Mission: Understanding

I believe every YAV if they haven’t already, at least once this year will struggle with the question of “What am I doing here? What is my purpose? What good am I really doing?” And for me, more specifically, this year is a journey to figure out where I can best serve humanity in the field of Latin America-related social justice. What is amazing is that I am definitely in the right place. I am constantly amazed by just how much is going on in Tucson, and how much people are thinking and doing about immigration and food justice. (If you are curious as to why I use immigration and food justice in the same breath, hopefully reading more of this blog will make that become clearer). I will continue to update you all with more thematic posts as soon as possible.   

Before I launch into an externalization of an internal conversation, a note: I actually started this post days ago with many thoughts boiling and simmering at random intervals, and as I had finally written the introduction Saturday morning, it became even more powerful within the context of my intentional community here at the YAV house. One of my fellow YAVs who has become one of my Tucson sisters in such little time has struggled with a process of discernment (something Presbyterians really love doing) that has resulted in a decision to leave the YAV program. For her, confronting that “What am I doing here?” question brought mystifying results rather than confirmation that this was the right place. Arial has found this is not the right fit for her, and we can all see that what she is really meant to do is go back to Colorado to teach. She has such a gift for retaining, synthesizing, and sharing her knowledge of history, and she takes such delight in it, which in turn makes us even more intrigued by the historical tidbits she shares with us. We are all deeply saddened by the loss of her giggles, her thoughtfulness, her intense drive to run almost every day in addition to having the longest bike commute, her fun facts, and her overall spirit that she brought to this house, but I for one have the sense that her place is back in Colorado in front of a classroom, and we just want all the best for her! 
  
In these first couple of weeks of work with BorderLinks, I have been oriented through meetings and conversations to many of the projects I will be working on, as well as all of the aspects of organizing and leading delegations (something I still feel thoroughly unprepared for, but I'll get there). While getting the hang of office culture, who to go to with questions, the different workshops we offer, and my various responsibilities and projects, I have been challenged to answer questions like, “I thought you were going to be doing justice work or humanitarian work – what are you actually doing?”

This has a complicated answer. BorderLinks is an educational organization that holds workshops as well as takes delegations down to the border and into Mexico for participants to see and hear a broad range of voices related to immigration and food justice issues (To check out BorderLinks for yourself, please peruse our website (which it will soon be my responsibility to update!): 
http://www.borderlinks.org/). As half social media master, half Program Organizer, I will organize and lead delegations, as well as manage our blog, Facebook, and website. In both of my roles, I try to create spaces for critical thinking, dialogue, and greater cross-cultural understanding about the border and the larger systems at play. In order to actually do my job, I have a lot of learning to do first!

I really could just read immigration justice- and food justice-related articles endlessly and let them pull at my heartstrings, inspiring me again and again to do something in this field. And as my main goal this year this year is to have a better sense of how I can put my skills and gifts to good use in the immigration justice movement, my main objective through BorderLinks is actually to create those spaces for others to see, think, and act, as our motto declares. BorderLinks was actually founded in part by Rick Ufford-Chase, our host for YAV orientation in Stony Point, so it was fun to see some of his influence still very much present in this organization, such as the circle of praxis (see, think, act, celebrate). As I much as love to learn and reflect, the challenge is to be reflectively guided into action: the third part of the circle of praxis.

This kind of systems-focused, theoretical, critical thinking work is so essential so that we know how to better do and understand the need for tangible, direct humanitarian work such as putting water out in the desert, walking the trails and calling out "Somos amigos" in case people are in need of food/water/medical attention/directions, or even work with DREAMers to get financial aid for college like I had the privilege of doing in my AmeriCorps work with the Northfield TORCH program this past year. What are you going to do with that knowledge and those reflections? Tangible work is so much easier to explain! And also oh-so-necessary. The amazing part in Tucson is how these organizations are collaborating while addressing different needs in the immigration movement. However, the constant struggle with BorderLinks’ line of work is that it is nearly impossible to see measurable results (I encountered a similar struggle in my work with Witness for Peace as there is always more injustice out there to tackle and more awareness to build). How many minds did we directly catalyze to go home and work to make their communities safer and more hospitable to immigrants? Education-based social justice work can sometimes be so hard to connect to action upon knowledge and reflection, especially since we attempt to remain politically neutral.

