The Social Change Model

My journey to Nicaragua last year was an unforgettable adventure that I will never forget.  I applied to the Honors & Scholars trip just on a whim, not exactly knowing the details of the trip, but knowing that I would be able to get 10 credits and use my years of Spanish study.  My ten days abroad ultimately changed my collegiate career, and in turn, the rest of my life.

As I studied development theory and international politics (specific to Nicaragua and the United States), I grew more interested in the topic and the study of international politics.  For our major project, we each adopted a certain trade to invest our theory work into and try to uplift through Fair Trade.  Global Galleries helped us market and sell Pottery (the group I was specifically assigned to).  All of the groups, including mine, hosted events on or around campus: we set up an art gallery for the pottery at a local space, and ended up selling all but 6 items in our collection.  When we were actually in Nicaragua, we had the opportunity to visit the town and the homes of the artisans that created the pottery that we sold in Columubus that we had shipped over.  It was amazing.  To think that the pottery he was creating in front of me was purchased and then shipped to the United States and sold at events like the one that we put on...I was in awe.

But what was most hard to believe was the manner in which they created the pottery.  Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, behind Haiti (the poorest in the world).  The average Nicaraguan survives on two dollars a day, and average monthly salaries hardly top off at $100 for a family.  The artist used hair from his wife tied with twine to an old pen as a paint brush; he used a shard of plastic from a broken chair as a cutting tool for the clay; and he used a homemade fireplace made out of rocks as a kiln to fire the pottery.  He used what he had to make a living for his family.

The level of need drastically overweighs the level of want within the country.  When touring local development projects in the country, some started by students and other 'First World' citizens, and others by the UN or the United States, it was evident that the Nicaraguan people were in survival mode and don't have access to the same necessities or luxaries that we Americans do.  The group received clearance to go and view a Free-Trade Zone factory, a zone in which no taxes are paid and that was set up through CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement of the United States).  The hundred of women working in the textiles factory work strenuous, monotomouos hours of sewing certain pieces of cloth to make one pieee of clothing --much like a human assembly line.  What was the day's clothing article?  $250 Red Northface Jackets that were to be shipped to the United States for the approaching Holiday buying season.  But the people working in this factory only made $114 dollars a month.  It would take them over 2 months salary to afford a single jacket that they make for 'First World' consumers.  Knowing this, I wanted to help make a difference: to promote Fair Trade, stable wages in other regions, and to try to put an end to these legalized sweat shops.

But as I found out, soon after leaving Nicaragua and adjusting back to a normalized American lifestyle: change is hard, especially in the realm of Globalization.  One consumer doesn't make too much of a difference in the purchases they make, especially with brands such as The Northface, Ralph Lauren, and the Gap, that have such an overwhelming mass appeal to consumers not only in the United States, but abroad as well.  Even changing my own buying habits was difficult, and I cannot say truthfully that I completely changed.  Look into my wallet right now and what do you see? --the Gap and Express credit cards, and 2 coupons for 15% off at their stores.  Though I don't shop there as much as I did prior to Nicaragua, partially because I care and mostly because of other college expenses, but when it comes down to style, comfort, and affordability, it is a hard issue for me to personally face.  Change is inevitable, I believe.  Once something has been in practice for so long, people either grow discontented with it, or it evolves into something else.  But what is most difficult about change is change itself: it is uncomfortable, different, alien, and unpredictable.

Overtime, I know that trends will emerge, and I hope that out of the Green Movement, Fair Trade will spark as well.  Building off of the principles of sustainability, environmentally conscience production, and fairness for humanity, it has quite potential to shape the world into something different.  With advocacy and the formation of the student organization I helped found: Ohio Students For Fair Trade, we can make a difference together.  One person cannot do change by himself/herself.  Change is about collaboration, progression, and enlightenment.  And that's what I like about change: it is something different and fresh, and it is something that is possible.