Power, Privilege, Oppression, and Intersectionality

In December, I was able to site lead an Alternative Break through CMU.  I site lead the Youth Development AB that went to Omaha, Nebraska to work with Youth Emergency Services, a non-profit organization that provides resources to homeless and nearly-homeless youth in the area. This AB challenged me in ways that other ones had not yet. Being a site leader, I had extra responsibilities, such as making sure everyone arrived safe, communicating with community partners, and facilitating community building and reflections with my group. I did this with a co-site leader, from who I learned from and problem-solved with. This AB also helped understand the depth of intersectionality more than my previous ABs had.

Through service we helped sort through donations, deliver donations, set up for a Christmas Service with the members of YES!, and help run the Christmas Service. Through working with the donations I learned a lot about how much privilege I have by having easy access to everyday products that I use and need. Specifically, I looked at this through the lens of being a woman. During service, I spent lots of time going through feminine hygiene products and was surprised at how many donations of tampons and pads there were. I then realized that if I had no income or way to pay for these necessities, I would have no way of getting them. Females NEED access to these every month, and it is something that is not often donated because it is overlooked. So, if you are looking to donate to a shelter, consider donating feminine hygiene products. I also learned from my community partner the terrifying statistic that once a female is homeless, within 90 minutes 43% will be a victim of sex trafficking. This AB made me think deeper about my privilege to have access to things that keep me safe and healthy but also how much of a privilege it is for me to even go on an Alternative Break. The ability to take off time from work and serve for a week is privilege. To have access to education is a privilege.

The Christmas Service was set up with donations from members and organizations in the community for those who utilize YES! to come and take what they need. This included, diapers, baby clothing, cooking utensils, toiletries, blankets, hats, gloves, coats, and clothing. Everything in the Christmas Service was brand new, it was a gift. This made me even more aware of my privilege because when I saw individuals coming through to take what they need, when given the choice of perfume/face masks or toothpaste/blankets, they chose the toothpaste or blankets or soap, because it was what they needed. They had the opportunity to take things that aren’t a necessity, and they would get excited about soap or diapers, because it was something they needed. I had one girl who was about 13 come up and ask me what all she should take in order to take care of her hair. In that moment, I realized that not everyone has access to learn about different elements of what we consider everyday actions, let alone have the materials to be able to do them.

I also learned how those in power are implementing policies that are harming these individuals. In Nebraska, one is not able to sign a lease for their own home or apply for a loan until 19. This means that the task of going to college or moving out is extremely difficult. This puts a large number of individuals without a home unless their parents can afford to help them once they are done with high school. It is disproportionately harming families from lower socioeconomic status areas and putting them in danger. This harm increases for communities of color, woman, and individuals with disabilities. This is one example of the way those in power have the ability to shape the lives of individuals.

Alternative Breaks never fail to make me realize my privilege and give me a resurgence in my belief that it is my responsibility as a person who has privilege to do my best to help those who have not had the privilege of being given access to the same things I have. I look forward to site leading another Alternative Break this summer.

Seasons of Service

Throughout my time at CMU, one of my favorite things I have been involved in is the Alternative Breaks Program (AB). The AB program provides students with issue education, service, and reflection with social justice issues through weekend and weeklong breaks that travel to different communities and assist them with whatever the community says they need. We are there to serve the communities.

When thinking about what the AB program means to me the one word I can use to describe it is community. The community comes from both the service we do with our community partners and the people that you meet.  The people that I have met through this program have become some of my best friends and support systems. The support doesn’t stop with just things occurring within the AB program but has brought me people and support that stretches outside of the AB web. I have gotten so much support in trying to figure out my professional goals and what I want to do with my life while also supporting any personal struggles I have faced while at CMU.  One of my friendships from AB, Shannon Dent, and I even made a remix to the song “Seasons of Love” about how much we love AB and Board. I wouldn’t trade our Thursday evening meetings for anything. These friendships all developed because of the sense of community and the conversations that Alternative Breaks starts. You are surrounded by people who have similar values to you and genuinely care about the people around them. Through office hours, long van rides, and service you gain the opportunity to be completely yourself and be extremely goofy at times and incredibly intentional at others. When going through an experience of growth with other people you create a bond with them that sparks that friendship and support, and I cannot imagine my time at CMU without the community that AB has helped build. It is because of the growth and community that the Alternative Breaks program has given me that I applied to be a part of the Alternative Breaks Advisory Board. This year, I was able to serve as a Site and Service Development Chair  (SSD) and a Site Leader and Orientation Chair (SLOT).

Through my involvement with Alternative Breaks this year I grew an immense amount in my knowledge of both the program and social justice. As an SSD I was given the task of planning the weeklong service experiences. This meant finding service and housing, writing Site Agreements, receiving Insurance from community partners, and making loads upon loads of phone calls. One of my favorite aspects of Alternative Breaks is the community partners we work with. I love being able to interact with them and learn from them. On all of my AB experiences I have been able to form connections and learn about different ways people are working toward social justice. As a Winter SSD during first semester, I had the opportunity to learn more about the community partners we work with beyond the scope of the ABs I have participated on and connect with them.

