Last continuation of Day 2

In between hearing from our two speakers, we took a tour of San Salvador, the National Cathedral, and  El Rosario church.  Later that afternoon, we also visited the Monument for Truth.  It is very similar to the Vietnam Memorial.  It is engraved with 30,000 names in memory of the the dead and those who disappeared during the armed conflict of the 70's and 80's.  The wall is incomplete as 75,000 were killed but not all of the names were available when the wall was built. Names are still being added.

           The streets were packed. Traffic was crazy.  I would never have wanted to drive in it!

Piñatas were sold all over in the downtown area.  They definitely take them seriously as many were the size of a small child. They were the nicest looking piñatas I have every seen.

                                                                The Plaza Civica

Crypt of Archbishop Oscar Romero at the National Cathedral in San Salvador.  Archbishop Romero stood up for the people of El Salvador,  fighting for justice and human rights, and was killed in 1980 by a death squad assassin with a single bullet, while celebrating Holy Communion at a mass.

                                                    Close up of words from photo above.

                                                       Inside the National Cathedral

                                                           Inside National Cathedral

                                                            Inside National Cathedral

Inside El Rosario Church in San Salvador.  It is a very unique Catholic church made of concrete with beautiful stained glass.  The beauty definitely surprises you when you enter. The people of El Salvador often took refuge here during the violence in the 70's.  Also, inside the stations of the cross are depicted in iron and rebar.

                                                       One of the stations of the cross

Another view inside El Rosario Church. Cesar pointed out that this is an eye. While I am sure there is a significance for this, I am not sure what it is.

Here lie 21 citizens massacred on October 29, 1979 in the streets of San Salvador during the demonstrations held by grass-roots organizations.

                                              The Monument of Truth (explained above)

                                                             Monument of Truth

Day 2-Saturday, June 2 continued

The second speaker we visited with on Saturday was Carlos Ayalla who is a professor of Philosophy and Theology at the National University in San Salvador.  He also runs the University radio station.  The main objective of the radio station is to communicate political, economic, social, and religious analysis to the general population of El Salvador.

Professor Ayalla spoke to us about the current situation in El Salvador.  He stated that after the Peace Accords (Peace Agreement signed by both sides of the 12 year civil war-the government, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a gorilla organization that was allowed to a form political party and participate in elections after the signing), four presidents dedicated themselves to develop Neoliberal policies in El Salvador.  This included: private decision-banking, telephone companies, and pension plans were privatized and the economy was dollarized.  This actually resulted in increased unemployment, lack of education, poverty, and crime.  People were struggling to provide the basic necessities for their families, often males would quit school to work and females would stay home to take care of the home, siblings, or to help with the animals or farms.  This struggle to survive and lack of education is the reason many citizens had very little interest or time to invest in politics. However, most Salvadorans did wish for change and on June 1st, 2009, the first Leftist president in the history of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, took power.

The amount of positive impact the Leftist government has had on the country is debatable.  There have been some positive policies enacted but there is definitely a long way to go. Since Mauricio Funes took power, the government has invested in social spending.  They have:

-provided uniforms, shoes, and school supplies for every student (The average school level in El Salvador is 6 years.  Lack of education makes it difficult for the country to develop).

-purchased the fabric for the uniforms from Salvadoran businesses and contracted with small local businesses to make the uniforms, creating more jobs for the people of El Salvador.

-provided subsidies for propane gas, public transportation, and school lunch programs.

                                           School children on a field trip to the museum.


The money for these and other government programs comes from taxes (mostly paid by the middle class) and from international loans.   Even with these changes, the official unemployment rate in El Salvador is 7% but the underemployment rate is 43% meaning that 50% of the labor force is facing unemployment problems.  The average minimum salary in El Salvador is just $200 per month and much less in the rural areas, $2 or less per day for many.

Crime is rampant in El Salvador.  As stated in an earlier post, El Salvador has the second highest murder rate in the world.  The current statistics state that there are 7 homicides each day in El Salvador.  This is a result largely due to extreme poverty, lack of education and deportation of Salvadoran gang members from the U.S.  Carlos stated that 150 Salvadorans leave El Salvador (most headed for the United States) every day in search for a better life and 50 people are deported every day from the United States. Often times, these are young boys who no longer have a family in El Salvador, thus they turn to the gangs for support. I will discuss more about gangs in a future post.

