What I Accomplished This Summer

As I mentioned in a previous post, my work with the Southside Day Labor Center has been fraught with challenges. However, I still am able to reflect on my experience and say that I have accomplished a lot for the community I served and I grew as a person.

While our classes were not always as well organized or attended as we hoped, I still think they were useful for the men. Our English tutoring improved the men’s English skills so that they are now slightly better at communicating with their patrones. Also, we taught the men how to create and use an email account and how to use craigslist and google search during our computer classes. Finally, we conducted a workshop on heat stroke, which is especially important since the men are working in extreme heat and sun exposure.

Other projects we completed include the making of an instructional video to show new members of the center the new rules. We also researched wage abuse and how the men could take action against patrones that do not pay them for their work. This is a constant problems for them and is particular tragic given that there is little work for the men to come by and that many are earning money to support their families either here in the U.S. or in their native country.

On a personal level, we established strong relationships with the men. I really thought of them as friends and I think they thought of me in the same way. We shared good conversations and had laughs. We also watched much of the World Cup together. Several of them have my phone contact information and I hope to keep in touch with them. I think I got a lot more out of this experience because I was able to be friends with the workers, some of whom are migrants from Mexico or other Central American countries. I had a personal connection with these individuals rather than just witnessing them from objective perspective that we were getting from some of the other experiences. Being close to these individuals was the most moving aspect of this trip. I also think they had a lot more fun with us around; we made things more exciting for them.