Liliana Palacioch, a volunteer with the Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department, said she called Latino Outreach Coordinator, Araceli Gómez-Aldana, Friday to ask if she could volunteer.
“In areas like at IU you feel a little isolated, and when you see so many people who look like you, you feel more comfortable,” Palacio said. “You know you aren’t the only one here.”
Palacio said she met the volunteer standing next to her, Alexia Gomez, at the festival. Palacio and Gomez taught children how to make “flores de papel,” tissue paper flowers, for a Day of the Dead altar that will go up in the Monroe County History Center.
“People don’t realize how many Latinos there are in Bloomington,” Palacio said. “Events like this bring people together.”
Janeth Carrillo-Riverach’s Spanish II class at the Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship made model houses in the style of homes in Mexico, Spain and Costa Rica to bring to the festival. One of them, La Casa de México, was a made of wood painted yellow and with a slanted roof. Labels pointed out “el balcón,” the balcony, “la ventana,” the window and “la puerta,” the door.
Carillo said she hopes to involve the community in her classroom. She met a Spanish writer from Uruguay at the festival who may come work with the class.
A representative from Monroe County Community School district was also there to promote adult learning classes, especially the English as a Second Language classes which are offered every day of the week.
Community Health Worker, Ozzy de Santiago, manned the Volunteers in Medicine’s booth to bring attention to resources that are available in the community. Part of de Santiago’s job is to contact restaurant managers in Bloomington and ask if he can speak with their kitchen staff.
He said many of the undocumented workers in Bloomington do not realize that Volunteers in Medicine provides free health care.
“A problem in the Latino community is that they don’t know their resources for health,” de Santiago said. “Some of them work 12-hour shifts, and they wait until the last minute before coming to get their health checked. Health is one of the most important things for keeping the job going.”
In addition to organizations for the Bloomington Latino community, the Fiesta also drew attention to partnerships between the city and Latin American countries.
There were two booths for Bloomington’s sister city projects, one in Posoltega, Nicaragua, and the other in Santa Clara, Cuba.
David Boeyink, who has been involved with the sister city project in Posoltega since 1993, said the goal is to create long-term relationships between people in Bloomington and people in Posoltega. He has been to Nicaragua eight or 10 times, he said, and stayed with the same family each time.
Every summer, a group of 15 to 20 people from Bloomington go to Posoltega to help with projects, such as rebuilding houses, a swingset, a community garden and a church. The group bases the projects on what people in Posoltega say they need rather than making assumptions, Boeyinkch said.
“We try to create a relationship of equality based on what we share,” Boeyink said.
