An International Organizing Community

wade — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:51:11 +0000

Santiago   The leaders met all day from 9 until after 5 and then could be seen continuing the conversations later in the evening. The vision was gripping. They were building a cohesive federation in which they saw solidarity between low income and working families and lower income, regular and informal workers joining together not only in the emerging seven countries of ACORN International but beyond.
   The stage for the vision was set by the simple, but powerful stories told from San Juan Laragauncho, Boca, Santiago, and Toronto about basic victories won through hard struggle and constant persistence yield fundamental rights and, even more, some basic dignity to families and communities. Ester’s calm tale of winning the paving of the central avenida in Lima’s SJL that would unite 16 diverse communities, and then winning the building of stairs to scale the steep hills on which squatters have perched their dwellings, and finally ending with the opening of the Club ACORN in SJL next week in a community center that they forced the Mayor to build. He bluffed them by demanding that they produce 600 people to make the demand, and then they did. Ercilia Sahores in translating called these “infrastructure issues,” but listening closely, we were hearing victories around fundamental, basic human rights that provide minimum dignities to people regardless of income: education, potable water, safe and secure housing, and more. The leaders were telling what amounted to “life and death” stories though never expressed in such stark drama.
   The board of ACORN International had a resilience that would be impossible to comprehend if the same conversations were happening in the US or Canada or Europe. When looking at the budget and the ups and downs of income and the long gaps between now and sustainability or stability, there was no shrinking back, no fist-banging, and absolutely no fear for the organization, and having been a helpmeet to similar meetings for more than 40 years, none of that would have been unexpected, yet here never a beat was missed, never a cloud broke through the sky of the discussion, the leaders simply and plainly spoke of what more they would have to do in order to make the ends meet, because the organization had to succeed. Thinking later, I should not have been surprised. Fighting for water, lights, roads, and roofs, never succumbing to the “reality of no,” is something that has made these men and women leaders in their communities. They are dreamers unafraid of the daunting and oppressing reality of circumstance and situation, who force their wills upon problems to produce progress. The organization was in such good hands.
   The staff summing up later could feel the power on the meeting whether they had been there or not. They had sat through days of meeting and planning. They knew some were waiting for paychecks, some had not been able to make the trip, and that the work was tough everywhere, but they could also hear — and see when we visited the local groups in Santiago — all of the victories and the progress. There was a collective sharing that can only be found in the deep honor that comes from being allowed to share this work with a collective purpose and vision and to see the building of a foundation in an international organizing community in new ways with a new vision.
   The leaders and staff had worked to raise the money to make this trip possible and the strong bonds of shared sweat produced an equity that transcended worlds as different as social housing in Surrey or cinder block sheds along dirt roads in Santiago. There was a long list of what needed to be done and a commitment for more and different communication to build the community and make it work.
   Meeting in Lima in a year to do this all over again seemed like a highlight already enlivening the year. No one here in Santiago would want to be able to not report that they had done their best and won with the rest. Adding India and Kenya in a year and maybe even Indonesia or other friends, made it easier to look over the obstacles and see nothing but the best in the future.

Visiting Santiago Vecinos

wade — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:54:48 +0000

Santiago   Meetings with the staff are important god knows, and we had lots of those on tap, but when the bell rang to jump in the van to go tour the neighborhoods with the members and get a feel on the ground for the work of ACORN Dominican Republic in Santiago, we were are raring and ready to go.
   Katia Soriano, the DR Head Organizer, and her staff took us to the first area not that far from where we were staying. The big issue originally had been the wastes and smells coming from a industrial food processing company that dominated the area. We were meeting on the 2nd floor patio of one of the members, and even a kilometer or more away, we could still smell the plant. They told us the cleanup had been effective, but there was still engagement with the company on pollution and smell reduction.
   The group had grown so fast in the last year since its founding that there were several “sections” that met and acted on various issues. Each section consisted of two long blocks with about 70 dues paying, family members in each one. In one of the other sections we visited the school where the organization had also managed to mount a campaign to force garbage collection partly spurred by finding rat bites on some of the children that were emanating from the dump area. We all walked among the receptacles now and could see the progress for ourselves. The third section was a work in progress. There had been a victory when the group forced the Mayor and the head of public works to come into the neighborhood and deliver sanitation. We looked at a small stream that had become — and still was — a dumping ground that would need a more aggressive program.
In another vecinos the group had won an expansion of electricity service to 18 hours a day from the 12 previously. Power outages and shortages are epidemic in the Dominican Republic. In my first visit to Santiago many years ago with Maria Polanco, Marisol, and Brother Hamilton, we had eaten breakfast with Maria’s family here and had left before 9 AM with the lights still not on.
There are two Club ACORNs in Santiago. The first meets in a large community center and because of the high unemployment of women has become as popular with the mothers of the neighborhood as the children. They had arts and crafts that they had made on display and on sale to supplement inadequate incomes. I bought a beautiful piece of art that that was done on plantain leaves.   Indescribable!
Our final stop was up a dirt road (paving this road is a high priority for the group!) where a crowd of children and the director of Club ACORN waited for us with a lot of parents in the neighborhood. They had painted a huge welcome for ACORN International on the wall above the blackboard. We were all seated up front. They showed us a video of the Club. We heard some of the children speak about what Club ACORN meant to them. We toured the property and heard about the success of their fundraising efforts to buy the property where the Club is located (only another $4000 USD and it’s theirs).
Some of the guys in the neighborhood then came in to play home fashioned instruments and the beat was on. The mujeras wanted to dance, and the next thing we knew we were all dancing! We weren’t just dancing though we were being swept along in the fast moving, hip popping meringue. There was nothing subtle about any of this. If you were near the dance floor, one woman after another would pull you into the dancing. Next thing you knew a woman a foot shorter was twirling you around, and you had to either learn how it worked or find your gringo ass falling on the floor! An hour later we were all — men and women of the ACORN International delegation — drenched with sweat, grinning like kids, and happy and exhausted as we climbed back on the van to head back down the hill.
ACORN International in Santiago more than rocks!

Wade Rathke: Chief Organizer Blog » Club ACORN

An International Organizing Community

Visiting Santiago Vecinos