Community Scientist Interview: Sonia

Jordan: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your passions, and why you were interested in joining the project?

Sonia: My name is Sonia Roman and I reside in East LA but I'm currently in my brother's home. One of the things that I started in 2018 was a community cleanup club in City Terrace, now called Vision City Terrace, which is a couple miles down from my brother's home. And there I met other neighbors that also had a passion about making a difference in our community. And I found out that trash wasn't the only problem in our communities. It was more of environmental issues. We do have different industrial areas around East LA that haven't been zoned. And so there's heavy industrial activity happening around our home. So we have pollution. And so that's my passion: advocating, learning, meeting people to make our communities better and healthier.

**“One of the things that I started in 2018 was a community cleanup club, now called Vision City Terrace”**

Jordan: Pb is testing the use of zeolites and its ability to absorb lead, are there specific research questions you hope are answered from this research? What are your questions that you want to have answered?

Sonia: So as the process has been going on, one of the things that I know for me, being Mexican American, a lot of the community here is Latino, Hispanic, and we use a lot of herbs and teas that are planted on the ground. And a lot of families, like my parents, use a lot of medicinal herbs. And so one of the questions that was popping up not so long ago is do these herbs have lead? And what impact is it going to have in the health and the body of those that are intaking this? Because I know with trees, there's already information that the lead is not going to the fruit. So my other question is that do herbs, the ones that we take, eat or drink, do they have lead?

Jordan: That’s a great question! I can bring that back to the team to see if that's something we can test.

A couple people have had little animals visiting their sites, like a squirrel and a lizard. Would you like to share about the hummingbird that visited you?

Sonia: Yeah, it was a cool experience. I don't know much about hummingbirds, but I know when we were doing the samples, the hummingbird kept on staying for long periods of time at the lower part of the yard. Like it was very low and very near. It was about two, three feet away from us. And it would stay and hang out. It was like a sign that the universe has your back. This is alignment and there's going to be healing. Not only in the soil. With my brother's health, with the community, and further on. I talked to my sister-in-Law and for her, it's her grandmother's spirit. And so that kind of came full circle that the spirit of her grandmother is here, and we have hope. And it's bringing a positive energy. It felt really nice. And we were really happy to see the hummingbird so close. It was so pretty.

“… for her, it's her grandmother's spirit. And so that kind of came full circle that the spirit of her grandmother is here, and we have hope. And it's bringing a positive energy. It felt really nice.”

Sam: My grandma taught me that when an animal visits, they're carrying a message from your ancestors and people watching you as a blessing. So, I fully believe that. Because that hummingbird was not injured, was not exhibiting any weird behaviors. It just hung out like you said and then went and became a normal hummingbird. Like, there was a weird moment where it just decided to take time out of his day to be with you guys.

Sonia: I have never been that close. Usually my universal sign is a dragonfly. When your spirit guide is yours, it comes so close.

Jordan: Aw that's so special, I love hummingbirds. Is there anything else that you would like to include?

Sonia: I would really want anybody that works with East LA or any LA community to really connect and understand where we're coming from. And not just come in with a plan, but see what does the community want and need? What do they know? What would they like to know and what would they like to learn? Those are the basic things that you can do to build trust and a relationship with the community. You cannot go past until you let the community know that you really want to help them. And why? We all want to know the “why”. We've been in so many situations where it's profit over people. What's your interest? Why do you want to help our community? Get to know the community. What do we want instead of what you want first?

“When you have healthy soil, healthy air, we have healthy people. You have more chances of having healthier communities. And so I'm doing it because I love my brother, I love his kids, I love his community. ”

Sonia: I decided to be a community scientist on behalf of my brother. In the process when he signed up and when he was selected to do the soil sampling, then after that to be in the pilot program, my brother was very ill and he couldn't take it on. So I decided to take on the role for a couple reasons. One, I feel that my brother's health, his children and his community, and my community, because I'm also in East LA, deserve that fair chance to healthy soil. And when you have healthy soil, healthy air, we have healthy people. You have more chances of having healthier communities. And so I'm doing it because I love my brother, I love his kids, I love his community. And two, I work down the street and so to me, looking at the children's faces gets me broken, but at the same time, it gives me strength. That's why I'm here in this pilot program. Doing it for everyone.

Community Scientist Interview: Sonia

Community Scientist Interview: Jennifer

Community Scientist Interview: Jaqui