(updated) Choices of the Heart, signs of hope in El Salvador
Back in 1984, right before going to college, a Catholic priest showed a movie about Jean Donovan who worked in El Salvador as a lay missionary helping children. Finding out about her life and death, the wars in Central America, and my country's involvement down here changed me profoundly. For the first time in my life, I had a profound reason to learn Spanish. I started studying liberation theology in college and joined Amnesty International, writing letters trying to stop human rights abuses. A few years later I worked for a total of approximately 8 months with refugees from Central America who had come to El Paso in an attempt to get political asylum in the U.S. As you know, after college my life went in another direction and so it is only recently that I've been able to fulfill my dream of living in Central America. Of course it took me 20 plus years to get down here, and over that time, peace accords have been signed, and human rights abuses have diminished.
So when Mom and Dad said they would come visit me in Central America, we explored some options and signed up for a GATE tour (Global Awareness through Experience) to see some of the sites in El Salvador which I had learned about earlier in my life. It was a rather unique non-touristy "vacation" experience that we had with five other individuals over the span of nine days.
Every day we had at least a couple of activities / visits and so we got a chance to meet and talk with individuals and groups working for social justice in El Salvador. After a brief historical introduction to the reason for the inequality of land distribution in Central America, we met with youth group leaders and priests who continue the tradition of liberation theology, trying to empower the impoverished to improve their own lives. Another day we spoke with the Mothers of the Disappeared who lost loved ones during the internal conflict. And of course we visited the memorials where some of the lay people, priests, and nuns who were serving the poor served and where they were tortured and killed including where Jean Donovan perished. I broke down crying while seeing the Wall of Remembrance which names the thousands and thousands of civilians who were disappeared and/or killed.
One of the most hopeful signs for the humble people of El Salvador was visiting with Emilio who has helped to organize a number of small cooperatives including producers of organic dried fruits, cashews, milk, honey, and even gourmet cheese (all organic), along with youth groups, scholarships for kids to attend school, economical water purification systems, ecotourism, etc. They still have a lot of work to do to try to export their organic products, but it seems to be a sustainable model for growth and development for even the poorest people in the Lempa River area east of San Salvador. As a testament to the success of these cooperatives, there are no people involved in the cooperatives who are leaving for the United States, nor do they have any gang problems, unlike pretty much the rest of the country.
We met with a doctor who is also a Maryknoll Sister who has dedicated her career to serving people with HIV AIDS, and actually she is trying to empower women to stop some of the machismo in their own homes.
Another sign of hope we saw was a group of women who have joined together to help small rural communities get the funds to dig water wells so the people do not have to carry water so far. A group of North Americans had donated some money a couple of years ago, and so the small village of San Juan near the city of Armenia could get a well and pump. They were so happy that they didn't have to carry water 2.5 km every day nor did they have to buy the polluted water sold by the barrel from misanthropist business people. The kids of the village had practiced a number of dances and songs to entertain us and to thank North Americans for their support. It was really a humbling experience, and so sweet to see the people so happy to have precious H2O. Another village is hopeful they can share the same well at San Juan, they just need to come up with $9,000 in order to purchase the pump and PVC pipe.
There were lots of other signs of hope including young pretty Marguerita who is going to law school while still continuing to advocate for rural water rights; the young men of the youth groups who have decided to stay in El Salvador and have avoided joining the gangs; all the young people I saw him wearing Oscar Romero T-shirts; plus all the great laughter and beautiful smiles of the friendly openhearted Salvadoran people.
Besides the emphasis on social justice, we did do a few touristy things. One afternoon we traveled up a beautiful lush green summit with beautiful views of a volcanic lake. And the last day before leaving, we enjoyed some wonderful seafood and spent the afternoon playing in the waves on one of the white sand beaches.
I am really grateful that I could tour with Mom and Dad for a total of almost three weeks. We all learned a lot and it opened our hearts and minds. Plus we enjoyed lots of different flavors of ice cream on an almost daily basis in the tropical heat.
