The Canal Community During Covid-19
I had three main questions that I was curious and concerned about considering the Canal community as a whole. I have not been in contact with them and have not heard many updates specifically about the community. Firstly, what is the most crucial part of the community to pay attention to right now? And how have Canal Alliance worked on prioritizing that? The representative we talked to, Melissa Potts, said that the entire community is at a substantial and high risk. Most of the Canal are packed into tight apartments with limited information and no access to correct information. Since much of the community stems from a strong religious background, information is misleading and the severity of the pandemic is downplayed. Canal Alliance prioritizes education and prevention of mass panic. I also asked what is the most needed at this time. I expected her to say volunteers, supplies, support, but she said otherwise. Melissa states how she hasn’t had a hug in over 6 weeks, which has taken a big toll on her. The Canal community is primarily from Central America, where affectionate culture is predominant. Without physical touch, a lot of their culture has been negated by the pandemic. I also wanted to ask which services they still offer and she said they still provide legal services, personal tutoring, and food pantry service.
Melissa stated that one of the biggest challenges they’ve had to face is the amount of unemployment filings they’ve had to help out with. One case manager takes 2.5 hours to fill out one case. And thousands are filing for unemployment. Another issue is media illiteracy. With online schooling it is difficult for people to learn technology that not many have access to. Canal Alliance sent hotspot packets and laptops to students and while that is helpful they cannot sit with them to teach them how to use it. This is especially difficult for ESL students. And while support is appreciated, many volunteers don’t understand what privilege is and make demands on how they want to help. While these are good intentions, they simply don’t understand the consequence, nor understand the implications of their demands. And that their services our primarily volunteer based in an emergency hub. She implicated many struggles in rebuilding and coming back after the pandemic. She says that a major transition will be needed especially concerning mental health in which people will be suppressing their feelings and struggles during this prolonged time stuck at home with family that may not be supportive.
From talking with Melissa I think that their call to action is to love and care for one another. We must understand our privileges and while it may not sound like it, being able to stay home with a roof over our heads and food on the table is a highly privileged position. We are all going through an extremely stressful time in our lives, and our communities need us the most to care for one another and support one another. I think especially with lack of health care and financial support the Canal community is going through a difficult time that many of us could not even imagine. I hope to stay updated on the condition of the Canal community and hope that I can find a more transparent way to directly help them by any means.
