The El Salvador Experience

The Final Week

2006-08-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I have returned from vacation and am living out my final week in Santa Catarina Masahuat. Vacation was fabulous, I got to meet all of Lorena´s family and extended family. I also got to spend time with Irís´s family in Santa Ana. My activities included learning how to make tortillas and pupusas ( kind of like a stuffed tortilla with beans and cheese), went to see Mayan ruins, helped to harvest corn, and attending a meeting of the evangelical Christians. It was a super fun time and I really enjoyed getting to meet everyone. On my return I continued with English classes. It´s slow but everyone, including me, is learning. I am trying to make sure that certain things are set up before I leave so that the jovenes are left with nothing. We are going to try and schedule another meeting with Lorena to work out the peacebuilding workshops (fingers crossed). Also we are going to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the committee on Saturday, my last day here. They have planned it especially so I would be here, but it´s going to be somewhat bittersweet because I will have to say goodbye to everyone. It´s ironic because when I first arrived, I had a difficult time adjusting and all I wanted to do was go home where I felt comfortable, and now I don´t want to leave. I am leaving behind good friends and people who have been like a second family to me. These people have changed my life and I can´t imagine not ever being able to see them again. Everyone asks me if I am going to return and I always answer that anything is possible! Thanks for all the comments, I´ll be seeing everyone soon!

Paz, Meg

The Balence of the Good and the Bad

2006-07-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a days of success and letdowns. The success, and the most important thing to concentrate on, is that we finally have a casa de juventud. A place where the jovenes can meet, hold workshops, have computers, a library, whatever they want. This idea has been over a year in the making and I feel very lucky to witness it´s completion. They have worked so hard for this and it´s wonderful to see them realize their dreams. Everyone is really excited and today I will be holding my first ever English class in this new place! On the other hand, Saturday we were supposed to meet with a representative of CRS to spring a surprise meeting on the mayor of the town. It has to be a surprise because if we tell him we want to meet he will hide or not show up and do everything in his power not to meet with us. We want to ask for help in presenting peacebuilding workshops to the community. We need a space and some funds, and he could give them to us. However, the rep from CRS never showed and never called so the meeting never happened. It´s a shame because we were all ready for this meeting and it was another letdown not to be able to do it. We were all waiting for most of the day and everyone finally went home around 4. Hopefully we can get in touch with her and schedule another time but it wil have to wait a week because everyone is on vacation. The first week in August is a national vacation week, which means I get vacation too! Tomorrow I will be going with the family to stay with Lorena´s mother. I will also be visiting Iris´s house and spending time with her family in Santa Ana. I´m excited because I will be able to see different parts of the country. Thanks for all the prayers and wishes!
En Paz, Meg

The Long and Winding Road

2006-07-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Santo Domingo to meet with the leaders of the jovenes group, Oscar and Heidi. I went with my pal and supervisor Mauricio, Alfonso, who helps with the AIDS work, and Miguel, our driver. The meeting was short, they are planning to bring together the jovenes groups from the three different towns for a celebration. Mauricio later told me that one of the jovenes will be leaving soon to try and cross the border into the United States. If you ask any Salvadoran if they had the chance to go to the United States, would they, they would say without any hestitation, Yes. There are so few oppurtunities for the people here that the only way they can support their families is to leave them to work in the U.S. It's so frustrating because the policies here are set these people up for failure and there is nothing they can do about it. It's as if the government is looking at it's country with closed eyes. They don't want to see what is going on and they chose to ignore the needs of their people and only focus on the needs of themselves. The people with the most control everything and gain everything while the majority of the population suffers immensely. Jose, the oldest brother here, is able to go to university only because his father is working in the United States and sends back money. The people feel that the only way to support their family to leave because there is nothing here for them. The cost to get to the United States is $6000. They have to raise the money and then make the trip. Crossing the border illegally is no easy feet, and many never make it. When you think about all the risks, financial and personal, think about how bad things must be here for people to even consider making the trip. Where do you even begin to help?

What a Busy Week!

2006-07-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

This past week has been extrememly busy. I went down the mountain everyday and had many interesting experiences.

Tuesday: I went to a meeting of a support group for people living with AIDS. They are trying to find a way to raise some money for their medical needs. It was an intersting meeting because there is a lot of conflict within the group. They really couldn´t agree on much but they are trying.

