19 de enero, 2009
This is Steph Fiore writing today, and although I’m not much of a blogger, today was by far my favorite day and I look forward to informing you all about it. I was excited to combine my knowledge as a Public Health major and Spanish minor all throughout the day! (thanks mom and dad for helping to pay for that education!!)
This morning we stopped by a transitional home for immigrants. We dropped off food and cleaning supplies and talked to some of the residents there. It just so happened that a group of Minnesota college students are staying there on a similar trip as us, so they may be joining us for some service activities!
We spent a large portion of our day volunteering for A.C.O.R.N. Yes, that is the group with some faulty voter registration accusations, but that was not our focus today! The El Paso ACORN group has teamed with local citizens to help educate and empower the community on numerous issues, and our work today was to gather support to prevent a local smelting plant, ASARCO, from reopening to protect workers and the surrounding community.
ASARCO was a local copper smelting plant located in the middle of El Paso that already was emitting high levels of lead into the environment. Unbeknownst to the employees, ASARCO had an agreement with the US Government to dispose of military waste from the Rocky Mountain Artillery. For over 10 years, ASARCO employees were unknowingly incinerating chemical warfare such as cadmio (cadmium), arseno (arsenic), and Agent Orange. In 1999, the plant laid off all 350 employees and closed down. Most workers had been employed at ASARCO for over 20 years and didn’t think much of their skin rashes or the surrounding fog. Ten years later, the workers have noticed a drastic increase in cancers and blood diseases such as Leukemia among workers as well as lead poisoning in local children, so they have collaborated with ACORN to rally support against the reopening of the ASARCO plant.
Alongside the former ASARCO employees and ACORN staff, we went puerta por puerta (door by door) to collect data for una encuentra de salud ambiental (an environmental health survey) and to gain support from community members for an upcoming rally ACORN will be hosting. We heard many interesting stories and concerns from residents, which was a great chance to practice our Spanish!
Sana and I had the privilege of attending a meeting with a local attorney and some of the former ASARCO employees. They will soon be submitting a class action inquiry to the house and senate to 1) demand an evaluation of all former ASARCO employees and to 2) get financial compensation for the sick employees. Of course, ASARCO found a loop hole to paying workers compensation by filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, so the employees hope to receive help from the government, which knowingly allowed the ASARCO plant to incinerate toxins without informing the employees or providing them with any safety equipment or training. So, I got to contribute my public health knowledge throughout the meeting to help them formulate ideas for health surveys, which they will be using to build support for their bill!
Thank you for reading and enjoy the inauguration events!
Quote of the Day: "Aida...speak!"-Jose Manuel
1 comment:
we serve the community and fulfill their needs.
Joelle here.
sounds like you guys are doing a great job and having a really educational, enjoyable experience.
have a safe trip home and I look forward to reading more posts... they keep me entertained while I sit through the winter class I'm TA'ing. = )
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