IDIP reflection

I arrived in Linares, Chile on January 16^th, the eve before Chile held its presidential elections. A momentous shift in Chile’s political administration took place the following day as the candidate, a Harvard graduate and businessman, from the conservative right, was elected into office. Since the dictatorship of Pinochet, Chile has maintained a center-leftist coalition called the Concertación, and this recent election marked the first change in 20 years. For some Chileans, this is an exciting and refreshing juncture, for others, it is a suspicious change that feels uncomfortably similar to Pinochet’s conservative party. Either way, my first full day in Linares was filled with honking horns, celebratory smiles, and music in the streets, and it was powerful to watch a thriving and functioning democracy of people cast their votes - generations of women holding hands, marching to the ballet box, and freely expressing their opinions in a country that experienced 16 years of dictatorship. The elected President, Piñera, is Chile’s third richest man, owning a TV channel, an international airline, and a national Fútbol team, among others, and it is disputed among his opponents that his billionaire wealth is not a healthy mix in Chilean politics. Fascinated by politics, and as an outsider, I’m excited to be here for the transition and the sequence of opinions that will surely follow.

Back to Linares. When I arrived I was welcomed-in by a smiling family of six, who live on the outskirts of town; their house is bordered by blueberry and agricultural fields on one side, and a crowded and active neighborhood on the other. It took me a while to get comfortable with the unfamiliar idioms of Chilean Spanish, and it has become a daily routine to study them, but my host-family was relaxed and everso gracious. The Chileans are very clam and light-hearted, and I immediately felt comfortable in my new home. Now, it has become customary to return home for almuerzo (lunch) everyday in a collectivo (a 50-cent shared taxi service), and eat “once” (dinner) together every night as a family. My host-parents are hard-working laborers, working construction and picking fruit everyday. Last weekend I got to work in the fruit fields with 75 other women, who make $20 tops a day. It was interesting to gain an insight into the hard work they do day-in and day-out, picking products that will all be exported. Located in the central valley, in the heart of Chile’s fertile land, Linares is surrounded by fields of every type of fruit, corn, wheat, rice, flowers and much more. The central industry here is transparently dependent on foreign demand and cheap labor. This brings me to my internship and scope of work.

Yuni and myself are both in Linares working with a social organization called Caritas. Briefly, Caritas is an International Catholic Organization that focuses on working with and providing opportunities and services to the most marginalized and poor communities. Here in Linares they work in close connection with the Chilean Government, where the majority of the funds come from. One interesting thing about Chile and working with Caritas is how integrated the Catholic Church and the Government are. Collaborating together on every social service, these two forces are constantly at work in the Caritas office. The first two weeks in Linares we received a full and broad introduction to each program, employee, and project. We spent the mornings conversing with program coordinators, and frequently went into the “terreno” during the afternoons. A few of their projects include, housing for children who are victims of abuse in their homes, micro-loans for small businesses, job-training for unemployed youth, and cooperatives for temporary fruit pickers. One of my favorite days “in the field” was spent cultivating honey from a bee farm with two families and a Caritas employee. The honey project provides families, that have no reliable income and who are considered to be below the poverty line, with the necessary equipment and information needed for a bee-farm. For example, this family was able to harvest enough honey to be sold in a small roadside stand to keep them going financially throughout the year.

Although we’ve visited and experienced many programs, the one that I have chosen to focus my project on is working with the “Temporeras”, the temporary fruit pickers. Currently working on a project to organize the women into groups and unions, Caritas intention is to help educate the women on both their legal and human rights as fruit pickers. Basic rights, such as the right to a bathroom, a lunch-break, and cold water, and a living wage, are not recognized in most companies here; the workers voices are not respected nor heard. Exporting all of its products to places like the United States and Europe, Chile boasts its open market, yet the repercussions felt in the field are devastating. For the next two months my intention is to work with Hermana Fuesanta (the program coordinator), record the stories and experiences of these women, and help to compile the information into a pamphlet. The days in Linares feel comfortable and routine, as if I was heading to and from my house and office in Seattle. Mobility is smooth, and I enjoy drinking Nescafe with a spoon-full of sugar every morning in Caritas, watching goofy reality shows in Spanish with my family, and taking public transportation wherever I go.