El Salvador, Summer 2006

The last few days

2006-08-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in the CRISPAZ office eating fried platanos that I made myself (my grandmother sent the platanos with me when I left because she was afraid there wouldn´t be food in the city...she also tried to send me with bread, tortillas and cheese). I fly out tomorrow. I´ve decided that instead of being really sad and depressing, this blog entry will highlight some of the things that happened to me in the past few weeks.

Soon after returning to La Florida after being sick, we had a Team Meeting at IPES. It was probably the most bored I´ve ever been in my entire life. However, after lunch, Don Lorenzo, one of the promoters, motioned for me to sit next to him. ¨We´re going to chat,¨ he told me, ¨Tell me about farming in the United States.¨ So we chatted for awhile, and he showed me pictures of his beautiful garden and his sons. I asked about his wife, and he told me how 4 years ago they had separated, but how she still came over to do his laundry and help him out in the house. Then he told me that she had died 8 days earlier. He started to get really emotional and describe what a dedicated woman she was, and how he regretted their separation. I was so touched that he was able to share this story with me. It made me realize that even though all the work I did at IPES could have very well been done by one of the promoters (i.e. they could have done it without me), just my presence had an impact on the people I worked with and the communities I visted. I think that is what accompaniment and solidarity is all about.

The day after visiting Mariah in the Bajo Lempa (which was a great day...a party at her school, going to the shrimp farm), I met Conchi and Miguel at the Ceiba de Guadelupe and we went to Los Francos in Suchitoto. This was one of the most remote communities that I´ve ever visited, but perhaps the most beautiful. First we drove for about 45 mintues on this horrible ¨dirt¨(more like rock and mud) road. Then we started to walk up through the mountains with all the materials to make and improved stove (uses less firewood, produces less smoke, see photo), which included a bag of cement, rolls of lamina (I don´t know the word in English...it´s like thin sheet metal), a huge wooden mold and bags of heavy tools. After walking for about an hour we arrived. The people there were probably the nicest I´ve met all summer. This one woman took me aside and asked, ¨Do you want to come see my baby goats?¨ As you all
know I'm a sucker for animals, especially baby ones, so I hiked some more to her house, where she not only had baby goats, but kittens and chicks. I was in baby animal heaven. Then she made me lunch! On the way back down to where we were making the stove, I talked to her brother in law, who had a horse. When it finally came time to leave, he asked me if I wanted to ride the horse down the mountain. I told him ¨Heck yes!¨and hopped on. Everyone thought it was really funny and decided to take pictures.

Then came Vacation week in El Salvador, which celebrates the patron saint of El Salvador. El Salvador literally means ¨The Savior¨so the patron saint is Jesus. During vacation, I went to the milpa (where they grow corn, etc.) one day with Yerito and the kids. We cut loroco (a flower used to make pupusas), tomatoes and elote (the first harvest of corn). It was fun, but really hot and tiring. We went to the river afterwords to cool off. One day I went to Santa Tecla to go shopping with Yerito. I always love going to the market in Santa Tecla because it´s bursting with activity and people to watch, yet less scary than the market in San Salvador. The variety of things for sale is just amazing as well. On the Saturday of vacation, I went to a family reunion for Papa Tano´s side of the family. It was really interesting because even though I was in a totally different country, this family reunion reminded me so much of the family reunions we have in the Hall Family. His family was really confused about who I was, so he decided to tell them that I was his daughter in law, i.e. Yerito´s wife. So then these two women came over and started asking about our wedding, and Tano´s brother wanted me to sign my name in their family book. So then we had to explain that Papa Tano was just kidding. He thought it was hillarious, but Yerito was kind of embarassed. It was amusing. Then on Sunday I went to Termos del Rio, which is a huge water park. It was super fun, but really packed with people because it was the last day of vacation. I had a great time with Denis, Melvin (Yerito´s half brothers) and Yerito. We went down water slides and played a lot in the kiddie pool. I tried to teach them how to swim but failed horribly.

