They say only strong reasons can make you wake up really early on a Sunday morning.
They say only important reasons can make you wake up really early on a Sunday morning. A Day of Service could be considered among them, although apparently not for everyone, since for the schedule on November 17th tens of people didn’t show up after having registered themselves.
My colleagues from Vietnam and Montenegro joined me for an early morning short walk to the departure spot. There we met part of our cohort and finally made our way to Papago Park.
As the shuttle reached the I-10, I started remembering something that has occured back in Cuba during the last decades, although it’s happening less and less often. It’s called “trabajo voluntario” in Spanish, volunteering. And the memories started to pop in my mind.
In the beginning of the Revolution it was called “domingo rojo”, red Sunday. Then just “voluntary work”, although the purpose was the same. It would include productive or cleaning activities, such as putting trash together, painting, cutting the grass… for several hours and where everybody, regardless of any hierarchy, was expected to devote the same amount of time and effort.
Some would complain: “This is the only place in the world where you are asked to work without payment!”, which wasn’t accurate (and this Day of Service in Arizona, USA is only one example), but I guess the difference is that Cubans’ wages for their actual jobs have been -and continue to be- very low. In fact, some used to say ironically, mostly when they weren’t attending: “I volunteer everyday”.
In Papago Park, the Hole-in-the-rock mountain received us, in addition to the lake and the small creek with plenty of high herbs that were going to be removed for the water to flow. Most of us didn’t know there was such a great outdoor recreation spot so close to our neighborhood. Now we do. And through to the hard work, we feel like it now belongs to us too.
Then we were asked to sign a waiver on site, agreeing to indemnify and hold ASU harmless for any accident or damage associated with the activities we voluntarily participated in and providing an emergency contact in case something went wrong. Instructions were given on how to proceed in this kind of event, which made a couple of us say: “You may just throw me in the river”. Joke.
After listening to very inspiring words from one of the organizers regarding the importance of collective commitment, I joined the cleaning crew, along with my Pakistani colleague, a social worker whose parents are from India and a graduate student from China.
Others joined the Deep Cleaning Crew or the Beautifying the park one.
We walked along the trails with our gloves on, holding our trash pickers like they were metal detectors. There wasn’t a lot of trash and we found most of it stuck among high plants or by the lake. We took all of it in our bins, happy to clean this beautiful place, not only for human visitors but also for the amazing local fauna, where ducks prevail at first sight.
While picking the trash, we found time to talk about our countries, technology, mountains, weather and of course, fake news. Surprisingly, we didn’t even mention the impeachment, the United States’ most followed topic lately.
After three hours of work, in which we saw a wedding happening and the traces of one that may have happened before, we were ready to return. We returned the instruments and headed to the bus that took us back Downtown after a 20 minute ride.
The volunteering culture is something to be praised and feel grateful for. It holds collective commitment towards a common wellbeing without involving money nor any interest besides the common positive outcome. It’s edifying to devote will and compromise to oneself and all at once.
We were already yawning in the afternoon, and still today some of us have body pain, some blisters and other small wounds, but everybody’s happy to have made an effort and give back. The Montenegrin fellow is still singing his “work song”.
A Day of Service could be considered among them, although apparently not for everyone, since , multiple people didn’t show up for the one scheduled on November 17, despite having previously signed up.
My fellows from Vietnam and Montenegro joined me for a short early morning walk to the departure spot. There, we met part of our cohort and finally made our way to Papago Park.
As the shuttle reached the I-10, I started remembering something that’s been happening in Cuba during the past few decades, although it’s happening less and less often. In Spanish it’s called “trabajo voluntario” or volunteering. And the memories started to pop in my mind.
In the beginnings of the Revolution it was called “domingo rojo”, red Sunday. Then just “voluntary work,” although the purpose was the same. It would include productive or cleaning activities, such as putting trash together, painting, cutting the grass… for several hours, and where everybody, regardless of any hierarchy, was expected to devote the same amount of time and effort.
Some would complain: “This is the only place in the world where you are asked to work without payment!,” which wasn’t accurate (and this Day of Service in Arizona, USA is only one example), but I guess the difference is that Cubans’ wages for their actual jobs have been -and continue to be- very low. In fact, some used to say ironically, mostly when they weren’t attending: “I volunteer everyday”.
Once in Papago Park, the Hole-in-the-rock mountain received us, also the lake and the small creek plenty of high herbs that were going to be removed for the water to flow. Most of us didn’t know there was such a great outdoor recreation spot so close to the neighborhood. Now we do. And through to the hard work, we feel now it belongs to us too.
Then we were asked to sign a waiver on site, agreeing to indemnify and hold ASU harmless for any accident or damage associated with the activities we voluntarily participated in, and providing the emergency contact in case something went wrong and some kind of instructions of how to proceed in this kind of event, which made a couple of us say: “You may just throw me in the river”. Joke.
After listening to very inspiring words from one of the organizers regarding the importance of collective commitment, I joined the cleaning crew, along with my Pakistani fellow, a social worker whose parents are from India and a graduate student from China. Others joined the Deep Cleaning Crew or the Beautifying the park one.
We walked along the trails with our gloves on, holding our trash pickers like they were metal detectors. There wasn’t a lot of trash, and we found most of it stuck among high plants, or by the lake. We took all of it in our bins, happy to clean this beautiful place, not only for human visitors, but also for the amazing local fauna, where ducks prevail at first sight.
While picking the trash, we found time to talk about our countries, technology, mountains, weather and, of course, fake news. Surprisingly, we didn’t even mention the impeachment, the United States’ most followed topic lately.
After three hours of work, in which we saw a wedding happening and the traces of one that may have happened before, we were ready to return. We turned the instruments back, and headed to the bus that would take us back to Downtown after a 20 minute ride.
The volunteering culture is something to be praised and feel grateful for. It holds collective commitment towards a common wellbeing without involving money nor any interest besides the common positive outcome. It’s edifying to devote will and compromise to oneself and all at once.
We were already yawning in the afternoon, and still today some of us have body pain, some blisters and other small wounds, but everybody’s happy to have made an effort and give back. The Montenegrin fellow is still singing his “work song”.
