Field Notes is a blog where Student Action with Farmworkers students share stories of their outreach, organizing, and advocacy work, and where farmworkers share their own stories and hopes for change, writing in the language they feel most comfortable.
To access our archive of past blog posts, visit our Field Notes Tumblr site here.
Making a change while learning about social justice
– Adriana Torres, 2022 SAF internEpiscopal Farm Worker Ministry Hello, my name is Adriana Torres. I am a rising sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a daughter of immigrant parents who have worked in food processing companies for the majority of their life. I have grown up and lived my entire life in North Carolina, with fields across the street and tractors on all our main roads. Agriculture is one of the biggest and most important industries here and I have become aware of how essential farmworkers are for our economy, our state, and for…
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I am from el campo, from fresas and sandias...
– Estefany Barajas Valadez, 2022 SAF internNC Farmworkers' Project Por generaciones mi familia ha trabajado como trabajadores del campo. Hoy en día mi padre y madre continúan trabajando en una granja en la cual cultivan fresas, elotes, sandías, tomate y mucho más. Ellos me enseñaron el valor del trabajo con el sudor de su frente y su ropa llena de tierra. Para mis padres, la educación siempre ha sido lo más importante para sus hijos y es por eso que mis hermanos y yo continuamos estudiando. Hoy 6 Junio del 2022 marca exactamente 29 días desde que me gradué de…
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I feel certain in the direction my feet are carrying me
– Grace May, 2022 SAF internUnited for a Fair Economy This prompt is deceptively easy as I am 20 and still have no idea who I am. I know the basics… my name is Grace, I’m from Virginia, I have purple hair, I like pineapple on pizza. When I start going deeper, I become unsure of myself. I find doubt, questions like if I’m on the right path, if I belong, if I should share my story or hold back. Throughout my life, I pledged to make myself valuable to others so they wouldn’t leave. If I was not the…
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My future, perseverance, and values are who I am
– Yadira Paz-Martinez, 2022 SAF internNC Justice Center In second grade, students start to learn the rule of stacking numbers to multiply. As I was given this assignment, I struggled. I did not understand how other students comprehended a topic so complicated. Observing another classmate, I asked her, “How did you learn to multiply so fast?” Her simple response: “My parents taught me.” I came home excited, hoping the same would happen to me, that my father would sit down and teach me to multiply. But that was not the case. At the age of seven, it was I who…
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I was opened up to a whole new world
– José Duran, 2022 SAF Intern, NC Farmworkers' Project Who would’ve thought just an average man from a small town in Idaho would be all the way on the eastern side of the United States working towards farmworker justice? I never imagined I would be in this position doing something so impactful. Let me tell you who I am first, and where I come from.I am from la espiga y la cebolla, where these crops seem to be the only thing a farmworker in Idaho sees.I am from random carne asadas on Saturday, to posole and tamales every time I…
I’m sent by myself and the desires of my heart
– Claire Burke, 2022 SAF InternPiedmont Health Services When I told people that I was going to be interning with Student Action with Farmworkers as a health intern, I was met with disapproval. Some of my family and friends thought that the internship was a joke or an odd cause. I had people ask me why I would want to spend my summer supporting such a random issue. At first, I didn’t question it because I wasn’t sure myself. I allowed my insecurities to take over and made excuses like “ it’s for nursing experience” or “I am just doing…
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My mother's influence
– Alejandra Geronimo, 2022 SAF InternPiedmont Health Services I am the daughter of a single immigrant farmworker mother. A woman who came to the United States from Veracruz, Mexico, seeking the American dream. A woman who dreams of a better life and opportunities for her children. I am a first-generation college student at Valdosta State University in Georgia. In my childhood, my family moved around a lot in the same area. So, we were used to moving. All my life I grew up around people my age who worked in the fields or whose parents, like mine, are farmworkers. I…
A beautiful movement
– Maria Juarez, 2022 SAF Program Assistant Who am I? Hmm. I am still trying to figure that out too.My name is Maria Juarez, and I am from Burley, Idaho. I am the daughter of two Michoacanos and the youngest sibling of 5. We are part of the population of 3 million farmworkers in the United States. I am a first-generation college graduate. I am a friend. I am an activist. I am a representative of my Latinx community.The farmworker movement is something I hold dear to my heart and being involved has had a huge contribution to who I…
Messages of justice, confidence, and hope
– Nathaly Trinidad Flores, Solidaridad intern When I learned about SAF and the current conditions farmworkers work in, I was mainly confused on why this is a topic that was never mentioned in my almost 8 years in agricultural education. Especially considering how in North Carolina children as young as 12 are able to work in the fields and then be a student in a horticulture class at their local high school. In a curriculum designed to build agriculture advocates, how could that advocacy not extend to the people in the fields? My goal this year was to learn more…
All of life is connected.
