A Little Explaining to Do...

In the 3 weeks that I have been back here in El Salvador, we have made many exciting and clarifying plans about our work in faith formation and leadership training with youth this year and about my role in this work. Some have already heard this information in my letters to the church, but I want to make sure all of you know about these plans so that you can share the hope I have for the upcoming year. We have 4 major goals for the year 2009. The first is to finish with the construction of the Youth Center in Sacacoyo, which is in the department of La Libertad in Sacacoyo. The construction of this center began in 2007 and continued that year as far as to complete a rectangular building with chairs and a small stage, but construction was not fully finished last year. The Youth Center is used by all 500-800 youth in all the base communities in all the departments of La Libertad, San Salvador, and Morazan. For example, throughout the past year, each Sunday afternoon, a group of youth from all three departments used the Youth Center for FUNDAHMER’s Art for Social Change program. (See the picture for an "inside view" of the Youth Center during the graduation ceremony of this Art program). Because of the proximity of the Youth Center to the youth of La Libertad, it is used with great frequency by these youth who live closer to it for workshops, celebrations, and other activities. It is especially important for youth from communities who do not have a church or a space adequate for meetings and activities. The Youth Center will be one of the locations where I will lead monthly formation workshops for the youth of La Libertad. This year, if there are sufficient funds, we aim to complete the construction of the Youth Center by making 2 additions to the existing structure: a library room and a basketball court to provide opportunities for education and recreation for the youth of all the Christian base communities.

The second goal for 2009 is to complete the process of becoming a legally-sanctioned Youth Association. The Youth organization will become a separate legal organization from FUNDAHMER, capable of having all the same functions a FUNDAHMER, such as self-direction, development, and other capabilities of a not-for-profit organization. Already, this process toward legality has begun. Youths from the Christian base communities in each of the three departments of El Salvador, La Libertad, San Salvador, y Morazan, have elected five representatives, for a total of 15 youth leaders. These 15 have been recognized by FUNDAHMER and by all the communities’ youths as those who will lead the process of attaining legal recognition and of developing themselves (with help from us at FUNDAHMER) as leaders of the association and of their communities. These 15 youth leaders will learn about and obtain the required official documents to become a legally-recognized organization. In monthly meetings, they will work together to complete the appropriate processes such as developing the mission, vision, and internal regulations of the Youth Association.

The third goal for 2009 is also related to the initiation and development of the Youth Association. During 2009, we will work to prepare and equip youth leaders (specifically the 15 that have been elected by their communities) to lead, develop, and self-sustain their own Association. The skills that the youth need to learn range from as technical as how to budget the funds for their Association to as universal as leadership skills. We will invite some of FUNDAHMER’s very own founders and leaders to give workshops incorporating their knowledge of how to begin and sustain an association. Based on the personnel we have in mind, topics will likely include executive functions, finance and accounting, development, and the challenges of the first years of an association. We will also look for outside resources such as leaders of other non-profit organization and legal representatives to lead workshops for our youth. We hope to realize eight of these themed workshops this year, one during each month from March to October. The program will award diplomas at the end of the year to the youths who regularly attend and participate to incentivize strong commitments by these 15 youth to their self-development as leaders and as an association.

Another exciting component of the year’s 3rd goal is a leadership exchange with a youth-support organization in Sweden. In April, 5 of the youth leaders from the Christian base communities will travel to Sweden to learn about youth-organization formation and leadership from experienced leaders of youth there in Sweden. In turn, a delegation from Sweden will visit our base communities in November so that all of the 500-800 youth in all the base communities can directly benefit from what the experienced leaders of the youth-support organization will share with us.

