We are accepting applications for CASA Chapulin in Oaxaca!
Collective members will be working with local community organizations, participating in weekly workshops to learn about the socio-political context in Oaxaca, and writing for our monthly newsletters. Volunteers must speak proficient Spanish and spend a minimum of four months in Oaxaca. Questions, comments, applications can be sent to the collective coordinator Diana.
For the reasons motivating us to set up a collective in Oaxaca in 2006, see Why Oaxaca. For more background, see Resistance in Oaxaca.
Volunteer Work in Oaxaca
CASA members contribute to the life of the collective in numerous ways. These include participating in collective projects, researching, fundraising, writing articles for our monthly newsletter, participating in and giving workshops, taking care of the collective space, and hosting events and staying connected upon return to home communities.
The projects that CASA volunteers take part in depend on their skills and interests. Most volunteers work with a partner organization and participate in CASA-related projects. Others focus on making connections of a political nature with local organizations, collectives, or communities to support their organizing work in their home countries. Volunteers are also urged to spend at least a week making a hands-on contribution to life in a rural Oaxacan community.
Some examples of recent projects volunteers have participated in include community radio programming, media analysis for human rights organizations, collaboration with a midwifery training program, support for women's coffee cooperative, basic computer instruction in rural village, and design and production of book that engages the issue of domestic violence.
The Oaxaca House
The "CASA" in and of itself is an apartment comprised of a living and eating space shared by collective members and the coordinator's living space. The "CASA" apartment adjoins two other apartments, one which is occupied by a friendly neighbor, and the other is often available to rent to CASA volunteers. Most volunteers rent apartments or rooms close by, and others choose to work in rural communities. The coordinator can assist in the search for housing.
The collective CASA space consists of a living room and kitchen as well as a rooftop with a burgeoning garden. The kitchen is shared by volunteers along with cooking and cleaning responsibilities. Food is shared, with each volunteer chipping in 100 pesos a week to buy food and cleaning supplies. Volunteers decide the extent to which they want to eat in the house and may pay accordingly. The rooftop sports an ecological toilet recently constructed by volunteers with the support of a local NGO, as well as a small garden and compost bin. The CASA also has a small library of resources on Oaxacan, Chiapan and general Mexican history, society and politics. The CASA has several house computers for use by volunteers. Reliable internet access is available in several nearby internet cafés.