The last three days in the campo were really sad. All we could talk about was how I was leaving and how sad everyone was going to be. I cried a lot, even though every time I´d start to cry, someone would tell me, ¨Don´t cry, you´re eyes will get puffy,¨ or, ¨Don´t cry, you´re going back to your family.¨The night before I left they held a goodbye party for me. It was really nice, and people said some really nice things about me. And then they told me to speak. I was trying so hard not to cry that all I could say was ¨Thank you all for coming. My time here has been wonderful and I´ve really enjoyed getting to know you all.¨ LAME. But anyway, it´s hard to give an impromptu speach in Spanish when you´re about to break down.

On Thursday my family came to the city for a final meeting with all the SIPPIES and families. Then I said goodbye, and suprisingly did not cry. I think it´s because I´d already done my crying earlier on in the week. The last two days we spent at the beach reflecting, which was a really good way to process the experience and start thinking about transitioning to life in the United States.

I think this experience was what I expected and more. I never really thought that I would become so close to my host family, and that has been a wonderful blessing. I have learned a ton, not only practical things, like how to take a bus and wash my clothes, but how to adapt to the rhythms of life in the campo. I feel like a tiny part of me is now Salvadoran, and it may be hard for me to adjust back to life in the U.S. (so have patience!). Of course, I´m desperately looking forward to seeing my family and friends. You have all been in my heart throughout this trip and I thank you for all your support and prayers.

Tomorrow I fly out at 2 pm and arrive in Boston around midnight. Please think of me in my travels. I´m pretty nervous to fly by myself again as is, and with this new heightened security it´ll probaby be worse! My love to you all.

But unfortunately, I do have strep

2006-07-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

That´s right. Back in the city again due to strep. After diagnosing myself at the health clinic (Me: ¨I think I have a throat infection¨ Doctor, after taking a really quick look at my throat: ¨Yes, you have a throat infection¨) I now have antibiotics which are really helping.

The two days that I was in the campo in between my sicknesses were really fun though. On Saturday I went to Suchitoto with my grandmother, Yerito and Antoni to visit the family of Miguel´s wife. My family and a lot of families in La Florida used to live in Suchitoto before the war. So that was fun, especially the part where we went to a swimming hole ¨really close by¨ where I almost fell down a cliff/got attacked by bees. They believe me now when I say I´m afraid of heights.

On Sunday we went to the zoo, which was really depressing. The cages are really small and dirty. There were literally 50 snakes in this one tiny little cage. It made me want to throw up. But I pretended to enjoy myself for the sake of my family. After the zoo, we went to a park which was actually very nice. We had a picnic lunch and then rested while the kids played on this giant slide/playground thingy. Then they took my picture on top of a see saw. I look ridiculous. The things I do to make them laugh. Then we came back to La Florida where I looked at my aching throat and discovered that I probably had strep or some sort of infection. So Monday, after sleeping until 10:00 am (SOOOOOO LATE) Tedde and Javier came to pick me up and brought me to the clinic.

I have so little time left here, it´s a bummer that I´ve spent so much time being sick in the last week! I really feel as if time has literally passed me by. I´ve been here for 2 months? No way. More like 2 weeks. At the beginning it seemed like this summer would never end, and now it is. It´s going to be really hard for me to leave. But I try not to think about it too much, and just enjoy the time I have left.

Gracias a Dios, I don't have Dengue

2006-07-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I do have some sort of nasty virus which has casued me to return to the city. It all started Tuesday night when I realized my skin was really hot, yet I was shivering. I asked Esperanza if she thought I had a fever, and she said yes. So I spent the whole night being alternatively unbearably hot and shivering cold. Not too fun. So Wednesday morning, Tedde and Javier were coming to visit me anyway, so I decided to go back to the city with them. We went to the health clinic where I did a pee and blood test (without passing out! wooo). Even though I had all the symptoms (fever, pain behind the eyes, achy body, headache) I in fact do not have Dengue. Yesterday I spent sleeping and reading at Tedde's house, and I actually felt better. Then this morning at around 4 am, my fever came back, and didn't go away until about 4 this afternoon. Taking a cold shower felt glorious, but caused me to have to take a 3 hour nap in which I put on/took off pants and a sweatshirt 3 times despite the fact that it's about 85 degrees and humid. Not too fun.