For a moment, I want to explain my responsibilities within all these goals for the year 2009, because I share the responsibility of realizing these goals with Miguel (the youth program coordinator, pictured with me to the left). Although we will support each other in all areas of this year’s work, we saw it best to divide the work a little more specifically based on the strengths and interests of each of us. Miguel will be primarily responsible for the fist and second goals, that is, to lead the completion of the construction of the Youth Center in Sacacoyo and to lead the process of attaining legal recognition of the Youth Association. Miguel and I will share the responsibilities of the third goal to equip and prepare the 15 youth leaders to auto-sustain the Youth Association. I will assume responsibility for the fourth goal discussed below.

The fourth goal of 2009 is to realize a process of formation for all the 500 to 800 youths who will participate in the Christian base communities. The majority of them range in age from 13 to 25. This differs from the 3rd goal of equipping and preparing the leaders of the base communities, because in the 3rd goal, the 15 leaders will be coming together in San Salvador to have workshops and meetings with the goal that they will be equipped and prepared take what they are learning and doing back to their own youth communities. In contrast, to realize the fourth goal, we will directly offer formation workshops to all the youths in the communities in locations more accessible to all the youths. The themes of these formation workshops will include: the national and international reality, youth violence prevention, sexuality and reproduction, faith and values formation, youth identity, and identity of the Christian base communities. Sub-topics might include risk and conflict management, a study of a book like Luke, self-esteem, theological reflection, social and community involvement, and the conditions of limited resources such as water and the environment. I will be designing the curriculum for these workshops and will solicit assistance from specialists in the different themes and from literature. I will call on my training in psychology, as well as a background and interest in theology and history and current events in El Salvador and in the world, to prepare the material for all of these formation training themes. I will also use my experience with youth, specifically my experience in didactic techniques for youth interactions (like teaching, leading reflections, and leading fun but meaningful activities), to plan and carry out the workshops in ways that will help the youth retain what they hear, see, and do during the times they are with each other and with me.

To realize the logistics of making formation accessible to all youths in the 3 departments of FUNDAHMER’s Christian base communities (La Libertad, San Salvador, and Morazan), we have divided the communities into 6 regions that are more geographically compact. (See the map for dots indicating the 6 locations where I will lead formation trainings in order to make formation accessible to youth from 18 communities from 3 different departments of El Salvador.)
Each month, from March to November, I will lead a themed formation workshop in each of the 6 regions. August and November will be exceptions to the format of conducting the formation workshops in the 6 different regions. In both of these months, we will have weekend activities like camping trips with formation and reflection time built into the itinerary of these events. For at least one of these weekends, we hope to have all the youth from all 3 departments together in one location, which is a huge deal because of the isolation and great distance between many of the communities. Each weekend will have a theme such as self-esteem/self-awareness and incorporate reflection about values, faith, and identity. Moreover, throughout the year there will also be opportunities to organize activities for the youths to put into action what they are learning in the formation trainings. Ideas for these are preliminary but might include celebration and reflection services on events important in the history and current struggle here in El Salvador, participation in events calling for the extension of access to sufficient clean water or the end of violence against women, and service projects.

As I plan the themes, design the curriculum, and realize the workshops in the coming months, I will also be creating a manual of the themes, information, reflections, and materials of the workshops. Copies of this manual will be presented to the communities’ youth to use to share with others in the communities and will be presented to FUNDAHMER to use in this process of formation in the future.

Welcome Back and Getting Started

Sorry, little blog, that I have not posted anything about El Salvador on you for a long time. But it hasn’t been for a lack of activity. In the past month, I have wrapped up the “old” year 2008 with style (in the form of reflection and critical assessment of all that FUNDAHMER did during the past year), spent 2 ½ weeks with my family in North Carolina for Christmas and New Years (my brother, mom, dad, and I in the picture here), and this past week returned to El Salvador to face all of what the new year 2009 will bring. A special thanks to everyone who made my time at home extra special, of course, my family whom I enjoyed so much, special friends who visited me or talked with me, and everyone at church and other places who offered sooo much encouragement and love, listened to me, and reminded me that I am cared for and prayed for. I was excited and thankful to be able to spend time with you and, thankfully, I am excited to be back here in El Salvador. And as everyone here says during these first weeks, “Feliz Ano!” May the coming year bring many blessings for you, our families, our nation(s), and our world.