                                                         Woman selling bread in Suchitoto.

                                    She moves on to the next house carrying the basket on her head.

                        House/yard in a rural area. We were driving so it was difficult to get a good picture.

There were dogs all over El Salvador, in the city and in the rural areas-most were very skinny.  This little one happened to be in a yard but many just roamed the streets and neighborhoods. The memory of seeing all if those sad dogs will stay with me for a very long time. This picture represents that memory for me.

Day 2-Saturday, June 2, 2012

I woke very early with the roosters on this day.  With no air conditioning, the window was open, inviting in all of the sounds from outside.  I never actually saw any roosters around the house but as I said in an earlier post, most of the yards in San Salvador were hidden behind walls and gates.

After my early awakening (roosters actually wake before it is light outside), I took a cool shower.  I was  told before getting to El Salvador that the places we would be staying in would not have hot water (another luxury taken for granted in the United States). I was expecting the worst but it really wasn't too bad.  There must have been a little warm water mixed in because it wasn't ice cold, just refreshing.

Our first speaker of the day was Carlos Garcia.  He would be sharing some of the history of El Salvador.  Carlos works for Equipo Maiz which was started in 1983 to create awareness during the armed conflict.  After getting home, I looked at their website to learn a little more about the organization.  I could not understand it all as it is in Spanish but I found it very fun.  Even if you do not read Spanish, check it out:  http://www.equipomaiz.org.sv/
Maiz means corn in Spanish.  Corn has been and is still very essential to the people of El Salvador so this is why the name was chosen.  If you are like me, you will be entertained when you see the little corn cobs working in the office on the main page of the site :)

I found a lesson plan that does a very nice job of summarizing much of the history shared by Carlos and other speakers we met: http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/ElSalvador80/Salvador80.html
On the main page at the top, you will find a part labeled "Background" and there is also a timeline at the bottom.  A struggle between the classes in El Salvador has existed for over 100 years.  The most recent war took place from 1980-1992.  The United States supported the El Salvador government during this time, and provided 1.5 million dollars a day during the height of the war.  Also, the El Salvador military trained in the U. S. at the School of the Americas.  To learn about it, here is a link to a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja9nXs1tQ7Q.  It does contain some things that may be difficult to watch but is mostly informative.
It is estimated that 75,000 people were killed during the war, most of them were civilians.  Because this war is so recent, many of the people currently living in El Salvador or those who have chosen to leave have relatives and friends who were tortured and/or murdered.  We met people who shared their stories with us.  It is very difficult to communicate the feelings that listening to these stories provoked.  How does something like this happen?  How can people do such horrific things to other human beings?  Why was our government supporting this?  Why didn't we know about it?  What was I doing when all of this was happening?  I was growing up, graduating from high school and college, getting married-I was oblivious.  Perhaps not knowing was due to my mediocre (at best) social studies education or perhaps it was because we weren't supposed to know.

The people shared their stories with us so that we would go back to the United States and somehow share what we learned.  I know I cannot truly convey the heartbreaking stories that I heard but I have chosen to write this blog as part of my sharing.  I will also share with my students and the Augsburg College community.  In addition, I have a renewed interest in learning Spanish.  I have taken some classes and even went to a private tutor over the years but never really advanced past the basics.  It was frustrating to not be able to communicate fully with the wonderful people of El Salvador.  Since my daughters are both studying Spanish now, maybe it would be easier to practice.

Well, I haven't even gotten to our second speaker of the day, but I will continue with that in my next post.

Facts about El Salvador

At our first meeting in El Salvador, Cesar presented us with a fact sheet.  To give you some background on El Salvador, I will share the facts in this blog along with a few pictures.  My personal comments will be in parentheses:

1. El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Latin America, with a population of 6.6 million.  

(This was evident especially on the streets of San Salvador. There was so much traffic and the buses were always packed with people.)

(I was very happy to not be driving in this but even wearing my motion sickness prevention bracelets, my body was not happy being a passenger in this kind of traffic!)

2. El Salvador received more than 3.5 billion in US dollars as family remittances in 2011.  

3. The two main gangs in El Salvador are the MARA SALVATRUCHA and the MARA 18.  

4. There are around 60,000 gang members in El Salvador.

5. In El Salvador businesses allocate an average of 11% of their monthly budget to pay for private security. (In front of almost every business you will see an armed guard, usually holding a rifle.)
                           

            (Guards outside the shopping market where we bought some souvenirs.)

6. More than 79,000 people were killed during the armed conflict that lasted 12 years.  (Many innocent civilians were killed, including pregnant women and children.  We spoke to a massacre survivor who shared his story with us. I will discuss it in a future entry but he was only 10 when it happened and listening to him describe the horror of that day was so difficult and emotional.)

7. The armed conflict officially began on January 10, 1981 and ended January 16, 1992, with the signing of the Peace Accords.  (It was strange to hear about this war that was so recent. Most people living in El Salvador or who have left El Salvador have relatives that were tortured or murdered during the conflict.) 

8. According to the United Nations Truth Commission Report, 85% of the human right violations during the civil war were committed by the Salvadoran government and the armed forces, 10% by the FMLN and 5% is unknown.

9. El Salvador is the second most deforested country in Latin America, after Haiti.

10. Per capita El Salvador is the second most violent country in the world. (This I knew before I left and it was kind of scary but I did not witness any violence while I was there. However, almost all of the houses and businesses had barbed wire around the roofs and bars on the windows-not something you see in the U. S. unless you are driving by a prison or something.)

(This is the outside of the house we stayed in-Casa Los Pinos.  You can't really see barbed wire in this photo but you can see the bars on the windows. We were told not to answer the bell for the door.  The staff would always stay up until everyone in the house arrived home for the night so they could make sure everyone got in. Police officers are parked in front of the house. This was a dead end street and the photo was taken from where the police station was located. )

11. During the seventies, eighties, and nineties fifteen catholic priests, Archbishop Romero, four US religious women and many other lay workers were assassinated in El Salvador.

12. There are around 28,000 police officers and around 30,000 private security officers in the country. (There was a police station right next to the house we stayed in.  There was always at least one armed officer outside at all times.  We have some pictures with them.  They were very friendly.)

13. Around 75,000 Salvadoran women are working in the maquila industry; most of them are making the minimum monthly salary of $200.00 US Dollars. 

14. Therapeutic abortion is illegal in El Salvador.

15. During the eighties and nineties, the Salvadoran government and army received around 1.5 million dollars a day as military aid from the U.S. government.  (This definitely affected my view of our government and brought many questions to mind.)

16. El Salvador has the third highest reported HIV/AIDS cases in Central America, after Honduras and Guatemala.

17. According to the Salvadoran Health Ministry, there are 24,000 reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the country.  However, ONUSIDA, after a research conducted several years ago, concluded that more than 48,0000 people were HIV positive.

18. The two main political parties in the country are Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) and the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN).  (We met with representatives from both parties.)

19. Close to 3 million Salvadorans live outside the country, with the highest concentration in Los Angeles, California.

20. Between 500 and 700 Salvadorans cross the El Salvador and Guatemalan border every day, the majority of them heading to the U. S.

21. Between 10 and 12 people are killed by violence every day in El Salvador.

22.  El Salvador was the first country in Central America to ratify Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

23. El Salvador was the third Latin American country to withdraw troops from Iraq; December 2008.

24. Mauricio Funes from the FMLN political party won the presidential elections on March 15 and took office on June 1, 2009.

25. There were approximately 4,300 people killed by violence in El Salvador in 2011.

26. Mauricio Funes, the current Salvadoran president is one of the most popular in Latin America with 60% approval. (I think this may be an old statistic as we were told by many that they are afraid the FMLN will not win the election in 2014.)

