He picks tomatoes in Gadsden County, sends money home and visits his family
when he can.
By Lloyd Miller
Special to the Florida State Times
Ovidio Maldonado came to the United States 10 years ago to earn money to support his wife and three children in El Salvador.
He picks tomatoes in Gadsden County, sends money home and visits his family
when he can.
As many as 5,000 workers like Maldonado come to Gadsden County, just west of Tallahassee, in the picking seasons -- May, June and October. They deal with poor housing, inadequate social services and schooling conducted in a language they barely understand.
Some of the migrant workers -- about 150 each semester -- get help from about 65 FSU students doing volunteer work through Project Amistades (amistades is friendship in Spanish).
Maldonado, for example, works on his English twice a week in English-as-a- second-language classes taught by FSU students.
Like many others, he hopes to leave his work in the tomato fields soon and find a better job.
"When I talk very good English, I will look for another job," Maldonado said.
He can take inspiration from one of the volunteers, Carla Sylvestre, who grew up in a migrant-worker family and is now a college graduate on her way to graduate studies in biology.
She said she was drawn to the program because of her own migrant background. She said she often sees similarities to her own experience when she is working with migrant families in Gadsden County.
"Every time I come, I feel like I have to come back," Silvestre said of her volunteer work.
When she was very young, her family moved to the United States to escape the civil war in their native Guatemala. The family lived first in Pennsylvania and then settled in Indiantown, Fla., where her father found work.
Sylvestre said she would encourage anyone to volunteer for Amistades at least once.
"People think you have to be able to speak Spanish, but I don't think that's true," she said. "Most of the people who volunteer do not speak Spanish."
Coordinator Judy Munter said she doesn't want people to see Project Amistades as a charity organization. She said the volunteers learn and grow along with the migrants.
"I think that we're learning things about their culture at the same time as they're learning things about ours," Munter said. "I hope that kind of cross-cultural understanding will continue to grow."
Children are the focus of many of the project's activities.
Each week, volunteers work and play with the children of migrant families in homework help sessions, art classes and recreation.
Volunteers also assist migrants in obtaining social and medical services. Students act as translators for dental and medical clinics. In the fall, FSU law students will offer the migrants instruction on their legal rights .
Project Amistades, established three years ago, is one of several volunteer opportunities offered by the FSU Center for Civic Education and Service. Through these activities, which also include a program to help Tallahassee's Frenchtown neighborhood, the center seeks to promote community involvement and civic responsibility as essential parts of a liberal arts education.