"To wonder and to venture, To create and to construct"

... work cooperatively in groups ... organize ourselves as youth ...
… prevent break-ups of families ... a void risks like drugs …
… express ourselves like with art ...
... evaluate the important facets that affect our lives:
faith, crisis in our country,politics, etc ...
… prevent violence among youth, within families,
among gangs, and against women …

----Strait from the minds of the youth in Los Naranjos come these ideas about themes that they hope to discuss during our year together in the process of youth formation. Today was the first realization of what we have been planning during the last few weeks, and of what I have been looking forward to for several months: the initial meeting in the communities with the youth to begin the process of formation. Some would say FINALLY!, but I can recognize that this culmination is coming at just the right time: my use of the language has progressed, I know at least a bit about the reality of El Salvador and the base communities, my colleague Miguel and I are clicking together as a “team”, and I’ve learned some about popular education as a method of engaging youth in a participatory and dialogical process of developing what they know, expressing it, and acting upon it.

When we arrived in the community, Los Naranjos, it just so happened that another organization was using the “community building”, so we “just had” to meet with the youth under the shade of a giant tree. It was a great setting for the meeting, a little relaxing, a nice breeze, and we had already planned on using “natural” materials for an activity. Los Naranjos is a very rural community of 20 families, with no electricity and a long walk to the river, where most people are subsistence farmers. If the youths want to progress to high school, the nearest one is in the larger community an hour away (if you can find a vehicle, 2-3 hours on foot). I had been to the community several times because this is where, Angel, one of my best friends here lives and serves the community with her sustainable agriculture skills. The youth—12 were present at the meeting today—are younger on average that the youth that we work with in other communities. One young one was 11, and most were 13 to 16, with the leader being 20.

The goals of the meeting today involved getting to know the youth and introducing ourselves as people who will accompany the youth during this year, introducing the workshops about formation and receive the input of the youth about themes, and listen to the youth’s ideas about FUNDAHMER’s relations with the youth in the community in the past and in the upcoming year. I had spent some time in the past week scouring some books I have for suggestions of fun “dynamicas” (or games that can have a didactic purpose) to get the youth active and participating to begin and then to have a chance to present themselves to the group. I have a couple cute pictures from the day, but someone neglected to take one of me in the position of a head-but with the tee-tiny 11-year old as we were “frozen” in this position while we shared a fact about ourselves that the other didn’t know :-). The “meat” of the program today for me began as I guided a process in which the youth did a quick analysis of their reality as youth in the community of Los Naranjos in El Salvador. Then, based on their ideas about the challenges and risks of their reality, the youth thought about and shared themes that they would like, and deem important, to talk about during our monthly workshops. In small groups, the youth first brainstormed about theme ideas, and then to practice exploring a theme more in depth as well as to engage their creativity, they designed a “symbol” for their most interesting or favorite theme. A group collected the containers of different products, like juice cans and bags emptied of their rice, laying around their community as trash to present to the group the dilemma of the increasing cost of basic foods and other goods. Another group designed stick figures, literally “stick figures” made out of sticks from our shade tree, to talk about how they wanted to not only learn how to be better individuals (values, self-esteem, etc) but also operate better in groups (organization of themselves as youth, teamwork, conflict management, etc.)

“…to realize that they too ‘know things’ they have learned in their relations with the world and with other people” (Paulo Freire, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"). Today, as we began the formation workshops, I wanted to design the time we spent together to begin a pattern of creativity, active participation, critical thinking, and dialogue, all along the route to liberation. I mean liberation in the sense of having the life-giving ability (and awareness of that ability, critical among the oppressed like youth in poor communities in El Salvador) to unveil their reality through reflection and dialogue and (re-)create their reality through committed involvement. (Along these lines, I liked the title of this blog today, which is from another quote from Paulo Freire.) What this means in practical terms, like what I think about when I design the workshops, is that I will not act as just an “expert” on a particular theme who “fills” the minds of the youth. Rather, I know that the youth already have within them the ability to work to change their conditions. I will work to create a space where the youth feel safe and empowered to think critically, express their thoughts, dialogue with their peers (the other youth alongside them in their struggle), and hopefully eventually act upon their new-found consciousness. Though sometimes it would be far easier to just to say something I “know,” I will work to create conditions during the workshops that encourage the youth themselves to think critically, dialogue among each other, and generate for themselves how their reflections and knowledge could actually lead to action and change.

