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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1984)
Page 2 Portland Observer, May 16, 1984 BARGAIN CENTER Life on the Nicaraguan cotton crew 2 -» H A N D STORE 728 N.E. Killingsworth 97211 _ , by Robert Lothian 76 ti u the third article in a series about the experiences o f a group o f Portlanders who picked cotton in Nicaragua in February as part o f an international solidarity brigade. Each brigade had a name. W e named ours after M aura C lark, the American nun murdered in El Salvador. She had spent con- siderable time helping out in Nicaragua. The brigade previous to ours was the M artin Luther King Brigade They left a large wall pain ting o f K in g at the farm next to ours. By 7:10 on our first morning at Apascali, it was already getting hot. We waited— organizing 150 Am er icans was not easy. Orientation went through the morning. We were filled in on the history of the farm , its problems, and changes brought by the revolution. Apascali had been owned by m illionaire landowner Alfonso Robelo. He was anti-Samoza and a member o f the first revolutionary government, but later split with the Sandinistas, decapitalized his vast land holdings and left the country. N o w , allied with Eden Pastora's contra forces on the southern bor der, he has been mentioned in the news, lately, as a possible candidate for leader o f a contra government. For four years, Robelo reaped the profits but returned little to the farm Debts piled up. Equipment bro ' do The farm was rial tali. n 1983, but the effects o f war, decapitalization and a closing o ff o f trade with the U .S. are evident. Due to the U .S. trade embargo, parts for U .S. made equipment are unobtainable. When a 11 s -mad" tractor or pump breaks down, it can t be repaired. Produc tion problems rc.ult and water, the lifeblood of the farm, isn't always available A labor shortage added to the farm ’ s problems. The Nicaraguans worried that they might not be able to get the entire harvest in, even though the cotton was desperately needed for foreign exchange. We picked cotton for the first time that afternoon, plucking "beards” o f cotton from star shaped brackets on the six-foot high bushes and stufling it into bags tied 5 W* Everything from teapots to tools - nice things at fair prices W e do not boy anything from the street !» ç • ; ? > «U • V M. ] J M » n y w ig « j» n c « 4 « I *4 *1 0 t1 * $4* (Photo: Kevin Qerien) A Nicaraguan family. Betty CaO«* Proprietor to our waists, which we dragged along the rows. About 20% o f the cotton is harvested by hand, and 80% by combine machines. The fields had been dusted with her bicides, which removed the leaves and made picking easier and the cot ton cleaner, but which made us worry about poisoning. The picking wasn’ t hard, just ex tremely hot and dusty. We drank a lot of foul-tasting iodine-purified water, talked and took breaks. The Americans picked an average o f 30 lbs. in a 5- to 6-hour day, for which we recieved board and room. The Nicaraguans picked 130-200 lbs during ten-hour days and up to 300 lbs. some days, six and seven days a week. They were paid one cordoba for every two pounds of cotton picked, or about $2.50-13.00 per day. I t ’s a meager wage, but accor ding to a CBS report from El Salvador, cotton pickers there get about $1.00 per day. Kitchen workers at Apascali received ap proximately the same wage as field workers for their long shifts. Some children worked in the fields, although they appeared to come in at noon while the adults stayed. School vacation coincides 2201 N. Killingsworth Phone: 283-2487 FOR ALL YOUR PRINTING NEEDS Office b Buslnesa Letterheads • Business Cards Bulletins • Price Lists • Cherts Newsletters • Forms • Flyers Envelopes • ADS PLACED with the harvest, which runs from January into March. The cotton went from the fields to the processing plant, the “ gin” , in tractor-drawn trailors. There, modern machinery operated around the clock to clean and bail raw cot ton ready for export. Santo Torres worked in the processing plant, operating a bailing machine on the graveyard shift He worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week for 70 cordobas a day; about $2.50. It wasn’ t clear whether the long hours were required, were worked out o f dedication to the revolution, or whether the workers just wanted to get the work in while the harvest lasted. When 1 described for Santo wage scales for factory workers in the U .S ., he seemed truly amazed. I wondered whether he could comprehend these riches or I his poverty. Santo’s ten-year old daughter, Rosa, and six-year old son, Elmer, weren’t shy around the Americans. Elmer’s pet parakeets perched on his head to the delight o f the camera happy foreigners Rosa washed clothes by hand, but need a block o f wood to stand on to reach the sink. Obvious results of the revolution at the farm included polio vac cinations, subsidized food, a popular militia