Travelogue #12 El Salvador

(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