So I really hate being sick and being away from my family in La Florida, because I only have about 2 more weeks with them! I'm really really hoping to go back tomorrow, because Saturday we are going to visit Mama Karla's family in Suchitoto, and I really want to go, and Sunday we were going to go to the Zoo (something I'm not too psyched about...Fatima told me the elephant was sad because it didn't have a very big cage...I can just imagine what the rest of the animals' cages are like...)

The fact that I'm going home so soon is exciting and sad at the same time. I feel like my time here has been so short, but so powerful. My family here has really become like a second family. They keep telling me that they don't know what they're going to do when I leave. Fatima didn't realize that I was only staying with them for the summer. After she found out, we were sitting on my bed reading from her little Bible (we're trying to get through the book of Matthew before I leave...) when she looks up at me with tears in her eyes, "What's wrong?" I ask her. "I feel like crying because I don't want you to leave," she told me and it just about broke my heart.

As far as day to day life at IPES, nothing really has changed. During the month of July, all the new communities have been coming to IPES to take a tour and see how the permaculture practices work. I have to admit, that I'm kind of starting to buy some of this whole organic agriculture thing, I'm sure much to my (US) family's dismay. I mean using chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides really mess up the soil, making it less fertile for years to come, and therefore unsustainable. Chemical fertilizers only focus on the plant, where as organic fertilizers focus on improving the soil, therefore making the application of fertilizer from year to year less and less. And hybrid seeds aren't great because although they produce a good crop the first year, they are unable to be re-planted, forcing poor campesinos to buy seeds every year, when with native seeds they can save out seeds to plant the next year, saving money. Also, hybrid seeds usually come paired with some sort of chemical pesticide or herbicide (i.e. Round-Up Ready Corn). I'm not saying that farmers in the United States should necessarily switch to organic agriculture, because I understand the difficulty of practicing it on a large scale, but it just makes so much more sense for the small scale agriculture of El Salvador.

I also feel like I should talk about the recent political scene here in El Salvador. On July 2nd, the parents of the co-founder of Radio Venceremos (the guerilla radio station during the war) were tortured and killed in their home in Suchitoto by a death squad. Then, on July 5th, during a student protest at the National University against increases in bus fares and electricity costs, 3 students were shot down by police in helicopters. This is all of course very sad and disturbing. The Salvadoran government claims to have "Sentido Humano" (Human Feeling), yet their police force killed 3 students who were lawfully protesting. This just makes me so incredibly angry and sad. It's also kind of scary, because that morning I was taking the bus back to La Florida from the city and the road that I usually catch the bus on was closed, which I thought was weird. Then when I got back to La Florida I found out what happened. I was only a few blocks away! (The police helicopters didn't arrive until a lot later than when I caught the bus...the road was just closed because of the protests).

Anyway, on that note, I'll leave you all to contemplate the current political situation. If you'd like to read more, here's a like to an article published by CRISPAZ http://www.crispaz.org/news/list/2006/0705.htm about the two events.

Love you all and I'll see you in less than 1 month!

The man who wants to marry me

2006-07-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

There is a 50 year old man in El Roble, El Salvador who wants to marry me. He ¨speaks¨ English, so obviously we´re a match made in heaven. I have been to El Roble twice so far and both times he followed me around saying random English words over and over with their Spanish equivilant, as if he were teaching me Spanish. He then asked if I had a wife, and when I answered that no, I did not have a husband, he suggested that the best thing would be if I stayed in El Roble with him instead of leaving El Salvador in August. He´s really very strange and all my co- workers tease me about him. He told me his name about 50 times because I kept forgetting it, but I still can´t remember. Perhaps I´m blocking it from my memory!

Speaking of co-workers, there is a fair amount of drama among the promoters at IPES. Part of our 12 hour meeting on Friday was to work on our ¨team skills¨ and we found out that there is too much negative crticism towards others. This is probably because there are some promoters (Conchi, Miguel, Isidra) who are very good at what they do. They are clear and concise and answer questions effectively. On the other hand, there are a handful of promoters who just like to hear themselves talk. The point of the workshop is to do hands on ¨practicas¨ (practices) of different sorts, which is to take up the majority of the time. However, certain individuals take 3 hours to talk before getting to the practica, which is really boring for the campesinos and makes them not want to participate in IPES´ projects. So Friday we came up with some ground rules, which I hope we´re going to follow, because I don´t know if I can sit through another training like the ones we´ve had in June! Imagine sitting in a small lean-to with 30 other people in 90+ degree humid weather for 3 hours while someone talks about the importance of organic pesticides. Yeah. Not so fun. So hopefully things will improve in July!