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.

Merry Christmas

I have a little surprise for everyone. Ready? OK, so I have been able to come home to North Carolina for Christmas. I arrived this weekend and will be spending time with family and friends here until I leave to return to El Salvador on January 7. A lot of things had to work out to make this Christmas vacation possible: time, resources, etc. So, with all that in mind, its easy to recognize this time as a blessing. Already, I've spent some fun and meaningful time with my extended family in Pigeon Fordge, Tennessee, listened to Christmas carols and read the Christmas cards with my parents, and played Guitar Hero :-) with my brother.

I will post again when I get back to El Salvador in January. In the meantime, if any one of those others of you who are usually away is going to be in Western NC during these 2 weeks, let me know and we can hang out.

Anyways, whereever you are and whatever you are doing on this Christmas Eve-Eve (with the minutes ticking on to Christmas Eve), all the blessings of hope, peace, and love to you. And may we face each day of the Christmas season ever combatting consumerism with compassion (thanks Danny for these words that express this desire so tactfully). My Christmas thougths recently have dwelled on what it means for followers of Christ today that we believe in a God that, a long time ago, decided to come and live with us on earth for a while ("gunky" though the world is sometimes) to do what he did, teach what he did, hang out with who he did, and "end" his life like he did.

And on the note of reflecting on what Christmas means for us today, I want to leave you with the chorus of the Christmas song, "Navidad en Libertad" (Christmas in Liberty" by Carlos Godoy of Nicaragua), that became really meaningful to me as I sang it with others from FUNDAHMER and in the communities last week in El Salvador. Jesus, born to ever give us HOPE to work for dignity and abundant life for everyone.

Feliz Navidad, feliz Navidad,
en justicia y libertad.
Feliz Navidad, un montón mejor
sin miseria ní opresión.

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
in justice and liberty.
Merry Christmas, a world so much better
without misery or oppression.

Gifts

It was hard to get up this morning. It was Sunday and my alarm went off at 6:30--after a couple snoozes, I rolled over, put my feet in my sandals and got up. As I was slowly getting dressed, my friend Angel asked me why I had put a skirt on. Weird, I thought: "Why not?, its comfortable." "We're playing soccer this afternoon," she informed me. Somehow I had missed the memo about the details of the day's activities. All I knew (and needed to know) last night before I went to bed was that there was a "convivio" of the women's groups from 4 different base communities. And it was to be held in Las Mesas, a community that until today I had not visited. The direct translation of "convivio" is "a live with," but since that doesn't make sense, I say that it is a "get-together," an opportunity to pass time (a.k.a. live) together. So, I was mumbling something about playing soccer (which is not my favorite sport, though I DO NOT pass over an opportunity to play any sport here), asking why we were leaving so early, and saying that I had also wanted to go to the "mass of the people" at the Cathedral today, which would not be possible. And Angel, in her ever so astute manner in the mornings (she is used to getting up at 5:30 to 6:00 because she lives sometimes in one of the rural communities where the daily schedules are quite different) said: "But its important for the women to get out of their houses and have some fun and something special." That made me smile, remember why I'm doing this, and get my act in gear.

It’s important to realize that the women that hung out together today almost exclusively have very limited scopes of the range of their activities. I realized part of this when I was working in Texas this summer at Mission Waco (shout-out to Mission Waco-- thank you for providing many experiences that helped inform my work here in El Salvador!), and as a learning exercise about the conditions of the world, we visited a farm and were required to prepare our own meal from scratch. And when I say "from scratch" (I think of biscuits, which they don't have here, and I miss, but alas, more importantly:) I mean from chasing the chicken around the yard to walking an hour to get water to picking the vegetables from the garden. That's how most of the world lives, and who bears the brunt of these responsibilities (at least in Latin America)? Women. (It took 4 hours to prepare our meal in Waco, by the way, and 4 times 3 (meals a day)….you do the math). Women's activities here are also limited by childcare responsibilities and sadly, in more than a few cases, by the male-chauvinist differences in women’s and men’s roles and expectations (called “machismo”). Also, travel to and from many of these communities takes several hours, including a long way on foot, so the women’s activities are limited by the sheer fact that it takes a long time and a lot of planning to go anywhere outside the community. So, when we got on our way this morning in a bus full of happy women, I did indeed realize that it was a special occasion for us all to be together to spend time together and enjoy the day.

“Equipo Mujeres” (“Team Women,” as I began calling us, you will understand why when I explain more) ran into (literally) our first teamwork activity about 45 minutes along into our bus journey down a long, hilly, rutted dirt road to Las Mesas. This road was inaccessible to vehicles until about 2 weeks ago when it sufficiently dried after the rainy season ended. I understand the problem we had with vehicles because my first car was a Mitsubishi Eclipse that rides close to the ground. Yep, you guessed it, when going down in a steep dip and then trying to come back up the other side in our bus (like a school bus in the US), we got stuck. Stuck enough to require an hour, pushing of all 25 women on the bus’s rear, and a Jeep and a chain pulling in front to dislodge it. Moreover, when we dislodged the bus the first time with all our teamwork, sweat, and pushing, the bus got stuck again in a different direction! There is something about difficulties that catalyzes bonding, because by the time we celebrated the “victory” of the dislodging with shouts of “Vive las Mujeres”, we knew it was bound to be a fun day. While I’m on the topic of our awesome bus, I’m going to skip ahead to our return journey, when, you guessed it, we got stuck again in the same place (there really was no way to get a big long bus through this steep and wide dip), requiring more teamwork in the rear of the bus and another tow vehicle. But the more interesting thing was that when the bus got stuck this time, all of us were outside the bus watching it try to make it through the dip. Why, you ask? Because half-way down the long dirt road, the bus developed a strange smell and a steady oil-drip, requiring the assistance of a mechanic (remember we were 45-minutes down the dirt road away from a main highway) and left at least some of us wondering if we were going to get out of this hole by night-fall (we did!).

I share this because its just one of the examples that I have had of how a crazy situation in this country can turn into a highlight of a trip (I’m writing about it on my blog, aren’t I?): an experience of teamwork, a source a lot of laughs and A LOT of time to literally sit beside a road or stand behind a bus making new friends, and even teach me a thing or two about making the best of a situation, not complaining, and looking for little acts of provision. We played A LOT of soccer today in the heat of El Salvadoran summer. For the women, organizing ourselves in teams and playing on the respectable soccer field was empowering. After the games, I was talking to the husband of my team’s goalie and asked if he thought she had a good time playing. He not only said yes, but also said that today was the first time that his wife had played soccer like we did!

Before I get off track with the point of my story about the women, let me reiterate that we played A LOT of soccer today. Also, you might need to know that one of my greatest “fears” is being thirsty. Thus, on one hand, I am not found without my water bottle (especially in a place like Las Mesas where there is no purified drinking water), but on the other, I understand thirst and am not going to say no to sharing my water with someone who is as thirsty as I am but has no water. So, after sharing my water and not having any more accessible to buy, I was really, really thirsty all throughout the soccer game, not to mention hours later when we were sitting beside the bus or pushing it out of its hole. And everyone else was thirsty too, but the crazy thing was that no one complained or even got down about our condition or the bus situation in general. In fact, I felt self-conscious because I was the one trying with complaining-thoughts running through my head (regardless of the fact that I felt socially persuaded by the ánimo [encouragement] of the group not to say anything). After a couple hours sitting beside the bus, we noticed a pick-up selling fruits and vegetables trying to detour its way around the bus through the woods (because the broken-down bus was taking up the road). I saw watermelon in the truck from a distance, but then we determined that there was no way to cut it easily (drop it on the ground and hope it splits?). Nevertheless, when the truck came closer, we realized that a solution to our water-shortage problem had arrived in the form of “10 mandarin oranges for $1.” I initially saw this as just a tide-us-over thing, but the women I was with were genuinely happy and THANKFUL for the arrival of these oranges to re-hydrate us. I wish I could have taken a picture of this orange-eating fest to show you the contentment (“this was just what we needed”) and the thankfulness (“thanks be to God, this was just what we needed”), but like our good ole bus, my camera was out of power by this point the day.

“True liberation is freeing people from the bonds that have prevented them from giving their gifts to others…the best I can do is probably not to give but to receive. By receiving in a true and open way, those who give to me can become aware of their own gifts. After all, we come to recognize our own gifts in the eyes of those who receive them gratefully. Gratitude thus becomes the central virtue of a missionary.” Henri Nouwen wrote the words in his book “Gracias!” (pg 16), in which he shares with readers his experiences and reflections during his time in South America living and working with the people to discern if he was to become a full-time missionary. I saw Nouwen’s words lived out in my experience today with the women. Sure, because of the situations I mentioned earlier in this post, as well as because of poverty, oppression, and other forms of injustice, the El Salvadoran women are deprived of their dignity to life a full and abundant life. But today was not some excursion provided by FUNDAHMER to entertain the women; rather, the journey proved to be just the opposite: with all its ups and downs (no pun intended, oh, you ruts and dips in the road :-) ), I realized some great gifts the women have to give: their ánimo [encouraging spirits], their hard work, their sharing even when they have little [as was true with the water today], their general happiness despite their tough situations, their thankfulness, and their optimism (in other words, HOPE). These gifts were particularly obvious today when the women were outside of their normal spheres and encountered both some difficult and very happy experiences. Although I doubt if the women consciously noticed the gifts they were sharing with each other and with me, but because I was a recipient of their gifts (both a difficult and very happy experiences for me too), their dignity (liberation) was realized a little more.

Community Visits are Making All the Difference

In the past 3 weeks, I have experienced so much in “my communities,” that is, the ecclesial base communities of El Salvador with whom I am working. For the past 3 weeks, my responsibilities have included many visits to these communities. I have attended youth meetings, meetings of the women’s group, meetings of the cooperatives, and reunions of all the base communities in one space. I have spent time with the communities at events such as a vigil remembering Jesuit martyrs and at a march to commemorate the International Day of No Violence Against Women, and in extended visits with other FUNDAHMER workers to the communities. With what purpose?, you ask. My goals during these weeks are to get to know the communities (including both the people and the situations in which they live), with a special emphasis on the youth with whom I will work for the next 2 years. All the time, I am listening to the histories and struggles of the youth and their hopes and ideas for the future, and based on this intake, I try to generate some preliminary ideas for my and FUNDAHMER’s relations with these youth in the future. This sounded pretty abstract as I wrote it out like that, so I will share an example of one of these experiences:

Last Sunday, members of 9 different communities met together in one community for a meeting which they call “Escuela de Debate” that occurs once every 1 or 2 months. With my interest in Latin American liberation theology, I was highly interested in seeing this meeting because the purpose is to acknowledge and evaluate the realities of the communities’ situations and to reflect on how Christianity might have something to do with their responses to their realities. ***Here, a couple phrases need some fleshing out; for example, the “communities’ situations” often involve poverty, lack of opportunities, malnutrition, and lack of education. These are only some of the negative parts of the communities’ situations, but their situations also often include good organization (a characteristic of many of the Christian base communities that FUNDAHMER works with), cooperation within the community and with outside entities, willingness to acknowledge reality, and hard work. “Christianity” in the context of Christian base communities involves faith, action, and hope in light of Biblical scriptures, the life and teachings of Jesus, the lives of other important men and women in the history of Christianity who have devoted their lives to seeing more love, justice, and peace realized in the world [the most profound here is Monsignor Oscar Romero, but there are so many more], and other documents and people that have been relevant to the church of the poor in Latin America [Vatican II, Medellín Conference, etc].

In the meeting on Sunday, I was pleased to watch and even participate as a special and interesting process occurred. The community discussed both their current situations and how they should respond to their situations given their self-identification as followers of Christ and as successors in a long history of people who worked in their communities, in this country, and in the world for dignity, equality, justice, peace, and an end to oppressive conditions. The topics were vivid and relevant, including immigration, violence to women, socialism, water shortage and contamination, the upcoming elections, and the rising costs of basic needs like rice, beans, medical care, and transportation. This experience of theology (“faith seeking understanding”) occurring at the grassroots was profound in itself, especially for me, as I am motivated by the search to know more about “What is God?” in light of the past and all it brought with it (which includes everything from the life of Jesus to the personal histories of communities, families, and individuals) and the current situations in which we find ourselves.

Moreover, as I visit the communities, I intentionally observe with great detail the situations of the youth. In this meeting on Sunday, out of the 35 or so people there, 6 or 7 were youth ages 13 to 18. I had met many of the youth previously (in different contexts such as at youth or cooperative meetings in their own communities), and thus I knew that these youth have the capacity and desire to contribute a lot. They actively think and respond to their realities, and I have been blown away many times by the depth of their thoughts and ideas. I expected to hear a lot of input from these youth, but I observed little; instead, they were quiet in the presence of the adults. This was thought-provoking for me because, like I said, these youth have so much to say and discuss that I could practically see it burning in their minds. Thus, perhaps an idea to consider as the youth organization begins in 2009 is a space, like the “Escuela de Debate” is for adults, for youth to feel comfortable and want to discuss their situations and how their Christian faith and hope are relevant to the decisions they make to affect their realities.

To Perquin and Beyond....

I had a free weekend between my “graduation” from language school and beginning at FUNDAHMER on Tuesday and needed a break from the city. Also, I am particularly interested in learning about the history and reality of El Salvador (and Central America and the world), especially as it relates to the youth with whom I will be working. Thus, a friend and I traveled to the community of Perquin (“Per” as in “1 time per week” and “-quin” is pronounced like “keen” like “sharp”) in the department of Morazon (“Mora-” rhymes with “Dora” like “Dora the Explorer” and “-zon” rhymes with “con” as in con-artist) in El Salvador. “Departments” here in El Salvador are much like states are in relation to the whole United States or like counties are in relation to entire states in the US. There are 14 departments in El Salvador, and Morazon is the department farthest to the northeast. It borders Honduras, and in fact, the land along the border of Morazon and Honduras is often disputed between the 2 countries (currently, the land is officially part of Honduras, but someone told me that the people there vote in the Salvadoran elections—weird!). Perquin (6ish hours in buses from San Salvador) is historically famous because during the war (1980-1992), it was a base and stronghold of the guerrilla forces. The guerrillas organized to oppose the government and military of El Salvador because of conditions of poverty, injustice, and oppression that were reality for the majority of citizens of El Salvador. Perquin, located in the mountains of eastern El Salvador, was a strategic location for the guerrillas because they used their knowledge of the mountains to oppose the military forces trained and equipped by the likes of the United States. The best museum of the revolution is located in Perquin, where we learned about the causes and details of the war, life as a guerrilla, weapons used by both sides (it was sad to see how many were manufactured and provided by our very own USA), and effects of the war. Our guide through the museum was an ex-guerrilla and thus had his own personal anecdotes to share. At the museum are located the remains of Radio Venceremos (“Radio ‘We Shall Overcome’”), the radio station of the guerrillas and their supporters that literally broadcast from under ground (in hiding because of their fear of being found out by the military).

