokalee, FL to work with Habitat for Humanity, work at an afterschool program, and learn more about living wages and the plights of the migrant farm workers.
We stayed at the Immokalee Friendship House which is a homeless shelter that encourages residents to better their situations, and they can only stay there for so long. At the time we were there they housed about 3 families and 18 men, mostly migrant workers.
It was quite and experience, hardly anyone spoke English and knowing
Afterschool
Some of the 2nd graders we hung out with very little Spanish was definitely a challenge. Everyone everywhere we went was so caring, interested, and upbeat considering that most of their situations were less than ideal. We learned from the Coalition of Migrant Workers that it is almost the same price to rent a trailor in Immokalee as it is to live in an apartment in Manhattan.
The Coalition of Migrant Workers (www.ciw-online.org) gave us a lot of information about the Migrant Workers and the Taco Bell Boycott. The man giving us the talk was a Migrant Worker himself before he started the coalition. It was very powerful and very informative; it left all of us in silence afterwards. As we were walking back to the shelter we were able to see all of the migrant workers getting off of the buses at the end of the day. There were thousands of men walking slowly, looking so tired, sore, and dragging themselves back home. Their days had started around 4am and they had had to stand in a field to wait for the farmers to come with the buses to pick them up. The rides to the farms could be upwards of 4 hours and then a full
Crazy Kids!
They are always smiling! day of work; finally, if they were lucky they got back before dark... but mostly they were lucky to get back before 9pm.
The afterschool program was amazing. The kids were wonderful and looking at them made it seem like nothing was wrong in the town. Just goes to show that the future really does lie in the eyes of the children.
We colored, watched movies, played on the playground, and they taught me some spanish. Their eyes were full of brightness and their minds were kicking in in full gear. Their futures could be as bright as they made them, and it seemed as though they could really better the situation of Immokalee as a whole.
Habitat of course is my baby. It was the most amazing time, not that the whole trip wasn't. But, I do love my construction. The Habitat site in Immokalee is the biggest in the country.
As you can see, this is only one street, but this Habitat subdivision seems to go on FOREVER, and after they finish the houses they have started they are going to move down the street and build new types of houses!
Our work consisted of framing
Kindergarten
The class Megan and I were in charge of: Kindergarten and Pre-K 3-4 houses, throwing the hurrican straps and plywood up on said houses, tar papering one roof, and shingling 3 roofs.
It was awesome! We met one Americorp member, and 3 John Carroll Graduates who are all volunteering in Immokalee. Also, the paid construction workers: Lorenzo, Alex, Roy, and a few others who speak Spanish, but thankfully Alex and Roy speak English. They are amazing people, and I cannot say enough good things about them. They made our work much more enjoyable and were very patient with teaching us as well as letting us excel at what we already knew.
Not only were the workers and John Carroll people wonderful to us on site, they were friends with us off site. We took the three paid construction workers (Lorenzo, Alex, and Roy) out to dinner at the authentic Mexican Restaurant Mi Ranchito.
Also, John Carroll people made us dinner one night and were kind enough to invite us over to watch Grey's Anatomy, which I guess is a big deal. It was spectacular.
Immokalee really made a huge impact on my life, and changed it forever. I cannot wait to return there next year for another week. And
Pre-K
We asked the boy how old he was, he replied "54" so we asked him where his beard was, "I drank it!" he said, "no no, your beard, not your beer" we explained. I am seriously considering that as one of my options to volunteer at after graduation. I was amazed at the kindness, compassion, caring nature, and interest towards us by every single person we came in contact with. No one seemed to judge us or look at us in the wrong way, everyone seemed very appreciative of what we were doing there. It made me feel a little awkward though because of the fact that we were only there for a week and then we went back to our easy lives... but even though they may have thought that too they could see it in a few of our eyes that this town had made such a huge impact on us that we would work for it continuously.
Leaving Immokalee was hard. I felt like I had made many friends, and as much as we all stood out like sore thumbs we were excepted, welcomed, and became one with the people there. The language barriers did not matter, we could understand them and we could communicate with them in many ways. I cannot wait to go back, I miss it everyday I am not there, and not a day goes by
Habitat!!
All the Habitat people we hung out with. THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!! where I don't think about it, sometimes I get sad about the conditions there... but then I remember all the good things that happened while we were there. Now, I don't even want to vacation in Florida, I just want to go there and be in Immokalee, because amazingly enough I have added it to my list of "places I feel at home" (which so far consists only of SMC, Immokalee, and sometimes Erie, PA).
We will never be the same, but if we can't save the whole world, we'll do all we can to save something.
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VolunCHEERING
You cant change the world but you can make a dent! quotes from Smoochy. Wow Julie it looks like you really found your call to service. I thought about you when habitat meets in assoc for Pitt. You are perfect for it. I am trying to go to Immokalee but Pitt isnt giving me much help. I thought they would have a group going down there but nay. I know Duquesnse does though so maybe I could swoop in with them. Ok I love you byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye