The purpose of my Andersonville Field Experience was to examine the aspects of Swadeshi that are in Chicago. Andersonville was the perfect example because it has many locally owned businesses and supports the idea of a local economy. I got to interview Jessica Hammer of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce about this. Below there is a recording of the interview followed by the interview transcribed.

– How do you think businesses communicate with each other in terms of a local economy?

I think they do well at communicating with each other because they have a greater value for their customers. Like for example you can go into a lot of stores and ask if they have an item and if they do not they will know someone around the neighborhood that does. It is also the same with the service related businesses. People that join the chamber are looking for more clients.

Reflection

Swadeshi in Chicago looks like the neighborhood of Andersonville to me. The reason why I say this is because of the connection that all the businesses share with each other. It is a rare occurrence in Andersonville to find large corporations because the small, family owned businesses outnumber them. After my journey to the Chamber of Commerce I learned how the businesses in Andersonville will support each other and recommend customers to each other as well. I learned that a struggling business gained support from other businesses and the community and was able to outlast Borders bookstore!

After exploring the community and Honest by‘s website, I realized that with a combination of business transparency as well as support for other businesses around me I can help to stimulate the local economy. With a transparent company, I can give the truth as to how much money my clothing costs to make to my customers. This creates a trust between the consumers and my company because of my honesty, which gives me a competitive edge against others.

For my business, Andersonville is a great place because I would be able to have the support of the community as well as the other store owners.With the trust that I have developed with my customers as well as other businesses, I would be able to create a profitable and long lasting company in a supportive community. If the occasion arises where business was struggling, I would have a fundraiser in order to support them by selling my t-shirts and getting the word out.This great community on the north side of Chicago is a perfect example of Swadeshi because of this support and care for the local economy.

The purpose of my email interview was to find out the experiences and opinions from someone who lived in the area that the Greenbelt Movement was most powerful. The questions that were asked were find out more on my search to learn about global peace movements such as the Greenbelt Movement. The people that I interviewed are a Kenyan teacher named Peris and a student of hers named Nailaen. The questions and answers that I received from the two are below.

1. What is the relationship between the environment and the economy in Kenya?

They affect each other a lot. for example if it does not rain for a long time the farmers do not harvest any food so people start dying of hunger. The people cut trees to make charcoal and to build houses. The poor people are more in Kenya so they have to rely on trees fro most of the things including firewood to cook with. this also makes the country dry for lack of rainfall.

2. In your community what is the local economy based on?

I live near mount Kilimanjaro. this is Maasai land. The people here have a long history. They never went to school so they cannot be employed anywhere. They depend on their animals for food and shelter. I mean they eat only meat and milk. These days they have started to sell their meat and milk to the market so they get some income to live on and buy other foods.

3. Have you heard of greenbelt, if so do you think they have had an impact in your community?

I must say Wangari Maathai did a good job. May God rest her soul in peace. She paid for this job with her blood and her life. The greenbelt has an impact in the whole country. The forests are being revived, everyone now knows the importance of planting trees and keeping the environment. The government has new laws on trees which really protects the environment.

4. Have you seen anything like greenbelt movement that unifies the community and does good for the environment?

Yes, there are other smaller organizations to protect the environment even if I don’t know about them so much. there is also club 123s which started in enkii primary school by teacher Peris Siamanta some years ago. It has brought great changes in the area and the community and students have learned a lot from it. But the greenbelt movement is the biggest in Kenya and is known worldwide.

5. As a teacher, have you taught your students the value of the community taking care of itself and providing fro itself?

Yes, i have taught them a lot. we have gone door to door educating people. we have bought and planted trees, we have held campaigns fro the sake of the environment, we have recycled many things e.t.c.

6. Do you rely more on local business food, clothing e.t.c, or do you rely on large corporations like McDonald’s and other mainstream names fro your necessities?

We don’t have McDonald’s in my community. I think it is in Nairobi. yes, we rely on our local market. many things here are farmed. so it is from farm to fork food. mostly we buy second hand clothed from abroad. they are more cheaper and long lasting.

The first milestone of GCE for me was about non-violent activists and the term Sarvodaya. The best way to write of each of these is to write a freedom song, a wonderful collection of words to form a picture of non-violent activists and how they used sarvodaya in their lives as well as how I used it in mine. I approached this assignment by researching the activist that I chose. I chose Jane Addams because she is an important character in Chicago’s history and will always be remembered for her non-violent fight against discrimination against women doing what they believe in. I did not have to look very far for information on her because she had done so many great things over time in our great city, which includes her famous “Hull House”. I also wrote about a time in my life I demonstrated sarvodaya. I wrote about a time when juniors were discriminated against on my high school lacrosse team and we protested in order to right the wrongs that the athletic director had committed. In my poems of Jane Addams and my fight, I wrote of the ways that we were both discriminated against and how we rose up using the principle of sarvodaya to open the eyes of the people that opposed our missions of peace and equality.

Jane Addams
I open my eyes
To find that I changed the world
With an education and passion it was no surprise
I learned to help the world
With a female touch to the poor
They were so happy they danced and twirled.

Being a female made this hard
We needed to be heard
But we were studied and tossed like a flash card
With the help I can give to the poor
You will be begging for more.

I rose out of separation
I defied my rank and placement
To find that I created diversification
I helped the unfortunate and needy
Through the teachings of not being greedy.

Geoff Dohrmann

I am a boy 18 years of age
I am unaware of the ways of rage
Playing sports and doing arts are hobbies of mine
When doing these things I’m feeling fine

I experienced segregation against my grade
Juniors could not play lacrosse even if they paid
I sat out with teammates in protest
We wanted our friends is what we tried to suggest
The athletic director thought that we jest
I hope you understand the rest!

With our rising against the school
Sarvodaya proved that our idea was cool
They realized they had been unfair
I experienced Sarvodaya unaware.