Last Saturday, January 14 2012, I attended YAYA’s screening of “La Cosecha” directed by Roberto Romano. The screening took place in the CWA office in College Park. The screening was meant to inform about the migrant children who tend to the fields in the United States. It also showed how poor and toxic the conditions are for farm workers.
As the son of a former farm worker I knew about these poor conditions but never experienced them myself. At seeing this I was deeply saddened and enraged. It inspired me to participate more in YAYA and do my part to help improve conditions for field workers.
I believe that the screening of the movie was successful in informing the viewers about how hard the life of a migrant worker is. The characters struggled with their education, finances, health and family life because of their jobs as migrant workers. After the meeting, a few of the members gave short speeches to inform about petitions and other ways to help the cause.
There was also a short discussion about what it would take to improve conditions for farm workers. The consensus seemed to be that it even though it was important to change the way we grow crops in the United States, it was much more important to change the conditions of the farm worker first. It is also important to change the opinion of the title of farm worker so that is no longer seen as a undesirable job, to what it is, a honest, respectable way to make a living.
With over 40 people attending the screening there was plenty of networking being made. All in all the screening was a success and the group hopes to have much more events like this one.
Oscar Faustino Flores
Orlando YAYA
We would like to thank:
– The CWA for allowing us to use their office
– YAYA members and volunteers who helped plan this event