Tony Nguyen, Solidaridad intern All of life is connected. That is what I will take with me after I finish my time here with SAF. Human beings, farm work, workers’ rights, land, land ownership, sustainability, and ethicality—it’s all connected. I came into SAF with a background in sustainable agriculture and Christian ethics. I already knew in many respects that farming was a deeply ethical issue. But I was surprised to find out just exactly what kind of ethics SAF was dealing with. We were not talking about ethics and sustainable agriculture in terms of carbon emissions or water pollution (although…
The big issue that was revealed to me: Heat Stress
Jazlin McDowell, Solidaridad intern As a Solidaridad intern with SAF this year, the big issue that was revealed to me was heat stress. Concerns about the health and safety of working populations have grown as global temperatures and heat waves continue to rise as a result of climate change. Among farmworkers, heat stroke is the leading cause of work-related death. These health and safety issues could be mitigated by having a heat standard. Only California, Oregon, Washington, and Minnesota have heat-standard laws that are meant to monitor heat and protect workers from the risk of heat illnesses. Until heat standards…
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Our stories and ideas matter
Julianna Rennie, Solidaridad intern Through working with Student Action with Farmworkers this year, I learned that the farmworker justice movement needs everyone! It’s normal to feel too small or unimportant to contribute to a cause. But when we come together, we become unstoppable! I began to internalize this realization during the final retreat for the Levante youth and Solidaridad interns. A group of high school and college students may not seem very powerful, but our stories and ideas matter. If everyone boycotts, lobbies their representatives, and spreads the word, our movement will succeed. And when we take action as a…
Union. Support. Fuerza. Poder. Empowerment.
Ana Rojas-Gabriel, Solidaridad intern Union. Support. Fuerza. Poder. Empowerment. These are words that I associate when I think of Solidaridad both as a term and a program. My participation in Solidaridad this year has allowed me to continue advocating for social justice while also providing space to learn about educational equity. It has been incredibly rewarding working with Levante youth and other SOL interns; throughout the year I have witnessed much growth. We have created a space to empower one another and share our personal journeys. In doing so we have been able to teach and inspire each other through…
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The actions we take matter
– Nathaly Trinidad Flores, Solidaridad intern This poster can be found in the hallways of the W.G. Pearson Center, home of SAF's office. Every week when I go get my lunch from the kitchen I pass by it and most times I stop to re-read it. ‘Hayti’ is a central part of history in North Carolina. It was a rich and vibrant district made by and for the Black community of the area. The unjust removal process of key structures that attempted erasure of this vigorous community was due to the high presence and tolerance of white supremacist values. The…
We are talking about basic human rights
– Tony Nguyen, Solidaridad intern “I am so out of my element.” That is a thought I often have when doing work for SAF. The reason why I wanted to work here was because I knew that I needed experience on the policy, justice, and non-profit side of things with respect to the sustainable agriculture movement which I have been in for the past four years. So in a sense, I knew full well going in that there would be a lot of unknowns starting out. And yet, I am so surprised at just how out of touch I am…
That Kind of Love Sustains Our Movement
– Julianna Rennie, Solidaridad intern As SAF’s policy intern, I’ve had the privilege to work with organizers who are fighting for social justice. These people are passionate and tireless. Many of them have been part of the movement for decades. They are my heroes! But sometimes I wonder where they find the energy to keep going. We’re advocating for commonsense reforms – a pathway to citizenship, a national heat stress standard, and in-state tuition for undocumented students, to name a few – but there are so many obstacles in our way. Politicians won’t budge. Big industries lobby against our reforms.…
A Typical Day at SAF
– Jazlin McDowell, Solidaridad intern A typical day for me at SAF as an outreach and program management intern includes making flyers, sending out emails, reaching out to alumni, finding housing for the Into the Fields internship program as well as proofreading the application and helping with the application process. My favorite experience with SAF that stuck with me so far would have to be the orientation. This is my first year as an intern for SAF, so everything was very new to me. I came in with less knowledge than I left with and I’m glad to be taking…
