Lunes en Oaxaca

Molly, myself, Marissa, Sarita and Rachel at dinner. The picture is a little blurry...

Its REAL fro-yo!!

The view from the top of CASA

Inside CASA

The front door to CASA

Monday began at 7am when a group of us went on a run through the streets of Oaxaca. We weren’t really sure where we were going, but we were instantly impressed by the wide sidewalks, clean air and the obedient traffic (aka cars that actually pay attention to streetlights and signs). We didn’t know exactly where we were going, but somehow managed to complete a perfect 45 minute loop around the main part of the city.

We had breakfast at the hostel, which included a special Oaxacan bread with red sprinkles on top, a fruit salad full of papaya (which I never used to like but is slowly growing on me) and this interesting dish of tortillas with a bean spread and queso blanco.

Our first activity of the day was held at CASA, an organization that works for groups just like us… people who want to explore the real Oaxaca instead of just enjoying the tourist environment. The organization began in 2003 in Chiapas, moved to San Cristobal as leadership shifted, and in 2005 moved to Oaxaca. In addition to providing conferences and activities for groups, the organization works to make careful connections with people in Oaxaca. Instead of “helping” people, they collaborate in order to provide information and education that allows for self-survival and growth. Sadly, the organization just lost an influential member and is currently struggling, led by one woman Andrea. Andrea is a small and extremely thin woman from Venezuela. She had a beautiful Spanish accent that all of us loved and wished we could adapt (although I suppose any accent is better than the gringo ones we all have).

Our introduction lasted the whole morning and prepared us for the kinds of activities in which we would be participating throughout the week. Held in Spanish, it was a great way to practice expressing our thoughts in another language, something with which we all struggle.

The first question she asked us was “que pensabamos de Mexico” or “what did you think about Mexico.” We threw out words and she wrote them on the large lined notepad at the front of the room. The list looked something like this:

Peligroso (dangerous)
Gente arrogante (arrogant population)
Pobre (poor/poverty)
Bonito (pretty)
Fiestas (parties)
Margaritas
Descansar (a place to relax and vacation)
Sucio, esp. agua (dirty, esp. water)
Indigenas (indigenous)
Desierta (desert)
Corrupcion (corruption)
Barato (cheap)
Buena comida (good food)
Calor (heat)
Imigrantes ilegales (illegal immigrants)


Then Angela asked us to circle the “good” and the “bad” qualities on the list. But we found this extremely hard to do. Certain words like dangerous and poverty seemed obviously “bad.” Other words like good food and parties seem inherently “good.” But what about words like cheap, illegal immigrants and drugs. Americans like that Mexico is cheap because they can easily buy lower priced items, but what is cheap for us is expensive for Mexicans, leaving whole communities drowning in poverty. Are illegal immigrants good or bad… because in reality when you take the label away, they are just people born into a bad situation looking for a life that can provide basic human needs like food and healthcare. And while drugs are bad in my opinion and cause a lot of corruption, there are many people in Mexico, the United States and all over Latin America benefiting from drug trafficking.

Looking at this list, we realized that it is extremely difficult to define a place with one word, and then associate that word as a good or bad quality. Yet, when we use stereotypes, this is exactly what we do. Why do we do it? Because it is easier to take single stories and formulate one opinion than to truly understand an area and the people of which it is composed.

After this discussion, we watched an amazing speech by Chimamanda Adichie on TED, a unique website (link to the video: I highly suggest watching it! http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html)
Here are some quotes from the video that stuck out to me:
“show a people as one thing repeatedly, and that is what they become”
“Stereotypes are incomplete, not necessarily untrue”
“To insist on negative experiences flattens a life”
“Stories can repair broken dignity”
“Nurse ambition”
“Consume what you produce”
“Thrive despite the government instead of because of it”

And her closing line: Reject the single story and regain “paradise.” After this movie we broke into groups to discuss our thoughts (which was so incredibly hard to do in Spanish). We had a good discussion about why people are like this and what can be done to change the trend. We talked about media and how they plant ideas in our heads (in some cases intentionally and other cases not), about schools and their unfortunate inability to provide “the whole story” to every student, the ease with which we can get involved in our own lives and fail to explore and create our own opinions…. It is overwhelming to think about the source of stereotypes and how to overcome them, but we decided that the change starts with each person as an individual, and that we can help other people realize the same by sharing our experiences.