Today, Monday, was the first day that I was back in full swing here at FUNDAHMER. “Full Swing” as it looks right now is meeting with the others working in my “area” of youth to define the goals for this year and to develop plans of actions for how (with details) to reach these goals. A clear difference that I have experienced between “this year” and “last year” (the difference between 2009 and 2008) is that beginning these weeks, I am fully engaged in the process of planning, envisioning, leading, and doing the work of FUNDAHMER that supports the Christian base communities. This is a change from the time I spent before Christmas accompanying the others in the organizations to the communities to get to know the organization and its ministry and the communities where I will work for the next two years. I am working these days to fill in the details of a lot of the “hows” and “wheres” which I will be excited to report to you in the next weeks, but first, as requested, I want to share a little of what I have learned about the formation, structure, purpose, and work of Christian base communities and FUNDAHMER, so you can better understand my context during the next two years.

First, know that FUNDAHMER is an organization that exists to assist Christian base communities with their goal of connecting their Christian faith and their daily life. Some of the first Christian base communities began forming in the 70’s as part of a movement of the Church to be “with” and “of” the people (as opposed to “above” or “in charge of” the people) especially poor and usually exploited people, just like the people in these communities in El Salvador. The more communities formed during and after the civil war of the 1980s in El Salvador. The people were displaced from their previous communities and homes, and when they had to form new communities, they founded these communities with the connecting their faith to their lives in practical and physical ways. These communities range in size—many are comprised of about 20 families and some are larger. Some are urban or semi-urban, and many are rural and absolutely poor.

I love to think about, read, and “see” theology, so let me give you a little taste of what inspires me about the theology of the Christian base communities. This is important to me (as well as the communities) and influences and encourages us in our desires to work in the that capacities we do. The communities are inspired by the example of Jesus who had a special love for the poor, the left out, and the looked down on. Jesus did as seemingly small of thing as choose to hang out with those that society despised to as big of thing as saying that the poor have the kingdom of God. The communities realize that all of us are children of God and have value, and thus encourage full participation in the community and church by everyone (women, children, laity, etc). Moreover, the communities realize that though the Kingdom of God is only perfectly realized in heaven, the prayer of Jesus was, and a noble goal for followers of Christ is, to work for the realization of God’s will “on earth as in Heaven”. The life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus and the work of God in history as accounted in the Bible and in the lives of their communities give the communities hope to begin and continue working for abundant life for everyone.

FUNDAHMER exists to assist more than 20 of these communities, especially in the areas of Biblical formation, theology, values, human rights, empowerment, community development, and development of alternatives against poverty and inequality. The work in the communities by FUNDAHMER is divided into 3 categories or “departaments.” The department of “solidarity” works to promote and sustain relations between the Christian base communities and their international “sister communities.” Each of the 20-some communities has a sister community, many of whom are communities, parishes, or families in the US or Europe, that support the Christian base communities in ways as diverse as providing scholarships and sending delegations to prayer and spreading the news of the work of Christian base communities in El Salvador. Solidarity also helps international delegations and individuals who want to come observe or help with the work of Christian base communities. The 2nd department of interest in FUNDAHMER is called “Development”, and is comprised of a wide variety of projects initiated by the communities to help improve their lives. My best friend here works in an organic agriculture project with a community of 20 families. Various communities have completed or are working on projects such as honey-production, rainwater collection, and small-business (such as bread-baking) star-ups.

Our brief journey through the structure of FUNDAHMER finally takes us to the department of Education, in which I work. Education involves Biblical formation, with a special emphasis on the connection between faith and the practical, formal education in schools (FUNDAHMER supports a kindergarten and elementary school in 2 communities), as well as education about values and involvement in their communities, church, and country. My work with youth falls in this category of education, as well as proposed formation with young people who are recipients of scholarships provided by their sister communities for elementary and high school and college.