derechos humanos

This month of April has been by far the best, because we live with families, ride the public transportation (las rutas), and work at an internship site. I am doing my internship at a place called La Comision Independiente de Derechos Humanos (from now on called La Comision). I split my time between three places. One is La Comuna, which is a cafe that they own and collectively run. Its fun to be there, because there are always groups having meetings or press conferences going on. Its a place of a lot of action and every day I meet someone new. Since my Spanish is good, but not good enough to be a waitress (can you repeat your order please? again?) I help out by preparing some food, brining people coffee, and washing the dishes. The next place that I go to is the official office of La Comision, which is really close and suprisingly a really good location in the middle of downtown Cuernavaca. There, I am able to check my email and my job is to help them organize all of their papers. I categorize newspaper article clippings, and try to find space in an already crammed office to put them. Its okay though, its nice to go to a quiet space sometimes. Okay, who am I kidding, this part is not my favorite, but it is something that they need so I grin and bear it. Their office actually has a wealth of information about socail movements, and if it was organized it could be a really useful resource for people. The third place that I go is to the offices of Sin Linea, an independent news magazine, which is two floors down from our office. There I give two young women reporters English lessons.. well more like we chat in English and they practice basic phrases with me. Last time was really fun though.. because they are all interested in politics they were asking me about my opinions on the election (actually, people are very aware of this election. I get asked that question all the time) so we read Obama's health care platform on the internet. It was really fun! And I really like the people who work in that office as well. A lot of them are in their late twenties/early thirties, so we joke around and talk about other things in Spanish. Its nice to have Mexican friends.

In the same vein about having Mexican friends, I went to a prize ceremony for a Human Rights award on Saturday, and it was so nice because I knew a good group of people there, and I felt like I was getting to know the social justice community. Granted, I think everyone in that room knew everyone else, but it was nice all the same. I ran into the jewelry artesan who I had taken one class from about 2 months ago and then lost touch with, and talked with him for a while and we exchanged emails so more classes can actually happen! He is involved with the Zapatistas and knows a lot of Mexican history, so the classes are amazing because it is not just makign earrings, but talking about social movements. I say classes for lack of a better word, because it is more like we sit down together at a table for a set period of time, but its nothing official. I also got to spend more time with a youth activist that I have made friends with, just chatting, learning more about all the people in the room, and having a good time. All in all, it was a great day.