Wednesday: I traveled to San Salvador with two friends, Maicon and Uvaldo, who are part of the committee here. We had several purposes. The first was to go to the CRS office and talk to some people there. We were promised funds for trophies for the soccer tournament that we are hosting but were told 10 days before the tournament that actually there were no funds for us. So we went to get some things figured out. We were able to talk with Rick, the boss, and eventually we worked out a deal and got the trophies on Saturday. I also got a chance to talk to him about what is going on with CRS´s involvement with the jovenes groups. I am experiencing the stages of development with these people. He explained to me that the philosophy of CRS is to empower the people to help themselves so they won´t always have to depend on an organization to help them. From what I understand, there are going to be some things in the future in terms of a conference for jovenes and the formation of a national congress. He explained that in the long-run, everything is about solidarity and if CRS just keeps giving money, they won´t learn how to support themselves. This is something that I am having a hard time accepting because I just want to fix all of the problems right here, right now! It´s hard watching people you care about suffer, but we are all in this together and slowly but surely we are working towards change and I know we will succeed. I also got to visit the National University and the UCA ( another university). It was a long but very productive day!

Thursday: I went on a retreat with the AIDS group in Los Naranjos. There was a lot of reflection, prayer, and meditation. It was an emotionally exhausting day. You hear the stories of these people and how they know they are dying and how they can´t afford enough food much less medicine. I feel somewhat helpless because what can you do? There is no cure and all I can do is listen.

Friday: I went to Sonsonate again to the Procudateria for human rights. I sat in on a meeting of a group that is fighting the privitization of healthcare in El Salvador. The Constitution states that healthcare is supposed to be free but the government wants to change that and these people are working together so that won´t happen. There was a lot of stuff that I didn´t understand but this is a big issue right now.

Saturday: We spent all day preparing for the soccer tournament. I went shopping for all the supplies and even helped get some of the food ready. Everyone was really excited and hopeful for a successful day

Sunday: The Tournament! We had about 15 teams and they would play 20 minute games. The games lasted from 10 in the morning til 5 in the afternoon. We sold food, soda, and beer and all together made about $80 for the committee. I got to hand out the trophies at the end and took a picture with the winning team. It was a super fun day and it was good to see that all our hard work paid off. Everyone seemed happy with the results!

There is still so much to be done and I only have 3 weeks left. Our next move is to meet with the mayor of the town to see if we can resolve some of the problems. He is doing his very best to make things extremely difficult for the jovenes. I get really frustrated because the alcaldia is a town´s greatest resource and they should really all be working together to better the community. In a town that is already suffering enough, the last thing they need is a selfish mayor who is creating divisions instead of compromises. I can only hope that he will see the bigger picture and we can all start to work together!

¡Adios!
Meg

Los Vasquez

2006-07-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Last Satuday, July 16, I went with the jovenes to a place called los Basques. It is where the president of the committee, Maicon, lives. We went to have a party for the children who live there. It is about 5 kilometers from where I live and takes about an hour to walk there. For the first part of our trip, there was some serious rain and we all arriced soaking wet and extremely muddy, but it was totally worth it. We played games, had piñatas, and gave out toys and candy to over 40 kids. I hit the piñata for the girls and also gave a short speech. It was lots of fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. The jovenes are really working hard to do things that will benefit the whole community. Even though the people here don´t have a lot, they always find something to share. If someone has an excess, they give it out to friends and family. I walked down the street the other week with plates full of cake to give out to our neighbors. People stop by our house all the time with beans or corn or lemons. Everyone helps everyone else. I constantly see people bringing food out to the man who lives on the street. It´s humbling to see that these people are always willing to help one another even though they are all struggling to make a living.
Sunday I was invited to my friend Uvaldo´s house for sopa de gallina. It is a traditional soup made with vegetables and rooster and is for special occasions. While I was there I got to ride around on his horse, which was an experience to say the least and there are several pictures to document it. All in all it was a very fun weekend with lots of walking!

Reflections

2006-07-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

Hello to all! It has been quite a while since my last post and I apoligize but I am coming to you live from a brand new cybercafe in Santa Catarina. I have been up to a lot in these past two weeks. I have been meeting many different groups of jovenes and working extremely closely with the jovenes here. We have encountered some prolblems but are trying our best to see things in a positive light. The local government here has planned a tournament the weekend before ours, but onward we go! Also, right now there are no programs coming from CRS for these groups, although some are in development, so we have little to work with but everyone has faith that we will succeed. I am finally finding my place with these people and I think it is going to be hard to leave them. I hope one day I will be able to return to visit all of my new friends. We celebrated Jonatan´s birthday last week with lots of kids, pinatas, and even a clown! People here are very open about the hardships that they have to go through just to make it through each day. There is very little oppurtunity for employment and many have family members in the U.S. because that is the only place they can find work. The people here in Santa Catarina have so much potential but poverty is continually holding them back and there is nothing they can do about it. The systems here are designed to help those in power and only those in power and those are the people who really don´t need anything to begin with. But as my friend Maicon says, ¡Vamos a luchar! and so we will fight because this community and so many others deserve so much more and have the right to succeed. Hope everyone is doing well!
¡Adios!
Meg

The Week Ahead!