On a totally unrelated note, my family has a guitar. And I made the mistake of picking it up one day and starting to play. So then for a few days Yerito and Conchi begged me to sing something for them. I refused, saying that I had too much ¨pena¨(kind of like embarassment mixed with shyness). Then finally one day I did it. I sang ¨Come Away With Me¨ and that Jewel song that I know. I had a lot of pena but they really liked it. I have learned here that it´s best to just put yourself out there, even if it means risking making a fool of yourself. For example, I never would have danced in front of a bunch of people in the U.S. (not counting African Drumming class...that was for credit...haha) dressed in a traditional costume. But here, I feel like no one has pre-concieved notions of who I am, so I am free to try new things, things that I would have too much pena to do in the U.S. So basically what I´m saying is I make a fool of myself on a regular basis, but my family and the people of the community here like it. And maybe someday I´ll stop feeling foolish and it will just feel normal.

Well, it´s time for breakfast. I think I talked about everything promised. To all the July Birthday Babies, Happy Birthday! I´m sad I won´t be at camp to celebrate with you all, but I´ll certainly be thinking about you swimming as I sweat here in the office :). And to everyone else, Happy 4th of July!

Getting lost....and other stories

2006-07-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This entry may be potentially worrisome to members of my family. Please do not be alarmed. I am alive and well.

Ok. That said. Last time I came to the city I had to take the bus back to La Florida by myself. I was a little worried, but excited at the same time to be striking out on my own. Tedde brought me to the first bus stop, I hopped on the bus and was off. I successfuly got off the bus at the Metrocentro (a huge disgusting shopping mall in the middle of the city) and got onto the 101D, which brought me to San Martin Park in Santa Tecla. Javier had given me directions from there, but to tell you the truth I wasn´t 100% accurate about them. So I asked the ladies at the newspaper stand where I could find the bus to Las Granadillas (the name of my cantón). I told them it was bus number 99. A man who was buying a newspaper told me that bus 99 did not exist in this area and that he thought bus 99 was in the Department of Sonsonate (pretty far away). I politely informed him that the 99 did exist because I had taken it before (to Mass with Papa Tano and Yerito...more on this later) and left to ask someone else. I walked across the park to where the Police Academy was, because I remembered Javier mention something about it. It seemed like people were waiting for a bus, so I asked them if the 99 passed by here. Once again, no one knew about the 99. Frustrated, I walked a little farther down and asked a micro-bus assistant (the one that herds the customers into the micro and collects the money) if the 99 passed by this road. He said he thought so (it turns out he was sort of right...but I didn´t really believe him at the time). Frustrated, I found pay phone that took coins (they are red) and called Javier, who told me I was in the wrong park and that I needed to walk to Park Daniel Hernandez. So I walked to that park, which is near the Market, and hence really hectic. After asking a man selling hammocks if the 99 passed through the park and getting met with a blank stare, I sat down on a park bench and tried not to cry. Then I noticed a line of taxis, and figured that taxi drivers must know the city. So I asked the least-scary looking taxi driver if he knew where the bus to Las Granadillas was. He told me he grew up in Comasaguas and so yes, it was 2 blocks this way and 4 blocks this way and 2 blocks this way or something like that. Needless to say, I started walking and totally forgot his directions. So, I walked back to the Hernandez park and was about to call Javier again when the taxi driver tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I was lost once again. I said yes, and then asked him to drive me in his taxi to where the bus was. So he did. And I made it back to La Florida, Gracias a Dios. So this time, coming back to the city, Mami Karlita was afraid I was going to lose myself again (a literal translation from Spanish...but I like it better that ¨get lost¨) so Yerito came with me, even though I know for a fact that he was supposed to help Papa Tano in the milpa today. I want to bring him something to thank him for helping me, but I have no idea what. We´re going to the bookstore tomorrow, so maybe I can bring him a music book or something.

