At WYA, one of our goals is to promote solidarity among young people around the globe. After three weeks as an intern, I have realized that the first step in promoting global solidarity is building solidarity among the young people here in the WYA house.
Solidarity sounds like a lofty, abstract concept, right? That’s what I thought until I experienced it in the WYA kitchen during the first week of the fall internship. My fellow intern Frances decided to bake M&M cookies. By the time the batter was mixed, almost everyone in the house had contributed one of the ingredients or a helping hand. As the smell of freshly-baked cookies filled the house, we congregated around our over-sized kitchen table to enjoy the fruits of our labors.
The solidarity doesn’t stop there. You should see us during our weekly scrub-the-house-from-top-to-bottom cleaning session. Every Friday afternoon all thirteen of us roll up our sleeves and grab our vacuums, mops, and toilet brushes. By the end of the afternoon, the WYA house is spick and span.
Living in the WYA house has taught me that solidarity can be as simple and concrete as baking cookies and cleaning house together. Every day, each one of us has multiple opportunities to build solidarity in our homes, schools, work places, and communities. It’s as simple as recognizing the needs of the people around us and contributing what we can to make their lives a little brighter. So grab your mixing bowl and vacuum cleaner, and join us in promoting solidarity one house at a time!
Kelly Schulz – World Youth Alliance