However, one thing my supervisor said struck me: “All education is political in the sense that it either reinforces or challenges the existing system.” But how do we as an organization balance the desire to work for justice while intending to create space for voices not often heard and space for participants to come to their own conclusions? How do we create a balanced itinerary on our delegations when the choices we make about what/who we expose our groups to have such a force in shaping participants’ experience? 
  
So many questions to think about, but what am I doing? I am settling into a routine where I challenge myself to post on BorderLinks' Facebook page by 9am, so I basically get to spend the first half hour of my day updating myself on all the latest immigration-related news, articles, and community events, which is such a healthy practice considering I'm so interested in the topic that I would love to do that anyways. Every day, one way or another, I’m challenging people to be informed, to formulate their own opinions once they have a sense of what’s out there, and to act according to those beliefs. Especially when the name Kathryn goes up on the delegation leader schedule, I will personally be responsible for creating and framing a space for others to experience the borderlands firsthand, process what they have been exposed to, and (fingers crossed) catalyzing them into advocates for immigration justice, just as I was catalyzed on my BorderLinks delegation with my home church, St. Luke Presbyterian, in 2007. And look at me now. 

I may want to jump in full force into the world of activism and peaceful protests, which I may to a certain extent, but while I so admire people like my housemate Steph for putting herself at risk for arrest in solidarity with the people and the causes she was working for as a YAV last year, I will be a lifelong learner with a desire to work on a more systemic level. But make no mistake, I will also “do” by getting as involved in this community as I can as both volunteer and learner. At this point, I know this much:  I want to share the knowledge I have banked, the questions that emerge from the many revolutions and the squishing and stretching of that knowledge in my brain, and the reflections and best attempts at conveying and encouraging understanding. Actually, what is ideal for me is probably to navigate the borderlands of affecting systemic change and tangible, hands-on work with visible results, and perhaps my year will evolve to that effect. 

I am still getting into the swing of things, but I will attempt to frame this year as Mission: Understanding. (If you haven’t read some of my thoughts about mission, I’d advise you to take a look at my entries from YAV orientation). Mutual understanding and cultural exchange can only truly happen on equal footing, where there are words spoken and reflected on, where the hearts of all individuals start to open to and trust one another, where both (or more) groups can both listen and share and be both consumers and producers of individual stories. 

I’ll pull this point out from a recent staff discussion as well: even if we are seekers of knowledge and experience through this alternative education model, we must not be simply consumers of others’ time, others’ stories, and others’ trauma, even if our intentions are entirely empathetic. That serves to reinforce an imbalance of power in that relationship. We must treat whoever we meet as holistic human beings who may have come to the shared space on different paths, but also as people who like sports, spending time with their family, learning, etc. In the true model of popular education, everyone is a teacher and a learner. Even Kid President has that figured out (For your enjoyment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlhUcSGqgs)! We must not simply interrogate, bank that knowledge, reflect, and act on it, but we can be partners in processing, mediators between cultures, relationship builders. We also must learn to hold our personal stories as valid and to be vulnerable when we are asking others to be vulnerable with us too. In this mission of experiential education, we must focus on learning from each other and perhaps reframe “education” as cultural exchange. 

So what can I do? I can work with my head and with my heart. I can seek to get a good grasp on the systemic injustice that perpetuates suffering and share that knowledge with others, so that they may also be filled with not only knowledge but emotion that moves them into action. As I am learning and finding my place, I encourage you to find your place. 

But no matter your role, I challenge you to better understand these issues. These fundamental human issues like the most basic need of feeding one’s family that have gotten so complex as we humans collectively have created unequal systems of resources, markets, and fronteras to those resources and markets. I challenge you to do your research, practice being a more welcoming neighbor, and partner with me in Mission: Understanding. 

Peace,
Kathryn


P.S. If you’d like some ideas for resources to check out, or just want to drop me a line with your thoughts and questions, please do not hesitate to email me at kemschmidt@gmail.com!