{"id":52838,"date":"2017-04-17T15:56:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T15:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/?p=52838"},"modified":"2017-04-18T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T14:35:33","slug":"my-opportunity-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/2017\/04\/17\/my-opportunity-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"My Opportunity in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest blog post from Augsburg student, and Mary Witt Scholarship recipient, Nikol G. Nikol was able to go on the short term study abroad program, “Food, Justice & Sustainability in Mexico”, during spring break 2017. Thanks for sharing your reflections with us!<\/em><\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to experience Mexico in a study abroad for 9 days with the Food, Justice and Sustainability class.\u00a0 I went as an independent study student, but I was lucky enough to be allowed to tag along with this awesome group.\u00a0 This trip was amazing and was a life changing experience for me.\u00a0 I have been to Mexico before on vacation with my family, but this experience was different.\u00a0 This visit I wasn\u2019t there to hangout on the beach or sit by the pool.\u00a0 This time, I got to meet some amazing people.\u00a0 People that changed my thinking, and who changed me as a person.\u00a0 I would like to introduce you to a few of those people.<\/p>\n

Ignacio \u201cNacho\u201d Salome Torres-Ramirez is part of the Nahua<\/em> people.\u00a0 He studied to be a veterinarian, but he is also a spiritual healer and guide for his people.\u00a0 Nacho is also a member of the Amatlan Community Land Council and he fights for land ownership for his people.\u00a0 He believes that the economy and culture of his villages has been corrupted by neoliberalism and NAFTA.\u00a0 Products from companies such as Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay, sell in shops in their community, contributing to the downfall of their traditions and culture.\u00a0 The government sees the indigenous people as a group that they want to see in their traditional clothing with their traditional objects in a museum behind glass.\u00a0 They see them as bugs.\u00a0 They don\u2019t provide the education, health care, etc. that they deserve.\u00a0 They fight now to keep their community and their traditions alive.\u00a0 They fight for their land and they fight for their small farms.\u00a0 We met his 83-year-old aunt who still farms the land in their village.\u00a0 They work to fortify and improve their land.\u00a0 Their belief that the land is mother earth, also shows in their belief in the importance of the women in their culture.\u00a0 They fight to empower women and they feel that by empowering women they are working on making the earth powerful again.\u00a0 Nacho was amazing.\u00a0 His powerful beliefs and his fight for his traditions and culture were inspiring and heartbreaking all at once.\u00a0 He left us with a very powerful quote, \u201cWe believe in nothing and everything, be we do believe in organizing.\u00a0 Governments aren\u2019t afraid of weapons, they\u2019re afraid of people organizing\u201d.\u00a0 I walked away with the inspiration to be more involved and more engaged in causes such as those that will help Nacho and the Nahua <\/em>people.<\/p>\n

\"Student<\/p>\n

We had the opportunity to stay on a ranch known as Via Organica.\u00a0 There we met Antonio.\u00a0 Antonio is an agriculturist and has been with the farm for a little over a year.\u00a0 What the farm is trying to do is provide a model that can be used all over the world.\u00a0 They are trying to find a balance between price and organic products because organic products are more expensive than other products as organic farmers have to prove their products are organic, whereas other farmers can use pesticides, GMO seeds etc. and not have to say anything.\u00a0 The farm was extremely cool.\u00a0 The whole concept of the farm is one that others could and should use.\u00a0 I learned about polyculture (many crops) and monoculture (one crop), and about a milpa (which is the holy culture or a minimum of three crops).\u00a0 In most of the farms that we visited the milpa is corn, beans and squash.\u00a0 Mexico is very flexible because throughout the country there are so many types of climates and many different ecosystems.\u00a0 What I walked away with from this experience was, even in my small townhome, I can farm.\u00a0 They taught us ways to have success and what we should be doing to be healthier in our lives.\u00a0 I, as a single mother who works and goes to school, cannot afford organic products.\u00a0 However, I can try and grow some things of my own.\u00a0 This inspired me and made me want to try it in my own home.\u00a0 Antonio was very dedicated and works very hard on the ranch to make it successful, as well as many others there.<\/p>\n