Anyway, while I was lost, I asked 12 different people for help. 3 of them helped me. (The taxi driver, a woman who told me how to get to Hernadez Park, and a woman on the 99 who told me about the school construction and how we had to walk to another bus). At first, I was really pessimistic about the lack of helpfulness I encountered, and how most of the Salvadorans seemed really impatient and unwilling to help a lost and confused gringa. Now, as I think back, I realize how grateful I am to the 3 people who did help me, and those three people are really all that matter.

Also, I would like to say as another disclaimer that at no point while I was lost did I fear that I would never make it back to La Florida. It was daylight. I walked confidently (well as much as I could muster). I didn´t talk to beggars or people that looked sketchy. I only got into the taxi because it had a registration number. All in all, I was safe and smart so no one needs to worry!

..........................................

What else did I promise to talk about? Oh yes. Religion. My family is perhaps the most relgiously Catholic family in La Florida. Papa Tano, Yerito and Yeri (Yerito´s dad who lives down the road) teach Catechism classes (I help). Papa Tano and Yeri lead the church services when the priest doesn´t come (he only comes once a month). Papa Tano reads and rings the bell for communion with the priest does come. Yeri plays guitar for the mass. So anyway, a few weeks ago after catechism classes, Papa Tano asked me if I would like to come to a catechist training. I told him I felt funny going because I wasn´t Catholic. He looked very suprised and said ¨But why not??¨ (side note: I had previously told him that I was not Catholic). So I went onto explain that indeed, I was Christian, just not Catholic. This idea seemed foreign, until he asked me if I was Evangelical. (I get asked this a lot when people find out I´m not Catholic). I told him no, that I was protestant, and belonged to a donomination similar to the Lutherans (this is as close as I could get). He seemed to sort of understand, but then he told me that Catholicism was the only true religion because it was the only one that had baptism. So then I had to explain my baptism (which I do not remember, I was only 9 months old) and my confirmation. So anyway. It is a gran lastima (great shame...but shame in a sense that oh, that´s a shame...not shame as in embarassment) that I´m not Catholic for Papa Tano. So after this conversation, I thought maybe he wouldn´t let me help teach catechism classes anymore, but I still can. I help Yerito with the littlest kids and it´s so fun. I love telling Bible stories and ¨grading¨ (they all get 10´s...the best score) the kids drawings. I even help teach the sign of the cross (with the right hand) even though I don´t do it myself!

We also went to a Corpus Cristi celebration in Santa Tecla a few weeks ago. First we heard mass, then paraded around the colonia with the priest and a marching band that played the same song the whole time, stopping at little altars to pray and say the Our Father (Padre nuestro, que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga a nosotros tu reino, hágase tu voluntad así en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día. Perdónanos nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. No nos dejes caer en la tentación, más líbranos del mal. Amen). This lasted for two hours, after which we returned to the church to pray some more. Then we drove back to La Florida in the back of Yeri´s 1973 pickup. An adventure to say the least. The ceremony was very strange to me, yet very beautiful. I´m glad I witnessed it, even though it was really hot and I ran out of water.

Well. I think that´s all for now folks. I´ll try to write more tomorrow! If not, it may be awhile until my next post, unless I convice Yerito to take me to an internet café.

More Reflections

2006-07-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

I am once again back in San Salvador with access to a computer. So once again I will try to organize my thoughts, experiences and personal reflections (here you go, Jason) into a coherent entry.

I have started doing more with IPES as my language skills improve. Unfortunatley, just as I was feeling comfortable talking about home gardens, June came to an end and with July comes a new topic: the selection of seeds. We had a 12 hour meeting on Friday (yes, that´s right...12 whole hours) to plan the month of July. I´m going to be going out about 10 times in July to communities to talk both about the Lottery Projects and give trainings on seed selection. I´m also going to be teaching English classes 2 times a week to some people who work for IPES.

