My Portland host, Jessie at the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh recently.

“Through listening we can begin to focus on our common beliefs, our shared humanity, and our hopes for a better world, rather than dwelling on the surface differences, prejudices, and dissagreements that divide us.” – From the Listening Project Handbook

Meet Jessie… again.

Jessie is my host in Portland, Maine, whom I briefly introduced in a previous post about our trip with her friend, Jess to get a new pet Angora rabbit.  Jessie is on Couchsurfing and is currently doing some baby-sitting as she looks for her next project.

But there is more to Jessie than meets the eye.  She recently returned from protesting at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh and she also has worked closely with a local peace organization named PICA.

PICA.

Peace through Inter-American Community Action.  PICA is a local Bangor, Maine organization that works for human rights in Maine and also in El Salvador and other developing nations.  The program, kNOw US & THEM, was created to gain information about Free Trade and Emigration.  Also, to address the tens of thousands of “Mainers” whom have lost their manufacturing jobs because of the movement of businesses overseas.  Working closely with Bangor’s sister city of Carasque, a small village in El Salvador, PICA is looking for holistic solutions from workers in both the US and El Salvador.  

NO US & THEM.

Jessie worked on the kNOw US & THEM program (the capitalizations are intentional) and made trips to El Salvador to speak with the people.  She also, helped produce the below video about the organization (her voice at the beginning) and about some problems that are plaguing Mainers and El Salvadorians. (It is almost 30 minutes long, but very informational, interesting, and touching.)

If you can’t watch the video or don’t have the time, here is a brief overview:

*It costs more for people in Carasque to grow there own corn, than to buy it from the USA.

*2/3 of the people who emigrate were working in agriculture.

*1/3 of El Salavador’s population don’t live there, mostly in the USA.

The video interviews the local people of Carasque about their thoughts.  Here are just a few quotes:

*Beningo, a local farmer says, “Many don’t leave because they want to.  It’s because they really feel that it is a necessity to leave.”

*Vicenta, a Teacher and member of the Community Council, “In the economic sense for a lot of families it has been a great benefit to have a family member leave.  But it has an effect on kids, because I have heard them say, ‘I can have money, but I don’t have my Mom.’”

*Mario, president of the Community Council, “On the structural level of the government here, the problem is that there is talk of trying to avoid people leaving for the United States and all of that, but the reality is that we live off of emigration.”

But if you have the time, please watch the video.  I left it feeling like I had a much better grasp on what it must be like to live in a small El Salvadorian village.

Listen.

PICA has another program entitled the Listening Project.  The Listening Project conducts in-depth interviews with some folks whom are most affected by international trade issues in Maine: immigrants, displaced manufacturing workers, and small farmers.

“We believe that immigration, trade, and job loss are connected and the best way to help understand the connections is through the eyes of the people who are affected.”  -The Listening Project

***

To Listen and to look for the connections without blaming, are the two reasons why I really like PICA’s approach and why I feel like this model could be utilized in other organizations as well.  

Thank You, Jessie!

Create Our World.

Ben

“We and They, Us and Them, are very much connected.” – The kNOw US & THEM project.

Tags: adventure travel blog, Bangor Maine, Benjamin Jenks, Carasque el salvador, create our world, emigration, free trade, hitchhiking, Know Us and them, PICA, roadtrip around the USA
Categories: People., Places., Websites.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under People., Places., Websites.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.