This year I also had an opportunity to experience the work that SLOT does.  SLOTs role is to train and prepare site leaders to lead their weeklong and weekend service experiences. This included writing trainings, writing weekly newsletters, and presenting trainings to site leaders. I was able to learn how important the role is to support site leaders and help them feel prepared to site lead their Alternative Break. I know for me through my site leading experience the time leading up to the break can be stressful, and I know I felt inadequate within my role at times. I utilized SLOT at those times and was able to have a resource to help me feel prepared. I was grateful to be able to use my experience to help prepare site leaders to have a successful, intentional, and growing experience while on their AB.

This program has helped me realize how strong my passion for social justice is, and it has helped me better understand the intersectionality of social justice issues and the importance of being an active citizen. I am extremely excited to complete my final year at CMU as a member of the AB Board as a returning SSD, and I am excited to continue to connect with community partners.

 

“It made a difference to that one”

This summer I had the privilege of going on an Alternative Summer Break through CMU. Alternative Breaks (AB) work by having students sign up to work for a cause they are passionate about, not knowing where they are going or what they will doing.  12 students go on each break, and they meet weekly to become educated on the issue they are going to be working with.  A couple weeks after signing up, the group figures out what service they will be doing and where they will be going for their week of service.

Ever since I was little I have had this crazy amount of love for animals.  Since coming to college I have also become very passionate about the environment and saving the earth we live on.  So, I signed up for the break that deals with the issue of Animal Endangerment.  We found out that we were going to be traveling to Palm Beach, FL to help baby sea turtles find their way to the ocean, and yes, it is as perfect as it sounds.

So, me and twelve girls packed into two mini vans and drove to Palm Beach.  The first day there we spent time getting to know the area and visiting the GORGEOUS beach that we were going to be doing some of our service on.  We make our own meals throughout our week, so we went grocery shopping and set up at the Faith Lutheran church we were staying at.

Throughout the week we spent long days doing service.  We arrived at the beach at 6 A.M. every morning to work with the  Sea Turtle Conservation League of Singer Island.  We worked with this woman Debbie, who started the Sea Turtle program on Singer Island herself.  Debbie is a woman who, though I only spent a week with her, she has made a huge impact on my life.  Everything Debbie says inspires the people around her to do whatever they are passionate about.  She has had numerous jobs throughout the years and all of them were because she felt a pull to them at that time because it was her passion.  She said “I would get these brainstorms of what I wanted to do, and I had to do it.” She started the Sea Turtle program after already having children and having a career.  She wanted to save the turtles, and so she did just that.  Debbie does all of this program solely based on volunteering.  She and her volunteers, and us for the week we were there, spend 4 hours every morning walking the beach, helping baby sea turtles find their way to the ocean, excavating old sea turtle nests, marking new sea turtle nests, and documenting hatched nests.

After working in the mornings with Debbie, we would head over to the Loggerhead Marine Life Center to volunteer with them.  Loggerhead is a sea turtle rehabilitation center that helps rescue turtles of any age and nurse them back to health, to have them later released back into the ocean.  Loggerhead was the most amazing place I have visited to see animals.  They don’t treat the turtles any different than how a patient at a rehabilitation center that was a human would be treated.  When volunteering with Loggerhead, we did any type of work that they needed help with,  the majority of this being painting the pier they own.  We also helped them with yard work stuff in the front of the building.  Even though we were not directly working with the turtles at this point,  there is still so much reward to be gained from doing indirect service.

Our last service trip stop of the day was to MacArthur State Park.  While working at MacArthur State Park, we helped remove invasive species, trim trails, and clean up trash from trails.  This service was probably the service that was the most difficult for my group simply because we were usually doing service here at the peak heat of the day in long pants and shirt in the middle of August.  However, this work was work that really helped fire up my love for the environment.  Seeing all of the trash that is left around is heartbreaking, and so being able to help contribute to making the world a cleaner place was the ultimate win.

This trip taught me more than I could ever imagine.  Sea Turtles are endangered and only 1 in 10,000 sea turtles make it to adulthood.  Most nests have around 100 turtle hatchlings in them.  This means that a lot of nests are overall unsuccessful.  I saw a lot of nests that not a lot of the sea turtles made it to the surface of the sand alive because they get fried in the sand as a result of rising temperatures.   When sea turtles do make it out the sand, many do not make it to the water because of the amount of light that is on from buildings, hotels, and condos that lead them in the wrong direction. A lot of sea turtles are harmed once they get in the ocean because of the amount of trash that is left in the ocean. Overall, I just learned how much of an impact our everyday actions can impact the animals around us.  Even though so many sea turtles don’t make it to adulthood, and we can only help so many in a week, it is important to remember that we may not have saved all the turtles, but we were able to help some. Any is better than none.

A few things that I have started changing about my everyday life to lessen my carbon footprint and help support the environment:

• I was already a vegetarian before this trip, but this AB has reiterated my reasons for doing so
• I no longer use plastic grocery bags
• I limit my use of plastic straws
• I do not drink out of plastic water bottles

My AB was one of the best weeks of my life because of the work I got to do, and the people I got to connect with.  You can bet I will go on another Alternative Break this winter.