and a farmworkers’ union. A women’s group was just getting organized. The union meant power to change wages and conditions o f everyday life which the workers never had under Samoza. Union leaders and government managers met weekly as equals, and they worked out a new agreement each month. There was a meeting while we were there during which wages for field and kitchen workers were adjusted. Prizes for the most productive workers were also discussed. The grand prize was to be a furnished house worth 40,000 cordobas and a trip to Cuba. Discussing the problem of alcoholism at the farm , the workers told the manager that they were keeping a list of problem drinkers and would call in the police if someone got out of hand rather than try and take care of it them selves. One man had been killed in a brawl the previous week, and farm equipment had been damaged by drunken operators. The workers also confronted the overall manager o f six state-run farms in the area about the labor shortage, and requested that a detachment o f soldiers be sent to help with the har vest and guard against contras. O ur routine at Apascali was: up each day at five, breakfast, gather and move out to the fields by 6:30, then work until noon. Then lunch and a long break during the hot early afternoon. Sometimes we worked again in the late afternoon, sometimes we didn’t. Food was rice, beans tortillas, sweetened coffee, and sometimes beef, vegetables, fish and fruit juice. W e drowsed through the nights, sweating in our bunks. Rice and beans stuck in our throats. Many of us got sick. W hile we probably didn't help much materially with our picking, we learned a lot and made friends with many o f the Nicaraguans at the farm. We promised to write. Back in the U .S ., we established an aid campaign for Apascali. A tractor repair kit and a new pump will be Next: We talk to more workers about their lives, play with children and experience a tragic accident at Apascali. Poet to read here Plant remains show that forests grew in Antarctica millions of years ago. There are five million different species of insects in the world. The name "John” comes from jochanan. meaning "God is gracious." the Hebrew Pure gold is so soft it can be molded with the hands. W e do n o t do business w ith South A fric a /Imbrican State Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK Mead Office 2 7 3 7 N. E. Union Port in d . Oregon 9 7 212 Margaret Randall, poet, trans lator and essayist w ill be reading both her own work and her trans lations o f Cuban and Central American poets at the Northwest Service Center, I8 I9 N W Everett, Tuesday, M ay 22nd at 7:30 p.m. From 19 6 2-1969, Randall co-edited the influential bi-lingual literary journal E l Corno Emplum ado out o f Mexico City. Moving to Cuba in 1969, she became an editor for the Cuban Book Institute in Havana, where she had the opportunity to work with developing Cuban writers. Most recently she has been living in Nicaragua, where she worked first at the Nicaraguan Ministry o f Culture, and most recently at the Foreign Press Center in Managua. Her over 15 volumes o f poetry include P art o f The Solution (New Directions, 1972), and Carlota, Poems and Prose fro m Havana (New Star Publications, 1978). This event is presented as part of the Portland Poetry Festival. T k -- j'. ■- '- " ü 'Z r * ? : .. Featuring wig» by NAOMI SIMS ANDRE DOUGLAS BILLIE tr NATALIE COLE Hair Products "W e have everything you need.' (1> T.C B. (2) Care Free Curl (3) Lustrasilk (4) New Era (5) S-Curl (6) World of Curl 17) Revlon (8) U Do It (9) Special Feeling (10) Pro-Line And many more items to choose from. M RS. C ’s W IGS 7 0 7 N.E. Fremont sent soon. 2 8 1 -6 5 2 5 Closed Sun. A Men. 0 F IN Tees. thru Sat. 11:30 AM to 6:00 FM Street Beat W ith the Election returns now coun ted, the Street Beat team asked, “ How did you feel about the election by Loruta D uke and Richard Brown results?” Lori Joseph Unemployed Patricia Andrews House Mother “ M y three sisters live in Colum bia V illa. W e voted against Ivancie. W e did not like the way he treated C o m Connie Leechmen Student ” 1 think there would be a change 1 see the change coming from Bud C la rk .” m issio n e r J o r d a n .” Tm very happy for Margaret Carter. It seems like was a good candidate I started to vote for Ed Leek, but when I found out he let juveniles out that commit crimes, I did not want him to represent me. Pet Shockey Stete-wlde Fund Reiser for NOW ’ I feel terrific that Bud Clark It is time for a change to some of these hack 8*< politicians out o f the way to make way for someone who could make a change. I t ’s time for women to make a change” •‘ I ’ m not really interested. Politicians do not have any guts. They spend all our money for the state.” . T \ MRS. C’s WIGS * A . Phone 281 5812 § 4 4 A M . PRINTING CO. 4 N O W OPEN Batty Ehrssman Nurse's Aid ” 1 hoped M ondale would have gotten it but after H a rt’s speech, I don’t know .”