Now I'm back in Guatemala working with the kids from the garbage dump. I'm still waiting to teach computer classes, they should start next week. In the meantime, I've been reading storybooks to them, helping them with their English and math skills, and also helping the cook by chopping up donated vegetables for meals for both the children and the staff. I'm also taking some time to think about what I'm going to do after these adventures.
Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers,
William
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Travelogue #11, Liberation Theology, El Salvador
Hi Dear Friends and Family,
The earthquake we felt a few days ago was minor and didn´t do any damage. It was much stronger in Guatemala, but apparently no one was hurt. Mom, Dad, and I are fine.
We’ve been learning about the oppression and poverty of the Salvadorian People by going to visit different individuals and groups working for social justice. For example yesterday we had a group discussion with a Catholic doctor / sister who graphically showed us issues with HIV/AIDS here in Central America. In the morning we met with a Catholic priest who is literally putting his life on the line to help empower the poor of his parishes to improve their own situations through base communities. If he hasn’t already been receiving death threats, he probably will be as the two priests before him were murdered by the government for doing similar work.
Liberation theology is a preferential option for the poor, and looking at how societal structures can be changed through giving impoverished people the language and conceptual tools to start to work for their own betterment. It is radical, revolutionary, and a great threat to the U.S. Government and the few wealthy who live here.
I studied social justice and liberation theology over twenty years ago, but it continues to be challenging, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. I need to ask myself several questions including, what am I doing to change the U.S. Government to make it more just and less oppressive of poor people both within our borders and in Latin America and the rest of the world? The U.S. Government still teaches torture at the “School of the Americas” (now renamed but doing the same work) in the State of Georgia. What is being done with my tax dollars and how am I working to change that? How does my lifestyle rely upon the enslavement of poor people including migrant workers and oppressed foreign workers who are not paid living wages? You may wish to ask yourself some of the same hard-hitting questions.
To see a few pictures and to read a little bit more from Charish Badzinski, a freelance writer who is accompanying us on this trip, please check out http://gate-travel.org/Articles/El_Salvador_Blog
The earthquake we felt a few days ago was minor and didn´t do any damage. It was much stronger in Guatemala, but apparently no one was hurt. Mom, Dad, and I are fine.
We’ve been learning about the oppression and poverty of the Salvadorian People by going to visit different individuals and groups working for social justice. For example yesterday we had a group discussion with a Catholic doctor / sister who graphically showed us issues with HIV/AIDS here in Central America. In the morning we met with a Catholic priest who is literally putting his life on the line to help empower the poor of his parishes to improve their own situations through base communities. If he hasn’t already been receiving death threats, he probably will be as the two priests before him were murdered by the government for doing similar work.
Liberation theology is a preferential option for the poor, and looking at how societal structures can be changed through giving impoverished people the language and conceptual tools to start to work for their own betterment. It is radical, revolutionary, and a great threat to the U.S. Government and the few wealthy who live here.
I studied social justice and liberation theology over twenty years ago, but it continues to be challenging, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. I need to ask myself several questions including, what am I doing to change the U.S. Government to make it more just and less oppressive of poor people both within our borders and in Latin America and the rest of the world? The U.S. Government still teaches torture at the “School of the Americas” (now renamed but doing the same work) in the State of Georgia. What is being done with my tax dollars and how am I working to change that? How does my lifestyle rely upon the enslavement of poor people including migrant workers and oppressed foreign workers who are not paid living wages? You may wish to ask yourself some of the same hard-hitting questions.
To see a few pictures and to read a little bit more from Charish Badzinski, a freelance writer who is accompanying us on this trip, please check out http://gate-travel.org/Articles/El_Salvador_Blog
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Travelogue #10, El Salvador, Issues with Being a Vegetarian
San Salvador, El Salvador
Mom, Dad and I arrived in El Salvador on a Pullman bus from Antigua, Guatemala yesterday. We will be going on tour to learn about human rights and social justice issues for the next 9 days. Mom Dad arrived in Guatemala one week ago and we’ve been visiting some great art and history museums plus we went to some sacred Mayan ruins. More about this later.