As far as language goes, last night I was sitting in my kitchen after dinner, listening to Conchi talk abuot recycling cardboard. As I was watching and listening to her talk, I completely forgot that the language she was speaking was not my first. I completely and utterly understood everything she was saying. This lasted about 5 minutes. But it was a great accomplishment for me none the less. That is to say, I normally understand about 95 % of everything, and 100% if I stop the conversation to ask about words I don´t know. However, this was the first time that I really felt fluent. And it felt wonderous.

Also, another funny thing. Sometimes, I forget to speak Spanish to my family. I´ll go up to Esperanza and say, ¨Hey, do you want to play cards?¨instead of, ¨Querés jugar cartas?¨ And I don´t realize I´m doing it until I see her very confused face. I think this is because I feel so comfortable with my family that somehow my subconcious wants to use English.

Speaking of my family, I really do love them despite their drama. And my family has a fair share of drama. First of all, there is Antoni who has some serious behavioral issues. He looks like the little boy from ¨Life is Beautiful,¨ but reminds me of Calvin from ¨Calvin and Hobbes,¨ only worse. His favorite passtime is to bother our poor puppy. I think I say ¨Dejálo!¨ (Leave him alone!) about fifty times a day. Also, when he doesn´t get something that he wants, he either cries, threatens to hit, or kicks something (or someone) until he gets what he wants. He´s super spoiled. But also, he can be really sweet. The other day, he came up to me after eating an orange and wanted a hug. I told him that his hands were sticky and that he should wash them first. So he did. Now everytime he goes to hug me he shows me his clean hands, or if they are dirty, covers them with his shirt. It´s so sweet. He also tells me ¨Yo pienso de que usted es muy bonita.¨ (I think that you are very beautiful). It´s sweet, but funny at the same time because he says it so matter of factly. It breaks my heart when Mami Karlita slaps him for not eating. I understand that he needs to eat, and that it´s very frustrating when he doesn´t, but at the same time, violence only breeds violence. And it´s hard for me because I can never say anything to her about that. So whenever Antoni doesn´t want to eat, I just leave the room because I know what is going to happen eventually, and it´s way too hard for me to watch.

Well hopefully I will be able to write more later...I´ll leave you all with some tidbits of what is to come...

Getting lost in Santa Tecla on the way back to La Florida
Singing to my family
The man who wants to marry me
Frustration with my co workers and drama at work
Catechism classes, Chorpus Christi celebrations, relgion in my family

I love you all and miss you so much!

2 Weeks of Experiences in 1/2 hour

2006-06-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

I'm back in San Salvador after two weeks in La Florida. The first few days were frustrating, and I was really homesick, but I have adjusted and I'm very happy with my family and my work at IPES and in the community.

Esperanza, Jonaton, Fatima and Antoni

I'll start out by describing my family. Conchi works at IPES and is my mom/aunt figure. She has three children, Esperanza (10), Jonathan (8) and Fatima (7). They are all so sweet and I love them to death. Then there are her parents, Mami Karlita and Papa Tano. They are both sweet, but I can hardly understand Papa Tano. What comes out of his mouth just does not sound Spanish to me! But I'm working on it, and the kids help me a lot. Then there is Antoni who is 4, and a nephew to Conchi. His mom, Alti, is a teacher in a rural community so she only lives with us on weekends. Yerito is 22 and also Conchi's nephew. His father lives down the road with his second wife (not Yerito's mother) and I have the feeling they don't have a great relationship, hence Yerito living with us. I share a one room Casita with Esperanza, Scotty (the puppy), some chickens (that is where their feed is kept), various frogs, cockroaches, a rat, and a mouse. The mouse and rat don´t really bother me, unless I see them, which I usually don't. My family knows that I hate bugs, and expect to hear me scream at the cockroaches. The chickens are the worst though, especially when Antoni decides to chase them onto my bed! I'm afraid that is the one time I really got angry the whole time I've been there!

La Florida is located on a jungly mountain. There is a ton of fruit, and I'm constantly being asked if I've tried such and such a fruit, which I never know, because most of them don't have English equivalents. My favorite so far is called Zapote. It has a brown shell with bright pink fruit inside that you can eat with a spoon. One fruit I don't like are mamones, which are small, and suck all of the moisture out of your mouth when you eat them.

