am Nation A short film by Sara Schaumburg

Bringing the Host Family Home

Linking Communities at the Grassroots

By Chris Westcott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sit in a room next to two Thai rice farmers, listening to a union leader from El Salvador. Next to him sits a banana farmer from Ecuador and a coffee farmer from Uganda, thus reaffirming my conviction: the world is getting smaller. I’m translating for the two rice farmers from Thailand as a part of a two week speaking tour promoting fair trade and trade justice sponsored by the Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange (ENGAGE), a network of former study abroad students in the U.S.

This was the third ENGAGE-organized tour of Thai farmers of which I have been a part, and at this moment not only the scale of the world is on my mind, but also how we as people come together to redefine the parameters and relationships through which we interact.

As we let go of the myth of the isolated village untouched by the arms of global capital, the struggle to define what’s left in its place continues. More and more communities understand that they must coordinate with other communities to build just and sustainable alternatives to the corporate globalization coming from above.

This understanding is what drives Americans to organize our neighbors, lobby our representatives, or choose to buy fair trade products versus conventional

ones. It is the same understanding that led Bamrung Kayotha to leave his farm in Kalasin province in Thailand and travel to America with ENGAGE in 2003 to tell Americans about how free trade and globalization threaten the livelihoods of Thai farmers.

In the past three years, ENGAGE has brought three different groups of farmers from Thailand to the U.S. for speaking tours. These tours have enabled eight farmers to visit over 20 different U.S. cities where they have connected with over 2,500 Americans. On ENGAGE organized tours to the U.S., Thai farmers have exchanged with American organic farmers, lobbied at Congress, formed relationships to sell their jasmine rice to American consumers in the fair trade system, and been welcomed into the homes of U.S. students who they once welcomed into their homes in Thailand.

These tours are testament to the power of people coming together across borders, languages, and cultures to build a global community at the grassroots. This past winter on a visit to the U.S., Bunsong Matkhao, a rice farmer from Yasothorn province in Thailand, spoke to a crowd of Americans saying, “It is not enough for we as farmers to live peacefully on our land just farming, we need to make friends, to link up with people throughout the world to shape the future of our communities.”

ENGAGE will be planning more speaking tours to the U.S. and will be bringing a delegation of Americans to Thailand in December 2006. If you are interested in organizing an event in your community, contact Kyra Busch at [email protected]. If you are interested in participating in the delegation to Thailand, contact Chris Westcott at [email protected]. Also visit www.engagetheworld.org for more information.