After nineteen plus years I’ve started eating chicken again. I had originally stopped eating meat so as to be in solidarity with the poor on the border of Mexico who couldn’t afford meat/poultry, plus all the petroleum and water needed to produce feed for livestock in the U.S. But I’m in Central America and people eat whatever they can here including lots of chicken. Yes, there are beans, rice, and tortillas for protein but usually people refuse to eat that 3 meals a day. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several conversations with various people about the pros and cons of a vegetarian diet here. When all is said and done, it’s more expensive to eat soy / tofu, lentils, whole grains, etc. which mostly are imported than to eat what the majority of people are commonly eating. Most of my food has been prepared with/next to chicken anyway, and hopefully my expanding my diet will ease some minor tension with my host family in Ciudad Vieja. Note that when I return to the U.S. I plan to return to being a vegetarian again, but in the meantime, when in Rome....
Mom, Dad and I arrived in El Salvador on a Pullman bus from Antigua, Guatemala yesterday. We will be going on tour to learn about human rights and social justice issues for the next 9 days. Mom Dad arrived in Guatemala one week ago and we’ve been visiting some great art and history museums plus we went to some sacred Mayan ruins. More about this later.
After nineteen plus years I’ve started eating chicken again. I had originally stopped eating meat so as to be in solidarity with the poor on the border of Mexico who couldn’t afford meat/poultry, plus all the petroleum and water needed to produce feed for livestock in the U.S. But I’m in Central America and people eat whatever they can here including lots of chicken. Yes, there are beans, rice, and tortillas for protein but usually people refuse to eat that 3 meals a day. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several conversations with various people about the pros and cons of a vegetarian diet here. When all is said and done, it’s more expensive to eat soy / tofu, lentils, whole grains, etc. which mostly are imported than to eat what the majority of people are commonly eating. Most of my food has been prepared with/next to chicken anyway, and hopefully my expanding my diet will ease some minor tension with my host family in Ciudad Vieja. Note that when I return to the U.S. I plan to return to being a vegetarian again, but in the meantime, when in Rome....
Monday, June 4, 2007
Travelogue #9: Guatemala, land of contrasts
Friday, 1 June 2007
Travelogue #9: Guatemala, land of contrasts
Guatemala -- land of contrasts.
Guatemala: dirt streaked faces on children dressed in rags; heaps of burning garbage souring the air and making one's eyes burn; still more discoveries of mass graves from people murdered by the government sometime between 1960 and 1996; old mufflerless, overcrowded school buses, honking their horns from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m.; anorexic looking roosters crowing all night long; illiteracy; corruption; garbage choked rivers that are more or less open sewers; 200,000 men and women and children murdered or disappeared by the government; pesticide runoff from multi-national agribusiness companies; burning sugar cane fields; dozens of alcohol bottles littering the streets which kids use to sniff glue to get high and to cut their hunger pains; lack of clean water for people to drink; more gang violence reported in the capital city; child labor; rotten corpses of chickens decaying on cobblestone city streets; polluted water, air, soil....
Also Guatemala: smiling content faces; laughter; caring friends; teenagers and adults who make the sign of the cross when passing near a church whether riding on the bus or on the back of a motorcycle; nighttime processions of prayerful, respectful people holding candles and performing the stations of the cross outside, blessing their neighbors houses in Ciudad Vieja; beautiful conical volcanoes and puffs of smoke and/or cloud halos; traveling from rain forest to pine forest to desert within two hours; warm beautiful sunny days; lovely rainy evenings; organic macadamia nut farms with owners who freely distribute macadamia nut trees to indigenous Mayan communities to help; bucolic peacefulness of farmers tilling soil with horses or burros; throngs of people carrying one casket of a dearly beloved friend/family member through city streets stopping all traffic; chanting songs; wonderful smell of roses on shady afternoon patios; three young people helping a woman whose motorcycle is fallen over in the street; carpets of colored sawdust and vegetables which people work on all night long and yet the procession will trample in mere seconds; church ruins with scattered carved rubble; women carrying baskets, bundles, a watermelon, bags of flowers, mangoes, peanuts, whatever on their heads; beautiful purple petals from trees creating lavender carpets of splendor on city sidewalks and highways; poetry, dancing, and free musical events set against the backdrop of a colonial church façade; crystal blue lakes surrounded by volcanoes; buenos dias, buenos tardes, and buenos noches; a little orphan girl at Camino Seguro gives me a balloon; another girl asked me to open my mouth and close my eyes, and then puts a stick of gum in my mouth; a guy overhears my conversation with another Guatemalan about how to change buses in Guatemala City. He later taps me on the shoulder to let me know that this is the bus stop where I need to get off; handmade tortillas still warm from the corner store; the young man who stops for five minutes to listen to the birds with me and to tell me their names, but only in K’ekchí because he doesn't know the Spanish names for them; beautiful waterfalls, fecund rainforests, and all the birds...
