The last week that we were in Mexico was filled with a variety of short trips. First we went to Nochixlan were we met with Jesus from the organization CEDICAM (Center for the Integral Development of the Mixteca). Jesus just won the Goldman award, which is like the Nobel Prize for environmental work. Jesus was a great speaker and helped us to better understand how NAFTA policies were affecting the Mexican countryside. We learned more about how and when chemical fertilizers were introduced and how that has affected the land. When we arrived, the group was working on building an adobe agricultural museum.
The following day we met with a women’s weaving coop in Teotitlan called Vida Nueva. The group formed as a way for single women to earn an income. The group is made up of primarily single women and has expanded to incorporate community projects focusing on the environment. The weavings they designed and made were beautiful. I was amazed how much detail they could do on those big weaving looms. They also showed us how they dyed the wool with different types of natural dyes. The most fascinating was how they used a ground up beetle to get the color red. If they mixed the beetle dye with lemon, the result was an orange-red color, and if they mixed the beetle dye with ash, it turned purple.
Thursday we visited a coop of thirteen organic coffee growers. We learned about what it means to be a fair-trade grower and why the world market price is actually higher per pound than the fair-trade price. I was surprised to learn that the grower makes up to 2 dollars a pound and the roasters, which are in the U.S., make 13 dollars a pound. This made me more conscious of my own coffee habits and which type of coffee I buy. In fact, this entire experience has made me even more aware of my consuming habits.
We followed the meeting at the coffee cooperative with a picnic by a lake. It was a beautiful spot in the same town where Benito Juarez was born. Benito Juarez was the only president to come from Oaxaca and you can see his bust everywhere. After lunch we went to UNOSJO (Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca), where we learned a lot about the affects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on crops in Mexico. In Oaxaca, there have been several cases of GMO contamination in native crops. Companies, and even the Mexican government, pushed GMOs during the green revolution because they were supposedly more productive. The organization spoke about the role women have in saving seeds and how new generations are not learning how to save seeds.
The travel seminar ended with a full day of processing and discussing actions we as a group can take to share what we have learned. I am excited about going back to Tucson to do hands on work at the Southside Day Laborers Center. After two months of receiving information, it will feel good to do something active. One focus of our processing sessions has been to connect what we have learned so far, so that we share it more articulately. We also focused on exploring, and making arguments for, all positions on migration and neo-liberal economic ideas, which has shown me how much I really have learned in the past month.
