We had a few things happen these past few weeks. The first was the Hill District community walk, led by Terri Baltimore of the Hill House, when members of GB visited the Hill and got a little background about the neighborhood they would be working with. Everyone walked away from it really enthusiastic to begin our service projects in the area, so these community walks are highly recommended! The second was Pitt Make a Difference Day, or PMADD. We always like to discuss PMADD every time this event rolls around. Picking up trash is an important task, but how sustainable of a volunteering project is a one-day event? Who picks up the trash in these neighborhoods the other 364 days of the year? We decided to do something a little different this year. This year, we worked with Mama Africa's Green Scouts on an urban gardening project. The linked interview presents their mission and vision statement: "The mission of Mama Africa’s Green Scouts (MAGS) is to provide African descent youth with the necessary skills to learn the importance of diverse greening sustainable customs. Mama Africa’s Green Scouts vision is to teach our youth in under served communities, environmental justice, urban farming, financial literary, community organizing, green jobs, African culture and fair urban sustainability justice in our communities." It's an organization that grows out of Homewood, driven by the people of this particular community towards the goals of self-empowerment and education. Finally, if you came away from Sunday's meeting realizing how little you knew about geography and other countries, here are some links for you to explore:
Can you name the countries of the world? How big are countries, actually? this SNL skit perfectly parodies the white savior complex Spot the Africa with Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart
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We’re getting ready to dive into our local initiatives, namely, cultivating our connections with the Hill District in Pittsburgh by collaborating with community partners on projects that will work towards the revitalization of the Hill. Before we do that however, it’s essential that the volunteers in Global Brigades are familiar with a few key concepts that will start to pop up the more we get involved in volunteer work. Sunday night, we did exactly that-- discussed some of our favorite terms like voluntourism, savior complex, privilege, sustainability, and more.
Those who are interested in reading more about these concepts and terms can refer to links provided below, gathered from a variety of voices and sources: Privilege: 1, 2 Holistic development: 1 Voluntourism and the white savior complex: 1, 2, 3 Why is it so important that we educate ourselves on these issues? Because volunteers who work on community-based projects-- whether they be local and global-- aren’t isolated to themselves. Our decisions, our actions, our attitudes-- they all have consequences on our surroundings and the people and places we come in contact with. This holds true when Pitt students go out and volunteer for the annual Pitt Make a Difference Day, it holds true as we pursue our more focused projects in the Pittsburgh neighborhoods, and it holds true when we bring our presence abroad each year. Think about your own individual volunteering efforts in the context of sustainability and privilege and savior complexes. How ethical is your impact? |
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