I guess it depends upon how you look at it....
Apparently I'm dealing with culture shock. My initial near-euphoria of being back in Guatemala has mostly worn off. I've been struggling with some of the more negative aspects of Guatemalan culture, but have managed to focus on the more positive.
The fact is I can choose to either focus on the garbage, the violence, the pollution, the grinding poverty, the injustice here; or I can still be aware of those more negative elements of life here in Guatemala but instead focus on the beauty around me in the present moment and enjoy the simpler lifestyle.
"It's time to make up your own state of mind..."
-Natalie Merchant
I guess my photographs tell what state of mind I'm in too. Compare the following photos showing where I live in Ciudad Vieja. One looks more like a slum,
and the other emphasizes the beautiful Agua Volcano, at least in my opinion. The yellow arrow is pointing to my bedroom door on the second floor of the green house. Pardon the cliche, but what I'm trying to do is to change my point of view.
The rainy season has begun. Here they call it invierno (winter) and the rain that falls almost continuously is called chipi chipi. The word is probably onomatopoeia because of the sound it makes on tin roofs. Once the rains started a few days ago, zompopos “flying ants” have been crawling all over and literally dropping out of the sky. Yesterday at Camino Seguro, I was helping the cook Maria Luisa in the kitchen by paring vegetables and scrubbing the pots necessary for making dinner for the 44 children and dozens of staff members. While I was working, some of the niños brought in flying ants in a small plastic bottle, and the cook was kind enough to fry the larger ants with some salt and a little lime juice. I'm told they're quite tasty and they are a good source of protein. Are vegetarians allowed to eat insects?
In typical Bill fashion, I've been working on a number of social projects at once. In fact I'm working on four. Occasionally in the evenings I am standing little blocks of wood to make blocks for the kids, I've been going to the Spanish-language school to help them translate their website and volunteer opportunities book into English, on Saturday afternoons I volunteer at a little local library, and five days a week I work with the kids at Safe Passage/Camino Seguro.
I've been trying to help the little library get two very old computers working with educational programs for the kids. I've also gotten to read Spanish-language stories to them and to help them with some of their games and activities.
Here is the translation of La Union language school's volunteer book description of the library:
Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León
The library is located in San Juan del Obispo and was founded in the eighties, but because of the armed conflict the Government closed all the libraries (reading was prohibited). So responsible people took the books from this place to their homes. In 1992 the library was opened again to the public with the current name Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León (named in honor of one of the best writers of the 20th century and who was born in San Juan del Obispo), but there was nobody who could always keep it open. So it was not until 2006 when the group “Probiblioteca” (with a majority of young people), including the writer’s daughter (Mayarí de León González), took on the challenge of keeping the library open on an ongoing basis.
The goal of this library is to give support and education to children and teenagers in painting, music, and lecture; besides rescue the history of the village through the writer’s life.
Presently the project works out of the LIBRARY which is open from Monday to Friday from 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. They offer a PROGRAMA ESCOLAR for children and teenagers, a MUSEUM which is situated one block from the library and a THEATER GROUP in which 19 people of different ages participate. In the library 7 people work as honorary volunteers and thus the library incurs no costs.
The Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León serves 65 children between 3 and 15 years of age. They offer classes on Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in which the children can attend various courses (painting, music, handcrafts, etc.), and activities (go to the park, mountain, etc.). Besides, the children receive a reward for good attendance in the classes, for example they earn a trip to the zoo. To lower/reduce the costs the project requests Q5 for every child for every course. The majority (70%) of the children are from poor families, so the project assists family can not pay for it.
