Peeping into Youth Perspective on Food Justice

New youth presenting their ideas

By Serge Muharareni

Hi, it’s Serge here again.

This summer I’m working as a Social Media Specialist at MAP.  This means I’ve been taking pictures of the youths’ experiences at MAP, writing blog articles, and updating social media posts for MAP.

This summer’s youth are proving to be quite interesting. Not only are they fast learners, but they also have their own perspectives on subjects concerning our mission at MAP.
During the first two weeks, the new youth were introduced to MAP’s mission, as well as to food issues found in the neighborhood, and in many parts of the world. At first the new youth were quiet and didn’t share their opinions, but after being exposed to games that helped them to get them to know each other, they have proven to be more comfortable around each other and started to open up more. It was great to see them feel safe at MAP.

I thought the most interesting discussion the new youth had was on the film Cesar Chavez. It was amazing to see how many youth knew about things like subsidies and share-cropping. For those who don’t know the movie Cesar Chavez, it is a film about Hispanic migrant farmers fighting for their rights as workers. At the end of the day, the teens were disgusted by the fact that the workers harvested the food but could barely feed their families at all. Some youth felt that the workers should have left and found another job.  They felt the workers had more power and opportunities, but they just didn’t know it.

Youth sharing their thoughts.

In that discussion, the new youth came to the conclusion that the main issue was the lack of education to those farmers. Their rights were being abused because they didn’t know they even had them. The youth felt that the farmers should’ve been taught their rights before or sometime soon after they had come into the country, instead of going straight to work on farms where they had to work long hours with pay lower than minimum wage.

This film discussion was just one of many. There are more hidden thoughts and talents within the new youth. Hopefully they’ll open up even more and allow us at MAP to learn from them.