We had a little bit of free time before lunch, so Sarita and I walked around the city. We bought a political humor magazine (in Spanish) and sat in the central park, reading and laughing at what we could understand. Lunch was at the same place as Sunday (as I think I mentioned). I had this great mix of veggies with quesillo melted on top. After, as we were walking back to the hostel, I spotted a REAL fro-yo place! It was so exciting!! Fro-yo with granola and chocolate was the perfect afternoon snack (and surprise).

In the afternoon, we had another discussion with a guy named Simon, back at CASA. Simon is one of those extreme left wing people… the kind that have such extreme ideas you can’t possibly reason with them. I firmly believe that everyone has a right to their own beliefs, and for this reason I didn’t like that his ideas were so concrete. But, his talk was extremely interesting and got me to thinking a lot. Being from the United States, Simon was fluent in English and Spanish. We asked him to speak in Spanish so that we would practice, but he really did his best to throw in English when he could. We all think it was so he could use English profanity we actually understood instead of Spanish street language that many of us do not yet know.

In a nutshell, Simon is anti-American. REMEMBER, the ideas I am explaining are his (it is truly difficult to describe a person like this through a blog post). He explained to us three problems that Mexico suffers from as a result of American influence:
1. Invention of weapons: Each year there are 50 million deaths in Mexico due to weapons, but Mexico does not have one weapon factory… they all come from the US.
2. Narcotrafficking: The United States consumes the most drugs in the Americas. The best environment to grow drugs is in Latin America. Mexico is the connection between the two… no wonder Mexico has so many drug problems.
3. Slave labor: We use prisons for profit and create weapons for profit, this is the reason why programs do not exist to help criminals.

Simon explained to us that there is nothing genius about what we talked about. In reality, it is more difficult to talk about ourselves and the American people as the problem. He explained American people as ignorant, apathetic and arrogant. He explained that he left the United States because he couldn’t afford healthcare and he lacked a sense of community. In Oaxaca, he is not denied healthcare. He also has a strong community of friends that will do anything and everything for him.

During the conference, Simon made a couple of comments that really struck me:
a) 1.8 billion people in this world do not have access to drinking water, but the United States uses clean water to flush waste (he actually used a more vulgar word) down their toilets.
b) The streets of the United States seem so clean and pristine (and compared to the strees of Guatemala they really are), but in reality, they are the dirtiest streets in the world.

Simon used a word “Activist Imperialism” to describe how people try to take a 500 year problem and fix it in six months. In reality, it can’t be done.

Simon also had a list of 4 words he loathes:
1. Empowerment: It is condescending and places power in the hands of an organization. In reality, the focus should be on how to contribute to self empowerment… “how is my work helping other people become independent.”
2. Sustainability: In reality, this word means survival. But, it has been broken down to merchandise and tangible products. In his opinion, a technology curve is not practical… it doesn’t lead to survival, it just creates things we want to buy. What he does believe in are practical and usable inventions, such as bicycle powered machines. In his words, “If you can’t afford to live, f*ck you. If you can afford to “live green,” great”
3. Nonviolence: His problem with this is… what is the line between self defense and violence?
4. Peace: Simon says “peace can only exist when justice, liberty, and dignity for everyone exists all the time” and that “our so called ‘peace’ is attained through terror.”

Although everything Simon said during the lecture was interesting, I felt as though he just kept bashing every existing attempt to create “good” in the world… I had not yet heard an idea from him on what would work to make this world better. So, during question time, I asked him “If this world is so messed up, as you’ve thoroughly explained, and nobody does anything correct, then what is your solution?”

His response was, of course, extreme. He truly believes in youth organizing, liberation and education, which is reasonable. He told us to take responsibility for our privilege and use it to our advantage to help others. He also told us we have to get outside of the realm of legality (and then proceeded to tell us that the FBI is after him because he exposed some sort of research from a well known University).

To explain this comment about legality, he gave us an example of one of his friends. This friend learned from a doctor how to do basic operations, but has no degree. Technically, its illegal that he operates on these people… but if they are going to die anyway, what is the hurt in doing what he can to save a few lives. I’m not saying people should start doing open heart surgery without proper training, but he has a point. If nobody finds out, is it still illegal? Kind of like that fable about a tree falling in a forest when nobody is watching.

So, like I said, this discussion gets you thinking, as extreme as it is. Although this seems to have nothing to do with healthcare, it helps us understand culture and develop a greater understanding of what people are thinking and how they are living.

For dinner, we went to a slightly pricey restaurant. All I could afford with my 80 pesos was a pico de gallo that came with tortillas. It was good, but more like a salsa and I filled up on tortillas. After dinner, a group of us headed back to the hostel and went to bed.