As a volunteer you can help organize and maintain the library, help with the lectures for the kids, work as an English or assistant teacher (no experience necessary), or make furniture for the school and the library. Volunteers are asked to stay at least for 3 Saturdays and it’s important that they like to work with kids. To volunteer you need an intermediate Spanish level. If you would like to contribute with a special course or you have an idea, please contact us.
If you wish you can donate educational materials (children’s books, lecture books, art and coloring books, educational pictures, cardboard, sheets of paper, etc.), school implements (crayons, pencils, glue, paper, recycled paper, etc.), any kind of educational game (table games, etc.) for children and teenagers, or any donation. The Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León will be happy to receive your help.
Mom and Dad are arriving next Wednesday, June 6. We'll spend a few days in the capital city, and then they'll come see where I live before we head to El Salvador for ten days. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them and enjoying some of the wonderful Central American Culture with them.
I hope you are all able to look on the brighter side of your lives too, and I hope you are surrounded by friends and family.
Blessings,
William Straub
Travelogue #9: Guatemala, land of contrasts
Guatemala -- land of contrasts.
Guatemala: dirt streaked faces on children dressed in rags; heaps of burning garbage souring the air and making one's eyes burn; still more discoveries of mass graves from people murdered by the government sometime between 1960 and 1996; old mufflerless, overcrowded school buses, honking their horns from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m.; anorexic looking roosters crowing all night long; illiteracy; corruption; garbage choked rivers that are more or less open sewers; 200,000 men and women and children murdered or disappeared by the government; pesticide runoff from multi-national agribusiness companies; burning sugar cane fields; dozens of alcohol bottles littering the streets which kids use to sniff glue to get high and to cut their hunger pains; lack of clean water for people to drink; more gang violence reported in the capital city; child labor; rotten corpses of chickens decaying on cobblestone city streets; polluted water, air, soil....
Also Guatemala: smiling content faces; laughter; caring friends; teenagers and adults who make the sign of the cross when passing near a church whether riding on the bus or on the back of a motorcycle; nighttime processions of prayerful, respectful people holding candles and performing the stations of the cross outside, blessing their neighbors houses in Ciudad Vieja; beautiful conical volcanoes and puffs of smoke and/or cloud halos; traveling from rain forest to pine forest to desert within two hours; warm beautiful sunny days; lovely rainy evenings; organic macadamia nut farms with owners who freely distribute macadamia nut trees to indigenous Mayan communities to help; bucolic peacefulness of farmers tilling soil with horses or burros; throngs of people carrying one casket of a dearly beloved friend/family member through city streets stopping all traffic; chanting songs; wonderful smell of roses on shady afternoon patios; three young people helping a woman whose motorcycle is fallen over in the street; carpets of colored sawdust and vegetables which people work on all night long and yet the procession will trample in mere seconds; church ruins with scattered carved rubble; women carrying baskets, bundles, a watermelon, bags of flowers, mangoes, peanuts, whatever on their heads; beautiful purple petals from trees creating lavender carpets of splendor on city sidewalks and highways; poetry, dancing, and free musical events set against the backdrop of a colonial church façade; crystal blue lakes surrounded by volcanoes; buenos dias, buenos tardes, and buenos noches; a little orphan girl at Camino Seguro gives me a balloon; another girl asked me to open my mouth and close my eyes, and then puts a stick of gum in my mouth; a guy overhears my conversation with another Guatemalan about how to change buses in Guatemala City. He later taps me on the shoulder to let me know that this is the bus stop where I need to get off; handmade tortillas still warm from the corner store; the young man who stops for five minutes to listen to the birds with me and to tell me their names, but only in K’ekchí because he doesn't know the Spanish names for them; beautiful waterfalls, fecund rainforests, and all the birds...
I guess it depends upon how you look at it....
Apparently I'm dealing with culture shock. My initial near-euphoria of being back in Guatemala has mostly worn off. I've been struggling with some of the more negative aspects of Guatemalan culture, but have managed to focus on the more positive.
The fact is I can choose to either focus on the garbage, the violence, the pollution, the grinding poverty, the injustice here; or I can still be aware of those more negative elements of life here in Guatemala but instead focus on the beauty around me in the present moment and enjoy the simpler lifestyle.