2006-07-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it´s my last day in San Salvador so I figured I should make one more post before I head back to Santa Catarina! The weekend was pretty relaxing and full of Enlgish-speaking which was a nice break. I met with Rick, my supervisor and toured the sity some more. I also went to a birthday party at Rick`s mother-in-law`s house. It was for his nephew and was quite the event. The whole family showed and there were kids running everywhere. They played musical chairs, had a dance contest, pinatas, and cake. It was fun to watch and everyone was so friendly! I have received my plan of activities for the whole month of July so I excited to get started. I will be interacting a lot with the jovenes in several of the cities and working with the AIDS groups as well. My schedule is always vague so I never know exactly what to expect, but thats all part of the fun I guess. I have been learning a lot of the history and politics of El Salvador. In the town where I live, the alcalde, which is like the mayor, is fighting with the president of the community and until the president of the community steps down, the alcalde won`t be helping that community. Also, the alcalde doesn`t support the jovenes so if you are with teh jovenes you are against the alcalde. So, I, along with Lorena and the rest of the family, are not supportive of the alcalde in any way. I find it interesting because these people are elected to help the community but as soon as they are in power, they only look out for themselves and the supporters of their party. It seems to me that there should be more compromise and the needs of the community should come first, but what do I know!

I wish everyone a Happy Independence Day! Thanks for all the comments and prayers. Remember to keep the people of El Salvador in your prayers as well!

Adios!

Just Some Observations

2006-06-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

I´m been writing a lot today but there are just some funny anecdotes I thought I would share, just because!

I have taught Jonatan, the youngest one of the brothers, how to play Go Fish! and War with cards that I brought and now I play those games at least ten times a day with him.
The people here but about a half a cup of sugar in their coffee so when I say don´t like any in mine, it causes quite the commontion.
I am about a foot taller than everyone here, something that everyone feels that need to mention everytime they see me.
I make plenty of mistakes with my spanish including refusing to allow Lorena to eat the candy that I had brought to share with everyone and saying that I needed soup in order to wash my hands, but all is forgiven and it earns me quite a few laughs, especially from the middle brother Nestor.
There is no pedestrians have the right of way here, if you want to cross the street don´t assume they will stop for you. The most popular method is to cross halfway when it´s clear and then stand in the middle of the road and wait for the other side to be clear.
At capacity doesn´t seem to exist here. There is always room for one more person on the bus or the truck and just when you think they can´t possibly fit anymore people into the aisles, 10 more people get on all with baskets and bags full of stuff.

Thats all for now, but I´m sure there will be more to come.

What I Have Been Up To!

2006-06-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

So, my last entry was about were I am living, no on to what I have been doing.I not really doing any work yet, but I have been very busy. Lorena is very good at taking me places and introducing me to people. I have met people living in Santa Catarina who work with CRS and facilitate workshops on community organizing and leadership. I have meet the leaders of the jovenes, which are the young people in the town. I attended a two day workshops on HIV-AIDS. I went to a wedding and a funeral in the town. I have been to the market in Sonsonate. Everyday I meet new people and learn new things. I met Armando who works with CRS and also Miguel who is an aspiring writer and is going to bring by some of his works for me to read. All of these people are committed to their community and improving it. They are organizing to prepare for natural disasters, to promote HIV awareness and prevention, to promote leadership among the jovenes. CRS and other organizations have given the town the tools and they have empowered themselves. HIV-AIDS is an interesting thing here. The feelings abot AIDS here are the same as they were in the U.S. back in the 80s. People fear it. They don´t understand the means of transmission and think that they can get the virus through touching or kissing. People with the virus face discriminacion, a huge stigma, criminalization, unemployment, isolation, and hatred and all because of ignorance. People don´t understand the disease and the program that I am working with is trying to change that. The workshop I went to was attened by people who form a group they call La Red. It contains heads of different organizations that are trying to help in the fight against AIDS, including people from the red cross, young leaders from various jovenes groups, hospitals, social workers, educators, and so on. They are all working to educate the Salvadoran population about AIDS and how it can be prevented and treated. I have been asked how to make people see that AIDS isn´t what they think it is because in the U.S. AIDS is not as big as issue. I´m afraid I didn´t have a good answer to that but I promised to help in anyway I can to help find it. I don´t know what is in store for me in the coming weeks, but whatever it is, I´m sure it will be enlightening. Thanks for all the wonderful comments! There are so many stories I want to share but I can only type so much. I look forward to sharing with everyone when I return.

