“Congratulations to everyone who joins Radio Indigena’s .1 M.1 FM,” came a voice from the radio’s speakers in Spanish. A short time later, he heard another voice speaking in Mixtaco – one of the few indigenous languages of southern Mexico.
“I was ashamed to speak mixtaco,” said Martestico in Spanish. “Every time I listen to (the radio), I’m proud of who I am and my kids don’t want to forget it.”
Radio Indigena was created in 2014 as the arm of MICOP to provide information on labor rights and health programs in their mother tongue to indigenous Mexican farm workers. It has started streaming online streaming shows and has expanded to FM radio, iOS and Android applications and call-in numbers.
Currently, the station broadcasts 40-hour original shows in Spanish and the indigenous languages of Mikteko, Zapoteko and Purpecha. They focus on a variety of topics, including immigrant rights, domestic violence prevention, and indigenous history. Genevieve Flores-Hero, MICOP’s associate director, estimates that about 1,000,000 people listen to the station every day.
The biggest challenge in the early months of the epidemic was what Covid-19 was, said Bernardino Almazan, the producer who worked picking the cilantro. The Mixtaco language is at least 2,000 years old and does not include modern medical terminology, he says.
“We had to find other ways to talk about the virus, to give examples of other diseases, to explain the symptoms,” Almaz said.
The station has since developed a series of Covid-19 public service announcements about health protocols, school closures, price hikes and mental health.
“We recommend that they don’t pay attention to the gossip circulating on social media or people who don’t have accurate information.” Said Francisco Didier Uloa, coordinator of the station and co-host of Almazan in Spanish. “Our duty is to report responsibly.”
Arsenio Lopez, executive director of MICOP, said Radio Indigenous has been instrumental in informing indigenous communities in Ventura County about Convent-19.
In addition to running a radio station, MICOP largely connects with the community through door-to-door interactions. It works better than distributing pamphlets because many of the people who work on the farms in California come from Spanish illiterate rural communities in Mexico.
“It would be ideal that everyone would learn English but the reality is that there are people who have never learned English and there are also people who have just arrived in this country.” “Everyone deserves to have important information in their native language. It’s a basic human right.”
Proponents say farm laborers are at greater risk of covid-19
Many listeners of Radio Indigenous are Latinos and farmworkers, two groups that have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus outbreaks in many states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that there is a special risk of infection due to close contact with each other due to limited access to clean water in farms, shared houses or vehicles and for sanitation.
The county said there are 496 farmworkers who have tested positive for the virus.
Lickpage, executive director of MICOP, said farm workers have experienced dramatic loss of work during the epidemic. Those who have jobs struggle with a lack of access to handwashing facilities and have to work closely with a large number of people. Many people who have jobs feel that they have no choice.
Some slept in the car to keep out of contact with their families, Lepz says, and others would be afraid to tell employers that they were sick of their Compit-19 because they did not want to lose their jobs.
“If you talk to a farmworker, many will tell you that they are just thankful that they have a job because they are paid on a paycheck,” L’Page said.
Over the past two weeks, advocacy groups have been urging the committee to develop guidelines for prioritizing and allocating the Covid-19 vaccine to give priority to farm workers.
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