El Salvador

What we did in El Salvador in summary
Site visits:

• Equipo Maiz (a popular education organization) for a history of El Salvador

• la Divina Providencia a hospital for the terminally ill where Monseñor Oscar Romero lived his last days and was killed giving mass
• the Centro de Encuentro Juvenil that works with providing an alternative to at risk youth
• Centro Pastoral Oscar Romero
• Jabali Coffee Cooperative
• Radio Victoria!! a community radio station in northern El Salvador
  
• the National Assembly and met with represenatives from the FMLN and ARENA parties
  

Lectures:

• juvenile justice and gangs
• Migration, immigration, and deportation
  
• liberation theology (and what we do when we return to the US)
• promoting peace and art in Suchitoto (plus some great life advice)
  
• historical walk in Santa Marta
• the current context and political sitution in El Salvador
  
• Testimonals about life before, during, and after the war (the atrocities and struggle)

I really cannot begin to describe all the daily emotions and transformations that I experienced in El Salvador.

You cannot talk about El Salvador and the past atrocities or civilk war without talking about Oscar Romero. He was an archbishop who stood up against the human rights abuses that the government was committing. We visited la Divina Providencia, a hospital for the terminally ill where Oscar Romero lived and was assasinated giving mass on the 24th of March, 1980. Everywhere we walked there were t shirts and other paraphenelia being sold with his image. There is also an effort to canonize him. It was odd but I really felt a connection to him while I was in El Salvador. At the same time, I was also reading The Search for a Nonviolent Future by Michael Nagler. The book also includes stories about volunteers working for peace in El Salvador during the 1980s. Somehow all of these ideas were coming together for a greater understanding of El Salvador and my hopes and dreams. I believe that violence will just produce more violence and there is another way. Oscar Romero stood up to the violence around him because he loved his people and believed they were the most important and deserved to be respected.

A lot of our time in El Salvador was spent talking or thinking about violence and gangs. Sister Peggy at Centro Arte para la Paz said that violence is like oxygen in Nicaragua. Yet, I am able to see hope. Projects are working on improving the lives of at risk youth and giving them other opportunities than going to gangs. Simply cracking down on gangs is not enough because it does not address the root causes. Restorative Justice was mentioned a couple of times as an option or new approach. However, I am concerned about how restorative justic is thrown around as an idea when sometimes people do not fully understand the concept. Restorative justice can be communities working together and can exist outside of the context of the justice system. I am definitely interested in how this approach could develop in El Salvador and would love to come back and be involved in some way.

RADIO VICTORIA
http://www.radiovictoria.org/
For a couple of days, we went to the northern town of Santa Marta and lived with members of the community radio station called Radio Victoria. Today, there is a mining company, Pacific Rim, that wants to excavate gold in the area. The company offered to pay Radio Victoria $8000/month for advertising etc. The Radio refused because they do not support the mining and know it would be bad for the community. There is already a water shortage and the mining would use incredible amounts of water as well as contaminating whatever water would be left for the people. Over a year ago, a social and environmental activist was killed. The police did not really investigate his death and attributed it to every day or gang activity. His body was found tortured at the bottom of a well. Since then, the Radio station was receiving death threats and the equipment was being damaged. The community came together to protect the station and watch in 24 hours a day for a period of 4 months. During this trying time, only one person left the radio station. There are many more details to this story. Overall, Radio Victoria is truly serving the community and standing up for rights and against corruption. We were able to work at Radio Victoria one morning. Molly, Nicole and I worked on a sociograma or skit with a social message. We decided to promote the idea of environmental conservation and that you shouldn't litter. I was la Madre Tierra or Mother Earth. As we were driving away from the town of Victoria, you could hear our skit being played several times.

There were so many things I enjoyed about El Salvador although it was extremely emotionally draining. I loved eating pupusas and learned how to make them. The Spanish accent was a lot easier for me to understand. I enjoyed interacting with El Salvadorian youth (on the University of El Salvador campus and at La Luna- bar/music venue). The people were open to sharing their stories. Hotel El Oasis where we stayed in San Salvador had amazing food and staff. The owners were such caring individuals.