Union Romani

Union Romani is a large NGO in Spain that has all kinds of programs in Spain and across Europe. I was able to speak to four different representatives about the different types of work they do for the organization, as well as recieve materials used in their programs along with their final notes with statistics and recaps of all they did in 2010. I really enjoyed meeting with them and learning about all they're doing. They focus on the "gitano" population or gypsies who have immigrated to Spain. They help immigrants of all ages and specialize on those who have been descrimiated against because they are immigrants. Anti-discrimination classes are help to inform the people of Sevilla, especially the youth, about how wrong it is to descriminate. I was able to learn about four different programs that the NGO offers, working with children, teens, and adults from all different countries over Europe.

CHARM stands for Civic Help for Anti-Racist Measures and is a program for youth groups that expresses several ways and ideas to help other youth learn about anti-racist measures. The project is taking place in 6 different countries and is part of an online campaign to spread the word about anti-discrimination among youth and youth groups across the world.

Red de Centros de Asistencia a Victimas de Discriminacion is a service that provides help to those who have been racially descrimiated against at work, through education, or living arrangement and provides them with the legal help they need to overcome the descrimation.

The rest of the programs focus more on the issue of immigration within the city. The majority of the immigrants are Romanos or Gitanos and the organization helps get them ID's to work, helps with the job search, and provides basic classes with information that can help get them started down the right path. There are also camps provided in the neighborhoods that these immigrants living in that usually have no running water and poor conditions. The camps provide children with basic classes along with medical assistance and activities like soccer to do during their free time.

The supplies given to me along with the past statistics and the information that I recieved from the interview will be very useful when writing more about NGO's in Spain, especially when talking about immigration.

Morocco!

This past weekend my school group ventured to Morocco. The journey was a life-changing experience and something I wish everyone had the opportunity to do. Some many aspects of the trip triggered a different emotion and I learned so much from the trip. The dynamic of the life, economy, and people is so different from that of Spain. The streets are so busy with people all the time selling things or rushing off somewhere and even though the neighborhoods are built similar to Sevilla, buildings close together with narrow streets, the two places could not be more different. The streets were not kept clean and there were signs of poverty everywhere. All sorts of weird smells came from the streets and vendors were way more direct and pushy than I was comfortable with. All of these things were part of the culture and I know they are considered normal there. I wanted to keep an open mind to the different aspects of the culture and make sure I did not come off as ignorant to the different things that other cultures, especially one like the Moroccan culture, had to offer. The experience made me realize even more how lucky I am to have all the opportunities that I do for a great life but also that there is almost another world out there living so differently than what I am used to.

We visited Chefchaouen, Tetuan, and Tangier. Chefchaouen was by far my favorite city with its pretty architecture and painted blue walls to keep the bugs away. The buildings were close together and streets narrow like Sevilla, most likely for shade and there were donkeys in the street used for transportation. Tetuan was busy and bustling with vendors and once we went inside the gates of the “old city” things became very different and it was as if we were in another world. We also viewed the market and the alcazar in the medina of the city and the old city within the walls was so different from modern life outside the walls. Tangier was fun and we got to see an old fashioned show with horses and men dressed in traditional Moroccan wear along with a belly dancer and a man who walked on glass.

Overall, the tip cannot be described in just a few words. It was such a cultural experience that made me realize so much and expand my outlook on the rest of the world. I appreciate the opportunity to be able to visit there and am thankful for all the opportunities I have here and at home.

Movimiento para la Paz, el Desarme, y la Libertad

MPDL is a very successful non-governmental organization in Spain that has won awards and recognition for its work internationally and locally. They concentrate on human rights, immigration, international development, education, and more. The have a special focus on immigration through work with the Centro de Acogida para Refugiados in which they put on after school programs for children who live in the center. They have a strong focus on academic and socio-cultural aspects which are found in all of their programs. I was able to talk to Rebecca, a director in the Seville office, who provided me with much information about the different programs that they offer. She divided the programs into four categories for me by people they target; "gitanos" or gypsies, immigrants including children of immigrants, local Sevillanos, and other international programs for various causes. The programs that target gypsies include offering all kinds of educational classes from elementary to college level for gypsies and their families from all over Europe. The have a special program for mothers that allows for the mothers to have a place to care for their babies and lessons on how to do things like breast feed and care for their babies properly. Employment is also important for gypsies who typically take to the streets for money and MPDL helps with the job search and preparing the gypsies for the workforce and a better life in general. Programs for immigrants include an after school program that I mentioned earlier at a residence that houses immigrants and their families. Other services provided for immigrants include providing attorneys for help with legal documents and other programs to help with employment forms and building skills and a resume to apply for jobs. Rebecca informed me that it is required for all children in Spain, no matter your nationality, to attend school and these programs help the children of immigrants get to the level they need to be at for their age in the Spanish school system. Many children know little Spanish and are not accustomed to the studies in Spain but are taught, for free, the classes they need to catch up. Classes run from September to June like a regular school term. MPDL also provides classes for local Sevillanos, mostly students, to become informed about the social issues that affect their community. One major program is a "theater for peace" that allows locals to act out the social problems that exist to make their community more aware of what is going on. Programs are also offered internationally to help with things like agriculture or the economy depending on the location, examples include setting up stores in Peru or working with cows and farmers in Nicaragua.

MPDL is one of the larger NGO's in Spain and I was able to get a list of businesses that help fund their work along with names of other NGO's that do similar work. Their website (mpdl.org) is also very detailed and will be of great help when writing my larger research paper.

