This Global Awareness in Action group has had a busy week! During the first few days in San Salvador, we met with a number of people and organizations working in a variety of arenas, from environmentalism to immigration to politics and even with an organization educating communities throughout the country on the ´popular history´ of El Salvador.
The group had an opportunity to engage in an economic exercise in the busy San Miguel market in which they set off in small groups with a list of basic foods essential to the Salvadoran diet. The experience of buying watermelon, beans, and other fruits and vegetables for the kitchen in our hotel in San Salvador, Hotel Oasis, was an enjoyable one and they had to put their Spanish to work while they bargained for the best prices. The exercise was followed up with a discussion about the costs of the items purchased-- it was easy to see how much (or how little, really) a Salvadoran family could afford on the national minimum wage.
While in San Salvador, we also heard the heartwrenching and inspiring personal histories of individuals who lived through the civil war and who now continue to work for social change in this country. An ex-combatant, now a deputy in the National Assembly, led us through a tour of the assembly buildings and set up meetings with Assembly members from the two primary political parties (FMLN and ARENA).
That day, we ate wonderful traditional lunch of beans and vegetable stew in the home a local woman, Beatriz, and it was eye-opening to see how the urban poor lived in this country. We also visited La Divina Providencia, a Catholic Center with a hospital that cares for terminally ill cancer patients which is also where Archbishop Oscar Romero lived and was assassinated while performing a mass in March 1980. Romero had used his position of authority to denounce the repression and murders carried out by the government and the military. Romero´s assassination shocked the world and his death was intensely mourned by the Salvadoran people.
Now, in Santa Marta, the students are beginning to work more closely with the different organizations involved in community development. Some are up to their elbows in dirt at the community greenhouses (some of the first in the country to provide rural communities with fresh, organic fruit and vegetables), some are working with the communications and press departments of Radio Victoria (which you can stream at: www.radiovictoria.org or www.radiovictoria.infosal.com) and still others are working in the local clinic and with CoCoSi, the HIV-AIDS organization here in town. We´ve been blessed with hot and sunny weather throughout the day with some fantastic downpours in the afternoon to cool off. We have had plenty of outdoor activities such as hiking to the clandestine hospitals used to treat victims during the war and of course playing futbol y frisbee with the young kids here in town.
Below are updates written by two of out students, Adam and Melanie. Enjoy!
Brian and Sarah
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Hola de Santa Marta! We left Hotel Oasis in San Salvador and have arrived in Santa Marta, a town full of unified efforts. Comprised of 2500 people, Santa Martans are extraordinarily friendly and hospitable to strangers. Our home consists of 3 bedrooms, a common room, a bathroom and a latrine and compared to San Salvador, Santa Marta has much more room to wander and feel free. The lifestyle is different as well. Everyone moved at a more comfortable, easy going pace, as compared to the hectic capital city. At la casa de Aida we eat the delicious meals prepared with the freshest ingredients. Aida is also a valuable resource to the group as she has survived the bloody civil war and we recently read the testimony that she had transcribed to preserve some of the history. By the end, there was not one dry eye!
-Adam
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¨During our first week here in El Salvador we have been exposed to many influential people and places. Our group has made a smooth transition from our privileged lives at home to the lifestyles of a third world country. Now in Santa Marta the interesting history that has been told to us through many stories from various resources is becoming a pivotal point from which each of us is deciding our venue of individual study. This study may include working with Radio Victoria, a youth run radio that allows a flow of information ranging from politics to music. We have met with CoCoSi, an organization which is bringing awareness to the reality of gay, lesbian and transgender people in El Salvador. It is also working in the area of sex education, although these are all relative topics in the U.S., here they are still on the brink of something discussed on a public level. A couple of the girls have decided to work at the local school, which goes up until the 10th grade. The health clinic is also an area open for projects-- we are able to shadow Doctor Perez while also gaining an awareness of the environmental issues that subsequently effect the health of many. There is an organic greenhouse that grows food for the community funded by an organization called AdesFia this is also an opportunity for study. ¨
-Melanie