On opposite sides of the small community of Perquin are 2 mountains that were the strongholds of the different sides of the war. The mountain aptly named Perquin was controlled by, and a base for, the guerrillas and the mountain named Giant was a center for the military. Our hikes in these mountains were led by a young man who had spent the early years of his life in a war refugee camp right across the border in Honduras. On the mountains, we saw trenches and holes that the 2 sides used strategically, and bomb craters. Nothing could have better brought the reality of 12 years of civil warfare to life. On Friday night in Perquin, a brigade of ex-guerrillas held a “reunion” in the town center, and in El Salvador, any reunion or any similar occasion is cause for a fiesta (party). Ex-guerrillas spoke to the people, and I was most fascinated by the words of a woman ex-commander who spoke about the long-term effects of women’s participation as guerrillas in the war. The “official” musicians of the guerrillas, who played often on Radio Venceremos, were the entertainment for the night. A lot of happiness and dancing…its great to see the celebration of a community who has suffered so much.

Early one morning, my friend, a guide, and I stuck off across the mountains on a hike to the site of the most famous massacre during the war years—El Mozote. Sixteen kilometers and 4 hours later, we drug ourselves up one last mountain to El Mozote, a small (much smaller than even Perquin) community nestled in the mountains. El Mozote is used to receiving visitors, so after we re-hydrated, we met with a guide who showed us the famous memorial that honors the 1,000 or so people who were murdered by the Atlacatl Battalion of the military in 3 days in 1981. One night in December 1981, the military drug all the citizens of El Mozote to the town center, and then sent the children inside the church and the men and women to separate buildings. Over 3 days, every single member of the community was massacred except for a lone woman—I will spare you the gory details. The lone survivor, Rufina Amaya, heard her children calling to her from within the church as they were being killed. People really are not sure why El Mozote was targeted for this horrendous massacre. Someone explained to me that the military must have wanted to “drain a lake to catch a few fish.” One of the most upsetting parts of this disaster was that the Atlacatl Battalion was trained and equipped by our very own US. In the “links” section to the right, you can find the article “The Truth of El Mozote” by Mark Danner published in The New Yorker in 1993 about the discovery of the remains of the community, the history, and the controversy.

During our visit to Perquin and El Mozote, not an hour passed without something interesting happening. Some highlights of some of the eclectic and interesting things that happened: Whether it be waiting for my bus on Monday morning as a man carrying an opossum (dead) by its tail walked by in the street, or the visit to Perquin by one of the candidates for the 2009 Salvadoran elections, or a surprise visit with a corn farmer who also had tilapia tanks, there was always something new to see, do, or learn. In the church in Perquin, I saw a banner designed by children that associated God’s promise to Abraham of descendents and a great nation to immigration in modern times, and had the opportunity to talk about this with the security guard at our hostel, who also happened to be an ex-guerrilla and a pastor and has the desire to move to the United States. En route to Perquin, our bus stopped functioning in the middle of nowhere, and my friend and I experienced the generosity of the others on the bus being willing to help us out, not to mention, we learned a lot about the middle of nowhere in the department of Morazon. Our guide on one of the days there was a 19-year-old with an interest in botany and organic agriculture (on top of being inspired by his ideas, work, and studies, this expanded my Spanish vocabulary to words such as compost, manure, and the name of the country’s official flower). 8 of the 17 communities where I will be working with FUNDAHMER in the upcoming 2 years are located in the department of Morazon, and thus I know that our trip this past weekend, although enjoyable nonetheless, helped me understand just a little more of the history and reality of the young people who live in this department to the far northeast.