My work at IPES consists of going out to communities and giving workshops about sustainable agriculture. This month we're focusing on home gardens, and my part consists of giving the general introduction about what exactly is a home garden, and where it should be located, etc. It sounds easy, but it's really hard to do in Spanish. I always feel stupid, and like I'm speaking at a kindergarten level, but the people are really understanding, and today they even helped me when I didn't know a word! The promoters that I work with are really great for the most part. There is one man, Don Lorenzo, who I also have trouble understanding. It was frusterating yesterday because we were in a community that was behind on their workshops, so the theme was different (and not something I was familiar with). He tried to ask me if I still wanted to help out, but it took 4 tries for me to understand him! Also, another man, Don Daniel, likes to talk, and sometimes the introduction (which should take 5 minutes) takes 1 1/2 hours. But for the most part my work is tiring, but good.

I'm also working with the Club Arcoiris, which is an environmental group for kids in La Florida. Last weekend, there was a gringo family visiting who had lived in La Florida from 2001-2005, so we put on a little play and some dances. I danced a traditional dance with Conchi, where she dressed up like a man and tried to woo me (the woman). It was hillarious and everyone loved it!

I could go on for pages and pages, but my time is limited, as I'm spending the night at Tedde's house tonight! Hopefully I will be able to write more tomorrow. I just want to say that I love and miss you all, and hope everything is well with all of you! Leave me comments, or send me an email because I think I´ll be able to read them tomorrow!

Last night

2006-06-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

So tonight is my last night in San Salvador. I´m so looking forward to meeting my family, but just now I´m realizing I´m nervous too. I hope they like me and that we´re able to communicate! I also hope I don´t get sick. My stomach has been a little iffy today, but I hope it just passes.

Today we brought Deb and Mariah (now known as Gracia) to their communities. I think they both have lovely families and will have a great time. In the morning, I was interviewed on the community radio station near Mariah´s community. It was nerve-wracking, but the questions he asked were actually super easy.

That´s pretty much all for now. I hope everyone has a great few weeks, I´ll write the next time I´m in the city.

I brought too many clothes with me

2006-06-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

I just spent over two hours doing my laundry by hand. I feel like it´s never going to dry. Washing clothes by hand is tough work, and I don´t even think that I did it very well. I feel for the women of the campo who do that their whole lives.

Today we went to mass at the Crypt of Romero. It was beautiful but long. During the passing of the peace, it was like Bethany. Everyone got out of their aisles and went and greeted their friends. It was great. I was kind of expecting something like at St. Augustine´s where you get two limp handshakes from the old women sitting behind you, so this was a pleasant suprise.

After mass, I gave money to a beggar for the first time in my life. I don´t really know how I feel about that. She was this little old lady with no teeth. I mean during the service, this one man kept wandering around the congregation with his tattered styrofoam cup, asking for money, and the ushers kept shooing him away, like a fly or something. He was being obnoxious and probably bothering people, but I felt bad for him. I probably shouldn´t because most likely he was drunk (or would use the money to buy alcohol) but I felt that it was un-Christian to just shoo him away. Someone could have offered him a chair. So, after seeing that, I felt that it was okay to give 50 cents to this old woman. For all I know she´s going to go out and buy beer with it. But what is done is done.

This afternoon we went and visited Tedde´s family, the Quintanillas. They have 11 children! But it was great. We chatted with Christina about her experiences during the war (she´s one of the oldest children and she´s 29) and played some games with the kids, in which I had to do a ¨penetencia¨ (punishment) for being really bad at this one game. I had to make 7 crosses on Deb´s body, and then kiss every where I made a cross. Luckily I didn´t make a cross on her butt or anything! It was a little embarassing, but fun at the same time, because I made the kids laugh.

Well, it´s off to bed for me. Pray that my clothes dry soon!

It was an alarming night

2006-06-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

So last night when we returned from Café la T where we had coffee and tiramisu, Jason had turned on the alarm. We had not been given a code yet, so we frantically tried calling people as the alarm started BLARING. And I mean the loudest sound I´ve heard in a long time. WAY louder than the fire alarms at Colby. So we finally got ahold of our coordinator and he gave us a code, which stopped the alarm, thank goodness! I was very nervous and jumpy the rest of the night which resulted in very little sleep for me.