So far things have been going really well and I've received a lot of helpful information. I have another meeting tomorrow and one more next week and will be sure to write about those also.

Voluntario Claver

This week I have started my visits with non-profit/non-governmental organizations in Spain. The purpose of my research is to obtain more information on the way these NGO's are managed in Spain, some of the programs they put on, and how they focus on immigration. The first organization I visited yesterday was Voluntario Claver. Located off one of the main streets in Sevilla, the office is secured very well behind a locked gate with a long walk way. The office was great, very spacious with several rooms used for the different programs that the organization sponsors. The organization focuses on bettering the lives of immigrants. It wasn't an original organization that I planned to use but was suggested by one of the directors at my study abroad program and it seemed to be a perfect fit. The main program the NGO offers is an "Escuela Encultural" which is a school for adult immigrants that offers courses like economics and language classes along with annual programs that offers tours of the city, information about the government, and cultural classes to become familiar with the Spanish culture. They do four of these different outside activities a year. They also offer courses for the children of immigrants which include math, english, and language courses. The classes run from Septmeber to June and students usually attend 3 times a week. The organization also helps with job placement so students can work and go to school. I beleive they help students find jobs within the school or at the local university but I need to double check this fact to make sure. Immigrants are usally from several countries including Paraguay, Columbia, Bolivia, Peru, and a few from Africa, but mostly from Bolivia and Ecuador. The demographics of the school usually run around 100 adults, with 30 young people, 15 women, and 10 children.

This is just a quick summary of some things I wrote down while talking to one of the directors at the organization. I was able to get a few pamphlets with more information on their programs and purpose and will be sure to expand and target a couple of those programs when writing my larger research paper. I was also able to get a lot of great information from the director's answers to my surveys as he took the time to type the answers and email them back to me with great answers to all of them. I will have plenty of material to use when writing more about this in the fall and I am so grateful that everyone so far has been so supportive of my research. It has been a challenge trying to listen very attentively while the NGO employees speak very quickly but a positive challenge that has helped me practice my spanish and ask even more questions. It is also a great feeling of accomplishment when I leave knowing even more about an organization that is making such a great difference in Spain and the way I can use my research in the future.

Hidden history

There is so much to this city that I am still learning about and experiencing. I never knew how much the city of Sevilla had to offer and all the history behind it. The new class that I am taking this session is called the Legacy of Al-Andalus and is all about the history and culture that are hidden yet so apparent in this wonderful city. There is such a large Roman influence in many of the buildings along with Muslim and even Visigoth. We get to explore all these cool buildings and structures during the second half of our class and I absolutely love it. Yesterday we toured the "Setas de la Encarnacion" which are located in Plaza de la Encarnacion towards the center of Sevilla and are a new addition which was started in 2005 and was just finished in March of this year. When first walking by this large wooden structure, the first thing that came to mind was "What is that and why is it in Sevilla?" A question that was common to many Sevillanos also. I quickly learned the controversy behind this structure. Sevilla is filled with old traditional buildings and its lack of modern structures is what makes it unique. It really is like something out of an old story book or off of a postcard. My senora said it perfectly when she remarked that the "Setas" are great but would look even better somewhere else, not Sevilla. I went into our tour with that mindset, thinking why would they spend so much money on this modern structure when it would look better somewhere else and so many Sevillanos do not like it. Little did I know what would be hidden underneath it. Apparently, Sevilla is built on top of many Roman ruins and every time construction is started on something new, something from the past is found and another piece of history is discovered. Underneath the "Setas" was a large display of Roman ruins, what almost seemed like a neighborhood of houses. What was left were the floor plans and beautiful mosaics that once made up extravagant Roman houses. There were even deep holes still dug from where a fish business had once stood and where they had kept the fish to be sold. We were touring what used to thousands of years ago, a bustling Roman city. The things we find in this town are just so unbelievable sometimes. After we toured the bottom and learned all about what used to be there we got to tour the very top of the "Setas." What an amazing view of Sevilla. We could see the Giralda at the cathedral and the many buildings and streets that held the tradition of this town. No skyscrapers, no pollution or gray clouds hovering over, just a beautiful view full of culture and history. I also learned that no building is allowed to be built taller than the Giralda at the cathedral, although the "Setas" came very close. Another indication of how important culture and religion are here. I love the traditional look of Sevilla and I am so glad I ended up studying here. My view on the "Setas" did change after our tour. If they had not built that structure they may not have found the beautiful things that lied underneath. As the world becomes more modern, this was a positive step to keep Sevilla in the loop with a new modern structure that still has so much history right underneath it. It is also a way to bring the people together because rallies and markets are held on the middle level of the structure. I feel like after a few more years the structure will grow on the people of Sevilla and be more welcomed. I am so thankful to have gotten to experience and see what I did while here though.

For the research part of my trip, I have already made appointments with 3 of the 4 non-profits I would like to visit and am in contact with the 4th to set a time to stop by their office. I am really excited to see the kind of work non-profits in Sevilla do and to maybe even volunteer if options are available. As immigration goes, I have noticed many men of African descent on the streets selling little things and trying to get people's attention as they walk by. My guess is that these men could be immigrants from African countries near by and this was the only work they could find. I am going to ask about this when I visit the non-profits and see if they have anything to say about it.

Time seems to be going by so fast here. I feel like I have already seen and experienced so much but yet there is still so much more to see. I am definitely going to make the most of these last couple weeks.