"It's time to make up your own state of mind..."
-Natalie Merchant
I guess my photographs tell what state of mind I'm in too. Compare the following photos showing where I live in Ciudad Vieja. One looks more like a slum,
and the other emphasizes the beautiful Agua Volcano, at least in my opinion. The yellow arrow is pointing to my bedroom door on the second floor of the green house. Pardon the cliche, but what I'm trying to do is to change my point of view.
The rainy season has begun. Here they call it invierno (winter) and the rain that falls almost continuously is called chipi chipi. The word is probably onomatopoeia because of the sound it makes on tin roofs. Once the rains started a few days ago, zompopos “flying ants” have been crawling all over and literally dropping out of the sky. Yesterday at Camino Seguro, I was helping the cook Maria Luisa in the kitchen by paring vegetables and scrubbing the pots necessary for making dinner for the 44 children and dozens of staff members. While I was working, some of the niños brought in flying ants in a small plastic bottle, and the cook was kind enough to fry the larger ants with some salt and a little lime juice. I'm told they're quite tasty and they are a good source of protein. Are vegetarians allowed to eat insects?
In typical Bill fashion, I've been working on a number of social projects at once. In fact I'm working on four. Occasionally in the evenings I am standing little blocks of wood to make blocks for the kids, I've been going to the Spanish-language school to help them translate their website and volunteer opportunities book into English, on Saturday afternoons I volunteer at a little local library, and five days a week I work with the kids at Safe Passage/Camino Seguro.
I've been trying to help the little library get two very old computers working with educational programs for the kids. I've also gotten to read Spanish-language stories to them and to help them with some of their games and activities.
Here is the translation of La Union language school's volunteer book description of the library:
Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León
The library is located in San Juan del Obispo and was founded in the eighties, but because of the armed conflict the Government closed all the libraries (reading was prohibited). So responsible people took the books from this place to their homes. In 1992 the library was opened again to the public with the current name Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León (named in honor of one of the best writers of the 20th century and who was born in San Juan del Obispo), but there was nobody who could always keep it open. So it was not until 2006 when the group “Probiblioteca” (with a majority of young people), including the writer’s daughter (Mayarí de León González), took on the challenge of keeping the library open on an ongoing basis.
The goal of this library is to give support and education to children and teenagers in painting, music, and lecture; besides rescue the history of the village through the writer’s life.
Presently the project works out of the LIBRARY which is open from Monday to Friday from 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. They offer a PROGRAMA ESCOLAR for children and teenagers, a MUSEUM which is situated one block from the library and a THEATER GROUP in which 19 people of different ages participate. In the library 7 people work as honorary volunteers and thus the library incurs no costs.
The Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León serves 65 children between 3 and 15 years of age. They offer classes on Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in which the children can attend various courses (painting, music, handcrafts, etc.), and activities (go to the park, mountain, etc.). Besides, the children receive a reward for good attendance in the classes, for example they earn a trip to the zoo. To lower/reduce the costs the project requests Q5 for every child for every course. The majority (70%) of the children are from poor families, so the project assists family can not pay for it.
As a volunteer you can help organize and maintain the library, help with the lectures for the kids, work as an English or assistant teacher (no experience necessary), or make furniture for the school and the library. Volunteers are asked to stay at least for 3 Saturdays and it’s important that they like to work with kids. To volunteer you need an intermediate Spanish level. If you would like to contribute with a special course or you have an idea, please contact us.
If you wish you can donate educational materials (children’s books, lecture books, art and coloring books, educational pictures, cardboard, sheets of paper, etc.), school implements (crayons, pencils, glue, paper, recycled paper, etc.), any kind of educational game (table games, etc.) for children and teenagers, or any donation. The Biblioteca Comunal Luis de León will be happy to receive your help.
Mom and Dad are arriving next Wednesday, June 6. We'll spend a few days in the capital city, and then they'll come see where I live before we head to El Salvador for ten days. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them and enjoying some of the wonderful Central American Culture with them.
I hope you are all able to look on the brighter side of your lives too, and I hope you are surrounded by friends and family.
Blessings,
William Straub
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