For this podcast, we visited a community garden at Misión Peniel, a Presbyterian mission in solidarity with farmworkers. We met with a group of Indigenous, farmworking women from across Latin America who are part of a dynamic community garden.

We had the opportunity to meet Lupita Vazquez Reyes, the Garden Outreach Coordinator. Lupita is the daughter of farmworkers and activists. She was born and raised in Immokalee but left to serve in the Army. She returned to Immokalee and began volunteering with Misión Peniel, shortly thereafter, was hired to work at Cultivate Abundance. 

These three episodes are hosted by Nicaraguan-born photojournalist Lisette Morales, who is based in South Florida and focuses on visual narratives highlighting Latin American communities. In particular, she has a strong connection to a group of farmworkers based in Immokalee.

She possesses a unique ability to capture migrant stories, particularly as an Indigenous woman herself. She recognizes the significance of their narratives and employs a gifted visual translation method to convey the vibrant knowledge-making about resilience, community building, and ecological healing to an audience that may require cultural interpretation to fully comprehend these concepts.

Listen to these women navigate stories of community building, seed exchange, and indigenous medicinal knowledge as a means of combating the adverse effects of labor in the rising heat of South Florida. They also explore the concept of food sovereignty through the cultivation of their own foods.

The podcast is structured into three parts:

Part I: Introduction to the community garden

Part II: Climate change and its impacts on labor in the heat in Immokalee; Indigenous medicine as a means of healing and protection; finding resilience in food deserts; and the role of community gardens in empowering women through aspects of the violence and isolation associated with forced migration.

Part III: Diversity within the community garden; Indigenous languages and excerpts from the life stories of the women.

Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter

Podcast host and organizer: Lisette Morales

Podcast co-host: Lupita Vazquez Reyes

Audio and post-production editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez

Associate producer and audio editor: Diane Benitez

Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.

Episode: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unblocked-an-indigenous-p/episodes/33-Unblocked-Food-Sovereignty-Indigenous-Community-Gardens-for-Healing-the-Risks-of-Laboring-in-Rising-Heat-SPANISH-e2t2dtt

Podcast: https://commonsforjustice.fiu.edu/