Life in Santa Catarina

2006-06-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

I haven´t been able to have access to a computer in the past week and a half so I have lots to share. I arrived in Santa Catarina Masahuat last Wednesday. My host family is wonderful. There is the mom, Lorena, her three sons, Jose David, Jonatan, and Nestor, me, and a little dog named Espie. It was akward at first since the family only speaks Spanish but things are slowly getting better. The house is modest but compared to others in the town it might as well be a mansion. People mostly live in one room houses with tin roofs and sleep on hammocks. It´s makes me appreciate things a lot more and I am grateful to even have a bed to sleep on. Things are very basic here and I find that very refreshing. To take a shower I go outside and use a bucket to pour the water over my head. If you want to visit someone, you just walk right on over to their house. Everyone´s door is always open, mostly because its a million degrees outside, but also because they are so friendly. The town in way up in the mountains and the views are breathtaking. It is also about an hour away from the nearest city. To get to the city you can take a bus or a camion. A camion is basically a flatbed truck with rails up the sides and you ride standing up in the back and holding on for dear life. I admit I have some fear of the camion but that is one fear I will conquer before I leave. All throughout the mountainside you can see the crops that people grow. There is an abundance of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, corn, fruit and many other vegetables. These people work hard to cultivate the land. Something I learned is that all the land up in the mountains that is used for growing is owned by one man and the people have to pay him yo cultivate it. Considering these people have to work extremely hard just to get by it seems rediculous that they have to pay for land that they live on. Noone should ever own that much of anything, its just not necessary. It´s super hot but since I´m in the mountains, we do get some breezes. It rains about every other day and when it rains it pours, Buckets and buckets of water gfall from the sky with thunder and lightening. Its taking me some time to get used to all the noises the Santa Catarina has to offer. Dogs barking, geese honking, roosters crowing at all hours of the day and night, busses, cars alarms, horns, its all around all the time. There are also more bugs than a town could ever need and I find I have no sympathy for them. I figure there are enough that nobody will miss the few hundred that I am going to exterminate while I am here. The cockroaches are the size of my fist but the score stands roaches 0 and Meg 4. I have mixed emotions about this place. It´s so beautiful and full of life yet for me holds a lot of sadness. These people are so wonderful yet they live in poverty, it just doesn´t seem fair. They have been extremely welcoming to me and I only hope I can give back in the same way. ¡Vaya con bien!

My Tour of San Salvador

2006-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Buenas! Access to a computer is sporatic at best so I will try and update as much as possible. Before I left for Santa Catrina, Carlos, my driver, took me on a tour of the city. I saw the house of Archbishop Romero and the church where he was killed and I also went to the Universidad Centroamerica where the six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter were assasinated. Both places were very moving. I was to stand right near the spot where Romero was killed. I toured his house and saw all his things and saw the hospital that is there as well. Carlos is also teaching me the bus routes, but I think that is going to take me a while to learn. I will be coming back to San Salvador probably each week to meet Rick and talk about my work so I hope to learn more about the city. The people here are so friendly and nice and very patient with my limited Spanish. I tasted my first pupusas, which is like a filled tortilla, very tasty. I am eager to learn more about this country and the people because I feel they have a lot to offer.

First Day - La Primera Dia

2006-06-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I´m finally here and have experiencedd my first 24 hours in El Salvador. Let me say that they have been eventful. I arrived at the San Salvador Airport around 12:30. I met an American women on the plane who had a business based in El Salvador and she was such a big help. She helped me through all the steps in the airport and through customs, which took over an hour, and then helped me file a complaint when the airline lost my luggage. Luckily it was only one bag and it just had the gifts for the family I am staying with and they can be replaced. An interesting tidbit, I met an Olympic archer while waiting in line at immigration. His name is Vic Wunderle and he was in town for some international competition. I finally met Carlos, a CRS employee, around 2:30. Carlos only speaks Spanishh so it was a little difficult but now I am picking it up. I am staying at a guest house which is very nice and it´s only me whose staying there right now so I talk a lot with the lady who owns it. I then was taken to the CRS office. I met Ligia who took me to get some lunch. I find it funny that my first meal in El Salvador was a piece of Sbarro pizza from a food court in the mall down the street. Then I met Rick, the country rep or the boss, and he gave me some orientation information and then took me back to his house for dinner. I met his family and his wife taught me how to make Salvadoran tortillas. I wasn't too good but she was very patient during my 40 tries at shaping the dough into a flat patty. Everyone here is so nice and has made my transition very easy. I have a lot of trouble understanding everyone, but it´s getting better. I am surrounded by mountains and the scenery is beautiful. I am excited to start my work and will be leaving for Sonsonate on Wednesday. Hope everyone is doing well!

¡Hasta Luego!
Meg

Let's Get it Started!

2006-06-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone here it is! This is where I will be documenting my 8 week adventure in El Salvador. I leave in 5 days so let the countdown begin. I don't know how often I will be able to update this while I'm down there, but I will do my best. Peace and love to all!!!

Meg