Four members of the Youth Arts Group are taking part in a week-long conference in Lima, Peru this week. They are kneeling in the front, (l to r) Eric Luna, Joanna Acevedo, Brenda Acevedo and Jennifer Cruz.
By Nancy Peckenham
On a recent Friday evening a group of teenagers made their way through the snow and ice to a weekly meeting at a church in Middletown where they share a meal and their hopes and fears as they try to make a difference in their communities.
This week, four of the participants had reason to be excited as they prepared for a trip abroad, but they listened as each of the group members shared the high and the low points of the past week. One girl said her high point was getting a 95 on a chemistry test. Another said her low point occurred when her father lost his job. As each member spoke, the others listened, some smiled, strengthening the bond that brings these teens together each week in the Youth Arts Group of the Rural and Migrant Ministry.
The youth, who come from Orange and Sullivan county, are committed to each other and to putting their creative spirit to work to create theatre, art and music to bring attention to the injustice that many Latino and other migrant works face in the agricultural fields of New York. Some of their artwork is now on display at the Newburgh Free Library.
Last Friday, the buzz in the group was the upcoming trip of four of the teens who were leaving on January 22 to attend the Joining Hands Youth Conference in Lima, Peru. The youths had been chosen to represent the United States at the conference, which will bring together 100 young leaders from Bolivia, Chile, Peru and the U.S. The focus of the week-long conference is water issues, particularly the need for a clean drinking water, and global warming that is causing water resources to dry up.
Andres Chamorro, who leads the youth group, says that the New York teens will learn about the techniques their South American counterparts use to campaign, running their own radio stations, organizing educational fairs, holding demonstrations and painting murals. The Youth Arts Group will share its experiences working for human rights by using the arts to bring about change.
“This is a big opportunity to learn from other groups and to bring back what they do to make social change,” explained Jennifer Cruz, a senior at Middletown high school. She added that people from other countries think that the U.S. is the richest country and don’t realize that people face problems here, too.
Almost all of the teens in the program are the children of immigrants from Latin America, some of whom are undocumented, working in agricultural areas or small factories in the area. The Rural and Migrant Ministry serves this migrant population and the youth arts group sprang from that group.
Jennifer Cruz, of Goshen high school, explains that as a member of the group she learned to never give up on what she wants. One of seven members who applied to go to the conference in Peru, she says she was disappointed when wasn’t accepted at first. “I am always helping other people so this time I asked people to help pay for my ticket. I talked with my principal and she helped raise money. I work with a ministry group that helps kids who live in trailers and the ministry paid half my ticket.”
Eric Luna, a junior at Newburgh Free Academy, is also part of the delegation to Peru and as he thought about the trip said he had learned a lot about art and social change and he hoped to share those lessons in Peru. You can see some of the group’s artwork this month in an exhibit at the Newburgh Free Library.
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