27. The Salvadoran economy was dollarized in 2001. 

28. Remittances decreased 8% and the Salvadoran economy declined 3% in 2011.

Day 1-Friday, June 1, 2012

The departure day started very early. I made sure I had everything packed except my toiletries because we had an early flight.  We were told it would be best if we didn't wear expensive jewelry or anything that may be perceived as such. I decided that I would leave my wedding and anniversary rings at home. With the exception of removing my wedding ring for repairs, I have not removed it for 21 years and I have worn my anniversary band since Patrick gave it to me in October of 2010.  It was very strange to leave them behind but I didn't want to take any chances.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:25 am to Miami.  We had a short layover in Miami and then on to San Salvador. I woke around 3 am but waited to get out of bed until 4 am.  Because I had a little delay at check in (due to the fact that my last name on my ticket did not have a hyphen in it and my passport did-I didn't book my ticket), it would have been better if I arrived at the airport earlier. Luckily, they didn't make me change my name on my ticket. I was told that was a possibility. Anyway, I made it through security. I think it helped that the person looking at my information was also named Melody.  It isn't often that happens. :) She concentrated more on my first name and didn't seem to care about the hyphen situation. In fact, no one did.  Fortunately, I made it shortly before they started boarding the flight. Both of our flights were on time and everything went very smoothly. We arrived in San Salvador around 1:05 their time which is an hour earlier than ours.  It was time to take a quick trip to the restroom before going through customs.  As we had been told, there is no flushing of toilet paper in El Salvador. This I was less than excited for.  All toilet paper must be put in a basket next to the toilet.  Fortunately, most have covers.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but among many other more important things I came home thankful for, I am thankful we can flush toilet paper in the U.S!

I was a little nervous to go through customs in San Salvador.  Even though I have taken Spanish several times over the years, I am still very much a beginner.  I haven't noticed it being this way in the U.S. but in San Salvador, they separate the lines-one for the visitors to the country and one for citizens of El Salvador.  I guess I fit in pretty well because when the worker looked at me, he waved me to the line with the citizens.  I just thought they were trying to distribute the lines evenly or something so I followed his gesture.  I am not sure if he said anything. If he did I didn't catch it or understand it but one of the people in my group was obviously paying more attention than I was and called me back to the other line.  We had a good laugh at that.

We were told that Cesar would be our guide, host, translator, etc and would be waiting for us at the airport. We didn't see him inside so we continued on to the outside. It was very warm and humid and there was a sea of people from El Salvador waiting for their friends and family right outside the doors.  Fortunately, Cesar was there standing with a sign and he took us to his van. All of our bags were loaded in one van and we took another.  As we waited for the van to pull up, everyone was talking about the heat and humidity.  Cesar told us that we were closer to the ocean at the airport and that it would be cooler in San Salvador.  The drive was about 45 minutes to an hour.

We were headed to Casa Los Pinos, where we would spend most of our time.  We didn't really know what to expect but I think we were all very pleasantly surprised.  It was a large house.  I believe there were 8 bedrooms, each with several beds and a bathroom.  We separated into rooms.  I stayed upstairs with 2 others, Lynn and Erika, both staff at Augsburg. I have pictures I will share but the house was decorated very nicely.  For the most part, it had a very homey feeling to it.  There were family pictures in the living room.  I immediately took notice of one of the pictures of the owner, Betty's, granddaughter. It looked just like Mariah when she was younger!  I am going to locate a picture of Mariah and I hope to post them both.  There were some pictures upstairs that definitely indicated Betty's political interests.  We would later hear about her involvement in the armed conflict.

                                                           This was my bedroom.

                                                  Living room looking into dining room.

                                                                   Living room

                                                      This is where we ate our meals.

                                                                    Dining room

                          Photo of Betty's granddaughter who so resembles Mariah at that age.

Photo of Mariah.  I think they look so much alike!

I didn't know it yet, but I would actually feel very spoiled there. We had every meal cooked for us, dishes were taken care of, and our rooms and bathrooms were cleaned daily. The staff, Marta and Rosie, worked very hard and we all really liked them.  We also got to know Betty and her son, Medardo.  They lived at the house so we saw each of them every day.  Medardo was the only one who spoke English as he had left the country to live for some time in Canada.  He had just recently returned but we did our best to speak with the others and a couple members of our group could help translate if Medardo wasn't around.