We cannot pull out all of the roots in one day
– Lucy Thames, 2021 Cosecha fellow Oppression is at the core of our systems. We’ve seen it in the fields, from the labor of enslaved people to migrant farmworkers. We’ve seen it in our neighborhoods, from blatant segregation to redlining. We’ve seen it even in the changemaking spaces that many of us love, from a lack of funding for organizations doing critical, community-based work to funding or reporting requirements that are much higher than our capacity. That’s not to say that these systems of oppression haven’t been challenged – organization and collective action have been strong forces, too.But we know…
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Awareness, Reflection, Regulation
– Selena Ibarra, 2021 SAF Cosecha fellow One of the issues reinforced for me at the Cosecha retreat in October was the need for self-care in the workplace because we, as leaders, are a part of a great movement for social justice. One of the workshops that stood out to me from the retreat focused on the three steps to self-regulate: awareness, reflection, and regulation. These three simple steps can go a long way to help us show up for social justice work and make a difference in what we do. Being aware of your surroundings and what is going…
Present, Inquisitive, and Participating
– Kirsten Alfaro, 2021 SAF Cosecha fellow “Am I present? Did I finish what I said I was going to finish? I wish I could be like them. What if people think I’m a complete fai--"Stop.Big Issue: Life is hard. Leading is hard. It’s messy, it’s complex, it’s human.I’m HUMAN!!! I’m realizing more and more that I am deserving of time for myself and for my family. Time to heal. Time to reflect. Time to be intentional. Time to act. Time to practice praxis. With my teams, with my partner, & with myself. To think of myself as undeserving is…
A Treadmill Under My Desk
– Rachel Wright Junio, 2021 SAF Cosecha fellow A treadmill under my desk. That's what my life had come to. Don't get me wrong – I love this treadmill, and I have found several benefits to moving more while at work. But this treadmill is a symbol. It's a symbol of overwork. It's a symbol of under-prioritizing myself and my health. It's a symbol of the life of a full-time working mom in the midst of a pandemic. No time for exercise? Stick a treadmill under your desk! No time to eat? Eat a meal replacement bar at your desk!…
I want to make change in my community
Emily Velazquez, SAF Levante Leadership Institute youth member My name is Emily Velazquez and I am a very strong person. The circumstances I had to go through have shaped me into the person I am today. My parents are originally from Michoacan, Mexico. I try to visit each year to see my family and spend time with them. Everything is much better in Mexico. When I visit, I feel as if I am stress-free and I don’t worry about anything. On the other hand, here in America I am always stressed and feel trapped. The reason I am in Levante…
I've been in the fields
Vicente Guzman, SAF Levante Leadership Institute youth member My experience with SAF has been amazing. We have been able to meet new people and talk about our lives. I’ve loved to talk about how to help farmworkers, especially in these hard times with the pandemic and this hot weather. I’ve been in the fields and it’s not a safe place to be because there are chemicals/ pesticides and people and animals that can end up being hurt. Farmworkers often don’t get bathroom breaks or sometimes they are disrespected. I want to be someone who speaks up for farmworker rights.
I remember being in their shoes
Ana Rojas-Gabriel, Solidaridad intern The following prompts are simple questions yet complex to answer: who am I? and where do I come from? I am Ana Rojas-Gabriel, a first-generation student at UNC-Chapel Hill. I come from my parents' hard work and their American dreams. I come from “echale ganas mija” and “sí, se puede”. From a community welcoming with open arms and rich in culture. This school year I am returning to the SAF family as an intern for Solidaridad. Specifically, I'll be working with youth in the Levante program. I am so grateful and eager to work with SAF…
I can't wait to begin
Genesis Ramirez, SAF Levante Leadership Institute youth member Hi everyone, I’m Genesis Ramirez and I am a senior at Sampson Early College high school. My family is from beautiful Honduras. My mother immigrated from her home country for a better life here in the U.S many years ago before having me and my other sibling. We currently live in a really small town called Salemburg and I love it! I used to hate the small town life but as I grow up I have realized how much I appreciate it and the tranquility it brings to our hectic lives. Modeling…