Keith Bates

So you want to pick fruit?

Tuesday, 20. January 2009, 22:54:36

From Bryan Hupperts:

Dream of Migrant Workers

There is a huge immigration debate in America. Our borders are overrun with illegal migrant workers who are often depicted as: aliens, uneducated, dirty, fruit pickers, field hands. These prejudicial images and stereotypes aren’t pretty.

Against this backdrop, I had a detailed dream where I was standing in a sea of people before the throne of God. I saw well known ministers, invisible ministers, people who had falsely accused me, people who had justly accused me, and many people I didn’t know. Weird, but everyone had a black spot on their chest. The numbers were too vast to count. I was standing pretty close to a tele-evangelist known for $1,000 suits and for boasting of many healings. I had the distinct impression he was impatiently waiting for the Lord to hand him a microphone!

We were all wearing name badges and (like military insignias) badges of rank. The Lord spoke to this vast group yet we each heard him as if he were only speaking to us individually, “Lay down your ministry, your vision, your promises. I have new assignments for each of you.” We all assumed a promotion. Then all went dead silent while the Holy Spirit ministered to each of us. To me he spoke, “I want you to become a field hand, a migrant worker. Go pick fruit.”

Read the rest of the article here

And this is exacty why Palestinians are dyingReflection on Jonah 3:1-10

Comments

Lois # 21. January 2009, 01:03

We live in a community where the majority of people are fruit pickers, mostly oranges and tomatoes. That was a great article! Thanks for posting it.

Keith Bates # 21. January 2009, 04:57

We used to have many itinerant workers in the cotton industry, but not so many these days. They were also regarded as the lowest of the low

Lois # 21. January 2009, 16:28

Interesting. Some of the older folks here remember the day when teenagers used to have the field jobs, they felt that it did the kids (including themselves) a world of good to be out doing manual labor. If nothing else, it gave them an appreciation for the education (and ultimately softer jobs) that was available to them and also for the hard work of others.

Now, these jobs are done mainly by Mexicans (66% of our city is Mexican) and it seems that they are not highly regarded here either. Not so much because of the work they perform, but because of the crime, their jobs provide no health insurance which drives up the cost of medical care for everyone else, but also that many don't speak English and the stores, of course, cater to this to no end. At our Wal Mart store, English is not required to get a job there, but Spanish is. Really quite infuriating for Americans trying to shop and being met with repeated giggles followed by "No English".

In another generation, I'm sure things will be better for them. Their working conditions will improve and they will blend into the American way of life too.

gregbob # 21. January 2009, 19:56

As a teenager I did a summer of apple thinning, and was warned off working with cherries or grapes. It was good experience, and I was happy for the pocket money.

There's a change brewing in the cotton ginning (lint-separation) industry. I don't know how far it will go, but it involves some new machinery and processes. Trialling it the last two years, we've had difficulty managing some of the associated processes while maintaining a level of safety demanded by our government, and not blowing out labour costs. Seeing a video of how this is done in USA, there are Mexicans working cheaply in roles that we simply couldn't have in Australia regardless of the pay.

Keith Bates # 21. January 2009, 22:22

That's interesting... I would have thought that the US would have been fairly well near the top on work safety- maybe Mexicans are considered expendable

Lois # 22. January 2009, 02:15

I think it's improving and apparently loads better than their life was in Mexico, there is a migrant farm school just down the street that helps the children with the language and also with the pressures of constantly moving. There are county programs that help with tutoring as well as nutrition and promoting physical exercise for the children. And of course, they are treated for free at hospitals.

The conditions are not bad in the fields because that is legislated. But I often wonder how many of these things they take advantage of if they are illegally here. Someone was telling me that he was with the immigration department and had to take his wife to emergency. It was cold in the waiting room and he got his jacket from the car with the insignia of the federal immigration department on the back. As soon as he walked in the door, the waiting room cleared. The people were afraid that they would be arrested and left without ever being treated by the doctors.

It must be very difficult to live with fear such as that. And that probably stops a lot of them from being able to take advantage of the various programs that were invented to help them.

Keith Bates # 22. January 2009, 02:39

It's very sad to live with that kind of fear, and also the potential for exploitation. We have that but to a far lesser extent here, but only because it's harder to get here in the first place. At one stage people were being imported on short-term working visas, but the people were often underpaid or charged "fees" by the employer. There are probably many people here who have out-stayed their visa and live in fear of being caught out.

Lois # 22. January 2009, 14:26

We don't hear so much about employers exploiting the workers, at least not in this state, maybe because there are so many of them and employers realize how necessary they are to their business. They have a close community and word would spread very quickly about a bad employer. The same pickers are usually hired back every year too.

I believe the banks tend to exploit them though, Mexicans prefer to deal in cash only and if they are paid by check, the banks fingerprint them and charge a fee to cash the check. But then, banks here seem to exploit everyone, I guess they just see it as a good way to generate income for the bank.

Keith Bates # 22. January 2009, 23:51

"But then, banks here seem to exploit everyone,"-- seems to be a universal fact of life