Monday, August 27, 2012

El Salvador we live, El Salvador I love


Congratulations to all of the English students who completed Cycle III-2012! We had a great end of cycle celebration. Here are some of the pieces that our student presented.  



This is the video that the Basic B students made on mining in El Salvador:



This is the piece that our conversational student wrote to share at the End of Cycle Celebration.
El Salvador we live, El Salvador I love

Yes. This is America, I mean, El Salvador in America. The America conquered by the  Spaniards years and years ago. El Salvador in America. The America plundered by Europe, or El Salvador the U.S. colony for years. El Salvador of few rich and many poor, with a long history of murder, bribe, corruption, violence, and plundering.

There was a time when El Salvador was different. It was before the big landowners took our ancestors’ land by creating laws that benefited their greedy interests. Such event underlined the beginning of an oppressive system; it was the destruction of our way of living.

Some years later, another event marked the history of our country, It was the murder of 30, 000 Indigenous people whose struggle was to own a piece of land to make a living. It was a cruel and bloody period of Salvadorans’ lives. A period when asking for human rights to be respected was a crime. A period when asking for the right to a small piece of land was called communism. Indigenous people were called rebels, criminals, communists. At that time indigenous people lived in more peaceful and harmonic communities than us.

That is El Salvador, dear people. El Salvador, suffering from a 12 years’ war. War forced by the people with political and economic power. Once again, a period of bloodshed, torture, robbery, violence against the poor, against the campesinos, against the working class. A period when the official documents registered between 75,000 – 80,000 lost lives either by assassination or disappearance. A period when the bourgeoisie was able to commit crime against our most beloved pastor. The voice of the voiceless, Monsignor Romero along with many others who worked for social justice.

Yes, this is our country, people. The country where we do work for the value of our currency, but we are paid by the value of Mr. Dollar which is not fair. The country signing a Free Trade Agreement. Free for whom, I wonder.

But Friends, this is El Salvador. El Salvador, with a great population of working, welcoming, warming, hopeful, faithful people.

Listen to how wonderful our country is with such characteristics. Adding one more. We are all young people, young in age and hearts, and young people have the energy, courage, and definitely the power to change the history of suffering and oppression against the poor.  To change that privileged life of few.

Have you seen? The privileged have always been a few, and the working class, the majority. Why don’t we do something to change it? We should be able to see the light on the road. Let’s make it shine for everyone in our country.
Let’s show how much we love this beautiful country, our people, ourselves.
Let’s build a new, peaceful, fair and wonderful country!
If we don’t, who will do it for us?

Let’s make it together! 

Nora Reynado 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Third Annual Scholarship Student Forum



One of the CIS’s great achievements, which makes us very proud, is the work with youth, through the Scholarship Program.  The program started in 1997 in the municipality of Cinquera, department of Cabañas, and benefited approximately 8 students.  During the development of the program it was so successful that it motivated donors and supporters to get involved in the project.  This way the number of beneficiaries has increased, not just in the original town, but also in different communities. In 2012 we have achieved to have many consolidated programs in different communities.  The communities that are involved in the program are the following:


San Salvador
Comunidad Romero,  Tonacatepeque
San Francisco de Asís, Mejicanos
Usulután
Estanzuelas
Isla El Espíritu Santo, Puerto El Triunfo
Cuscatlán
San Rafael Cedros
San Pedro Perulapán
San José Palo Grande, Suchitoto
La Libertad
Tamanique
Comasagua
San Pablo Tacachico
El Caoba
Chalatenango
Comunidad Ellacuría
Cabañas
Cinquera
Guacotecti
Solidarity Crafts-Jaragúa, Las Tinecas, Jesús Obrero


To date we have reached up to 300 students in High School and University, from 14 differing communities from different municipalities in El Salvador.

After this brief introduction we want to share part of the experience of the

The Third Annual Scholarship Student Forum
Cinquera 2012

These are the people who participated in the forum
  •  Some of the program´s partners
  • The CIS's Director and Grassroots Organizers
  • Representatives from the communities benefited:
    •   Cinquera
    •  El Caoba   
    •  Comunidad Monseñor Romero
    •  Comasagua.
    • Ellacuría  
    •  Mejicanos  
    • Tamanique
    • Guacotecti
    • Estanzuelas
    •  San Rafael Cedros
    •  Palo Grande
    • San Pedro Perulapan 
    • San Pablo Tacachico
    •  Isla el Espíritu Santo             

The forum takes place yearly in the municipality of Cinquera where the program started.  The historical richness that this place represents for Salvadorans should be known to the new generations.  Each year the communities send different scholarship students so that they have the opportunity to live this experience.



This year more than 63 people participated in the third annual scholarship forum which was celebrated during three days in July (Friday 20th, Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd).  Many different activities took place and the protagonists were the scholarship students.  They presented different topics which were chosen by each community.




Presentation and analysis of different topics

Topics discussed:
Climate Change (Ignacio Ellacuria), Water (Tamanique) Mining (Comasagua), Social Networks and their Impacts (Estanzuelas), Overpopulation and its impacts (San pedro Perulapan), Consumerism (San Rafael Cedros), The origins of poverty and economic alternatives (Cinquera). 