Cesar gave us a schedule of our days in El Salvador and a fact sheet about the country which we spent some time discussing.  He walked us through the neighborhood to a nearby mall so if we needed or wanted to, we could return in the future as long as we walked with at least 1 other person. I didn't realize there would be so many American restaurants. There was a Burger King, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and Mister Donut.

The first day was pretty laid back as everyone was tired from the long day of traveling but some of us did go to a nearby bar/restaurant a few blocks away. While it was covered, it was open to the outside and it was really nice out so it was great to relax there.  I was hoping for a margarita but they didn't seem to have any. The others had beer or lemonade.  I was a little nervous about eating or drinking out so since there wasn't a margarita, I just decided to skip it and just visit. I found out that some of the students we went with stopped there later and asked for a margarita and they ended up being served some strange food item that was in a large glass that looked like a margarita glass. None of them speak Spanish so I am guessing they were gesturing and that is what they ended up with.  They described it as having cold chicken and salsa in it as well as other things. They didn't eat it and it cost like $7 or $9 dollars and they ordered 2.  They were pretty disappointed but we had a good laugh at that.  I was glad I wasn't served that!  I am sure it helped that Erika was with us.  Her Spanish skills were excellent which was very helpful in many situations.

My first blog post-Why El Salvador?

Hello.  On June 1-9, 2012, I traveled to El Salvador.  The trip was amazing and very emotional!  I have decided that I will write a blog to put my thoughts in order while also sharing some stories of the people that I met and the things that I learned. I am not a person who normally journals and even if I was the best writer (which I do not pretend to be), I could not fully communicate the experience and the emotions but I was asked to share the stories and I plan to do just that.
The most common question that I was asked before the trip was "Why are you going to El Salvador?"  Many people could not understand why I would want to go to a country that is known to be so dangerous.   El Salvador is known to have the 2nd highest murder rate in the world.  Of course this did concern me but I did my research and spoke to others from Augsburg College who had been there recently and they eased my tension.  They also told me that if I went, it would be a life changing experience.  I would never have taken this trip when the girls were younger but they are old enough to do OK with me away for awhile and this just felt right. Patrick encouraged the opportunity.  So in spite of the reservations expressed by my parents and my siblings, I decided I would go.
Here is a link to the brochure that I was sent that interested me in the trip in the first place. http://www.augsburg.edu/augsburgabroad/documents/hoversten2012.pdf
It will give a general overview of the trip but basically, we would be going to learn-about the people, the culture, the 12 year civil war that ended 20 years ago, post war issues, how the U. S. was involved in the war, the government, economics, etc.
As a college student, I never studied abroad and as an adult, my travels abroad have been limited to vacations in Mexico. I was eager to expand my travel and my limited view of the world. I encourage my students to study abroad all of the time.  It was time for me to take my own advice. Fortunately, the timing of this trip also worked very well and thanks to the generous support of the Hoversten Peace Endowment, the price was right too-greatly discounted. I do not normally work in May and June so it would not interfere with work.  Even if I were working, as a staff member of Augsburg College, with the permission of your director, this trip could be attended without taking vacation time. What a great benefit!  For me, we worked out another arrangement since I was already off.
So, I turned in my application on the day it was due (February 1, 2012) and hoped that I would be one of the 10 chosen to go.  Fortunately, on my way back from turning it in, I saw a student of mine. We started talking and she mentioned being interested in studying abroad sometime.  I told her about just turning in an application for a trip and gave a summary of what it was and said if she was interested, she would need to complete the application and turn it in by the end of the day. She did just that.  She also told a couple friends.  Of course, since I am writing this blog, I was chosen.  She and one other TRIO student were also chosen as well as 7 others.  I was really excited to have the opportunity to travel and learn with two TRIO students who I also taught in my class.  I knew that together we could share our experiences with TRIO students and staff when we returned as well as the general Augsburg population.
So in future blog posts, I will perhaps give a chronological account of the trip.  I imagine I may go off on tangents sometimes as there is so much to share.  Who knows?  This is my first blog so I hope you enjoy reading it and learn "Why El Salvador".