WHERE IS IT? THE ART OF FINDING A LABOR
CAMP
| The website address was 456 Bloom Road but the numbers jump
from 450 to 462. Let’s turn around. Wait we passed it again,
U-turn. OK, according to MAPQUEST the camp is here, but all I
see are trees. But look, there is a road back there, let’s
follow the road then. Maybe through there, but it doesn’t look
like a car has been through here in years. Oh no, that doesn’t
look like a camp, there is a swing on the tree, I think this is
the owner’s house. Let’s try the road we saw back there. Wait! I
see something, look up at the top of the hill; there is a bunch
of cars outside that mobile home! MAPQUEST may say it takes
fifteen minutes to get to 456 Bloom Road but it definitely does
not factor in the search. Between the U-turns, the guessing
game, finding the obscure narrow dirt road behind the tallest
tree and thickest bushes, there you will find 456 Bloom Road. A
better estimate would be forty-five minutes if you ask me.
But I see someone standing by a car over there, why don’t we
just ask him where 456 Bloom Road is and stop the guess work?
Are you crazy! We can’t ask! They don’t want us here. So we are
left with the MAPQUEST directions to guide us. I doubt the most
sophisticated navigational system could find this hole in the
wall. |
It was about 9:00 p.m. and our outreach adventure had come to an end. We
had visited four out of five camps we set out to see; a success. We met
about 20 young workers – all Latino, and all living within paces of a
mushroom plant, and all welcoming us after their long work day.
Honestly, it was a bit uncomfortable at first. I was going into a
stranger’s home and talking about a private, maybe even difficult, subject.
"Are you being paid according to state and federal regulations? Are you
treated well?" But as I watched Iris go through the motions, calm and fluid,
greeting everyone she saw, I relaxed. By the end of the night, I felt we had
successfully gotten the message out to twenty people, and they would get it
out to twenty more and so on. Maybe the Pennsylvania Farmworker Project will
be able to help one of the twenty, or someone who knows one of the twenty.
Either way, because of our effort, someone will be helped. They will know
that they have rights and be aware of when those rights are being violated;
and that in itself is a step in the right direction.
So my advice to future interns in the passenger seat; where the road
seems to end and rustic clouds of dirt surround the car, keep going. Where
the trees cluster and resemble a forest, and the road weaves right and left
so much you think you are in different town, never mind Bloom Road, keep
going. At the end of your long search, that is where you will find an old,
small, sometimes dilapidated mobile home. You will see friendly faces -
confused, but friendly nonetheless. They will get a ten minute spiel on
their rights and the services that the Pennsylvania Farmworker Project
offers. You ask if they have any questions, give them information packets, a
card, and be on your way. The workers may be quiet but they now have the
tools to get help if they need it. We hope they will never need it and that
their conditions are safe and they are paid fair wages. But if the day does
come, where they do need help – they know there are people out there willing
to help.
This summer I had the privilege of working at the Pennsylvania
Institutional Law Project and the Pennsylvania Farmworker Project of
Philadelphia Legal Assistance. I would like to first thank my supervising
attorneys at PILP and overall mentors throughout law school, Angus Love and
Su Ming Yeh. Working at PILP was more than just a summer internship; it
developed my passion for public interest law. In addition, I would like to
thank Iris Coloma-Gaines, Anita Santos-Singh, and Margaret Robinson for an
incredible experience at PLA. Thank you for all the guidance, and giving me
the opportunity to explore an array of legal issues.
