As I filled out my application to become a Global Social Benefit Fellow, I pictured myself spending the summer working in an impoverished community in a far flung corner of the world. When I accepted my placement in Mexico City with Sistema Biobolsa, I was excited to give something back to a place that I had visited multiple times as a tourist. What I envisioned my summer looking like changed slightly, my flight would be only 4 hours while the rest of the teams of fellows would have to endure 10 to 12 hour journeys, but I still pictured myself roughing it.
As I learned more and more about Mexico City and Sistema Biobolsa, my expectations evolved until I had a relatively accurate idea of what my field experience would look like. When I arrived in Mexico City, I definitely had to adjust to not being able to communicate very well with the people around me, but living and working in Mexico City wasn’t all that different from living and working in the US. We had a clean place to stay, running water, reliable electricity, and pizza hut would deliver to our hostel within 30 minutes. That being said, my idea of what working to alleviate poverty looks like changed during my time spent in Mexico City. I realized that the picture that pops into most of our heads when we think of a vocation dedicated to serving the poor, isn’t necessarily correct.
Upon entering the office, I was intimidated, everyone was very busy, engrossed in their work, and speaking in a language I was not proficient in. But through showing us their favorite lunch spots, teaching us bits of Mexico City history, and letting us in on their favorite salsa cafés, everyone in the office made us feel very welcomed. Julie and I were genuinely interested in their lives and the path that had led them to work at Sistema Biobolsa, and they were genuinely interested in our lives as well. The more time we spent with each of them, the less foreign Mexico City and its inhabitants seemed.
Over the course of seven weeks, I got to know each of the Sistema Biobolsa employees very well. Our lives and stories are obviously different to a degree but, we enjoy similar things, have similar values and passions, and share many commonalities. It was through getting to know these people that I came to realize that social entrepreneurs are definitely in a way, superheroes, but they are also normal human beings who appreciate being comfortable and like to relax with a cold cerveza after a long day of work. The relationships I developed with Jesús, Xunaxi, Montserrat, Jaime, Angelica, Esteph, Esther, and Alex were the greatest parts of my field experience.
Mexico City itself is lively and full of history, so Julie and I made it our mission to take advantage of our location by learning and experiencing as much as we could in seven weeks. We visited museums, went on tours, explored every street within walking distance, and made many friends along the way. One advantage of sticking out as much as I did, was that many people would start conversations with me, curious to know where I was from and what I was doing there. I enjoyed explaining the fellowship and Sistema’s mission to those who were interested, and I really enjoyed hearing about their own lives and passions.
As I learned more about Mexico City and explored the area, I came to like it a lot there, but I was periodically reminded that I had a very privileged view of the city. One night at a restaurant, I was talking with a local about my experience in Mexico so far, and I said, “I love Mexico, it’s a beautiful country”, and a passerby stopped and looked at me and said “Mexico sucks”. His comment served as a cautionary reminder that while my experience was relatively immersive and authentic, I was still very much a privileged visitor, who wasn’t subject to the harsh political and economic realities of the country, and who could, in theory, pick up and leave whenever I needed to.
Another conversation with a local reminded me of the problematic pattern of “voluntourism”. He explained to me that he likes Americans who come to live in Mexico, because, since they choose to live in a place with a lower standard of living than they are used to and they experience things like bed bugs, they’re “tougher and more chill”. Before my experience as a fellow, I think I would have felt a slight sense of heroism in response to his comment. But instead, now, I was unsettled. I am not better than Mexico, and this experience isn’t about going and living in a place that’s less comfortable than my home and toughening up. This experience is about coming to a place where something really cool is going on and learning from it. I came to Mexico to earn the friendship and trust of the people that I worked with and to give them something valuable in return for the opportunity to be a part of their business and all that they had taught me along the way.
My experiences in Mexico City deepened my feeling of connection to all humans. I strongly believe that we are all brothers and sisters, and I just happen to be lucky enough to be born into circumstances that allow me to live a very comfortable life. But I believe that we’re all in this together, and therefore, I should know how my brothers and sisters in Mexico are living. I feel a sense of duty to go see how they’re doing and figure out a way to improve their lives. They’ve got enough on their plates trying to figure out how to keep food on the table year round and send their kids to school, so since I’m lucky enough to not have to worry about these things, it’s my duty to use my freedom in vocation to better the lives of others. If you know someone you care about lost his or her job and is struggling, you don’t ignore them. You ask how they’re doing, and figure out how to help. I see all human beings as my brothers and sisters, so I’ll keep being concerned with how they’re doing and how I can help them for the rest of my life. That doesn’t make me tougher or better than any other American it just makes me human.
Working with Sistema Biobolsa and getting to know the people who make it happen, as well as seeing the impact the business has had on the lives of the customers it serves confirmed my desire to incorporate social entrepreneurship into my vocation. When I began the fellowship, I saw social entrepreneurship as a potential solution to poverty as well as environmental degradation. After my experience with Sistema Biobolsa, I am encouraged, that a business whose mission is to create value from waste, has been successful enough not only to sustain itself but to begin to scale and impact even more lives. As my time as a fellow draws to a close, I am excited to carry this passion for social entrepreneurship and everything that I have learned with me as I begin the next chapter of my life.