Yesterday we met with an enviornmental organization called CESTA (which is some Spanish Acronym that I don´t remember). They work with people to oppose atrocities such as dumping garbage in the river, preventing gold mines from opening where people have their farms, etc. They also work to protect Sea Turtles along the beaches. For some people, selling turtle eggs is their only income for the entire year, so they worked out a deal that the egg ¨poachers¨ can take half of the eggs, and leave the other half to hatch and survive. CESTA also has a program where they teach workshops to ex gang members on how to fix bicycles, and then sell the bicycles to make money.

In the afternoon, we went to Equipo Maíz, which is a popular education group that goes out rural communities and teaches workshops on the history of El Salvador, free trade agreements, neoliberalism, GMO´s, Romero, politics, etc. We got a break down of the history of El Salvador which was interesting to me, because I didn´t really know much about the early history before the war broke out.

Today we focued on labor issues. We went to an organization called Mélidas this morning, which is a women´s organization which helps women who work in the maquilas. Then in the afternoon we met with CEAL which works to help workers organize into unions. It was all very interesting, and the struggle for workers rights in this country is hard and heartbreaking.

We also went to the central market today in downtown San Salvador. It was hot, crowded, loud, smoggy, smelly and did I mention hot? We had to buy mosquito nets for the campo and some more fruit. But honestly, you can buy just about everything there. There were pirated DVD´s for $1, including such titles as The DaVinci Code and X-Men III. You could buy clothes, food, batteries, CD´s, toys, jewlery, watches, drinks, and anything else you could think of for very cheap. It was all very overwhelming, especially because that´s the area of highest crime in San Salvador, so I clutched my bag to me the whole time.

We also went to La Iglesia El Rosario (see photo) which was arc-shaped and very ugly on the outside but gorgeous on the inside, with stained glass of all colors up and down the rounded sides of the arc. There was also a lot of modern art on the inside. It was very big, but felt really safe because of the concrete and brick. In 1977, there was a massacre in El Salvador right across from this church in La Plaza de la Libertad. To escape the gun fire, many people ran into the church, and they burried the 33 who were killed outside the side enterance until after the Peace Accords of 1992 when the moved the bodies to a cemetary.

Tonight, we´re going dancing and tomorrow to the beach! But now, it´s time for dinner :-)

In the beginning...

2006-05-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

These first few days in El Salvador have been wonderful, tiring, sad, uncomfortable, and beautiful. I´m starting to fall into a routine here at the oficina de CRISPAZ, and I´m kind of afraid for that to change once I go to the campo. However, I´m so excited to go! Of course it´s going to be challenging at first, and I´m going to be stressed and tired and frusterated and (hopefully not) sick, but it´s going to be great too. I can´t wait to find out what my work at the Instituta will actually be. And I´m so excited to be travelling around the country.

Some reflections on the 3 (I can´t believe it´s only been 3 days!) I´ve been here:

The visit to the youth jail today was so interesting and moving. It´s so sad and impossible to think that these young women, who seem so full of life, once were part of a gang. Although the physical evidence manifested in the tatoos on their faces, legs, arms, hands and breasts are visible, they just seem like normal teenagers, carefree, giggling, talking about music and boys. But in reality, when they get out of the jail, they will have no opportunities to work or get an education or probably even illegally immigrate to the U.S. because of the stigma associated with gang members, whether they´re reformed or not. I especially feel for the girl who had tatoos all over her face. She was a beautiful woman, but yet marked for life because of circumstances that she sought out of desperation.

The Dean Brackely talk was also good to hear. He touched on a lot of topics to do with Solidarity, and how our US mentality is to ¨do do do¨ when a lot of the time it´s just good to be here with the people, and how a lot of times it´s really hard for other people to understand that. I mean I totally felt that when people at home kept asking me what exactly I was going to be doing in El Salvador, and the fact that I didn´t know really bugged me.

For now, those are some brief reflections. It´s bien tarde, and I need to go to bed!