Written by a University scholarship student.
Translated by the CIS. To see the original Spanish Click here

Tercer Encuentro de Becados



Uno  de los grandes logros de  CIS y que nos enorgullece, es el trabajo por los jóvenes, a través del “PROGRAMA DEBECAS”, que inicio en 1997, en el municipio de Cinquera, departamento de Cabañas beneficiando a 8 estudiantes aproximadamente, durante el desarrollo del programa  presento un éxito el cual motivo a donantes y socios a involucrarse en el proyecto. De esta manera se ha incrementado el número de  beneficiados, no solo en el lugar de origen, sino también en diferentes comunidades. Logrando en 2012 abarcar más comunidades de manera consolidada, beneficiando a:

San Salvador
Comunidad Romero,  Tonacatepeque
San Francisco de Asís, Mejicanos
Usulután
Estanzuelas
Isla El Espíritu Santo, Puerto El Triunfo
Cuscatlán
San Rafael Cedros
San Pedro Perulapán
San José Palo Grande, Suchitoto
La Libertad
Tamanique
Comasagua
San Pablo Tacachico
El Caoba
Chalatenango
Comunidad Ellacuría
Cabañas
Cinquera
Guacotecti
Artesanía Solidaria-Jaragúa, Las Tinecas, Jesús Obrero

Logrando alcanzar hasta la fecha un número máximo de 300 estudiantes distribuidos entre Bachilleres y Universitarios, de catorce comunidades de diferentes municipios de El Salvador.

Despues de esta breve introducción queremos compartir parte de la vivencia del

Tercer Encuentro de Becados
Cinquera 2012

En el encuentro participaron
  •  Algunos socios del programa
  • La directora y promotores del Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad
  • Representantes de beneficiarios de las comunidades de
    •   Cinquera
    •  El Caoba   
    •  Comunidad Monseñor Romero
    •  Comasagua.
    • Ellacuría  
    •  Mejicanos  
    • Tamanique
    • Guacotecti
    • Estanzuelas
    •  San Rafael Cedros
    •  Palo Grande
    • San Pedro Perulapan 
    • San Pablo Tacachico
    •  Isla el Espíritu Santo             

El encuentro se desarrolla anualmente en el Municipio de Cinquera donde dio inicio el programa, además la gran riqueza  histórica que este lugar representa para los y las salvadoreñas y que debe ser conocido por las nuevas generaciones. Cada año las comunidades envían diferentes becados, para que tengan la oportunidad vivir la experiencia.


Este año participaron más de 63 personas, en el tercer encuentro de becados que se celebro en julio durante tres días (viernes 20, sábado 21 y domingo 22) Donde se desarrollaron diferentes actividades y los protagonistas fueron los becados, quienes presentaron diferentes temáticas, que habían sido elegida  por comunidad.





Presentación y análisis de temas
Temas desarrollados:
Cambios climáticos (Ignacio Ellacuria), El Agua (Tamanique) La Minería (Comasagua), Redes sociales y sus implicaciones (Estanzuelas), La sobrepoblación y sus impactos (San pedro Perulapan), El consumismo (San Rafael Cedros), y el Origen de la pobreza y alternativas económicas (Cinquera). 





Escrito por un becada universitaria 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Community Network: Topic Social Violence


The Community Network is a collective space that the CIS has created for the communities where leaders of the Small Businesses forWomen, Scholarship Committees, Clean Water Communities, and other local organizations, share all of their community work.  The community network is coordinated by the team of grassroots organizers.

We meet once every 2 months, where we share as well as analyze our reality. In the last meeting which took place on August 10th we analyzed the topic of social violence.

   The Community Network Agenda
August 10th 2012
1. As participants arrive sign up and have a small snack
2. Welcome and introductions
3. Small introduction to explain the day’s objective on the topic of social violence, its roots and its impact
4. Start to talk about the topic through a brain storm, taking a brief poll with the opening question, how do you see violence in your community?
5. Presentation of Father Antonio Rodriquez’s analysis where he explains, in detail, the origin, the causes and the impact of violence
6. Space to listen to the opinions of the participants about the presentation
7. Lunch
8. Turn in written reports from each community about the most relevant activities
9. Reminded of the date of the next meeting

With a brain storm we asked- how does violence manifest itself in your communities? The testimonies that were shared were very powerful One woman from the group Pájaro Flor from Suchitoto shared that her daughter was pregnant and she was brutally assassinated after she as well as her entire family was threatened. This violent event was committed by a subject that is a family member of the victim and according to what was shared it was because the victim did not want to cede to his romantic feelings for her. Fortunately the guilty party is in jail.


In the community Llano Largo one of the women in the group of milk products-La Vaquita shared that in her community a man brutally assaulted his wife while she was pregnant.  Due to the blows she received the baby was born early and they had to hospitalize both the mother and the child.  The group of woman went to visit the woman after this happened.  Everyone in the community wanted to see the man go to jail.  When the police talked with the woman, she said that she did not hold a grudge against him.  Because the victim would not accuse him it is just another case of impunity.  However, according to the information that was shared with us the police warned that if the baby died the man will go to jail.  






LA RED DE COMUNIDADES: TEMA DE VIOLENCIA SOCIAL



LA RED DE COMUNIDADES es un espacio colectivo que el CIS ha creado para las comunidades donde lideres y lideresas de LAS MICROEMPRESAS, COMITÉS DE BECAS, COMITÉS DE AGUA y otras organizaciones locales comparten todo el que hacer comunitario.  La red es coordinada por el equipo de promotoras y promotoras. 

Nos reunimos una vez cada 2 meses, compartimos además análisis de la realidad.   En la última  reunión que fue el 10 de agosto, desarrollamos un análisis sobre la violencia social

AGENDA DE LA RED DE COMUNIDADES  
10 de agosto 2012

1- Inscripción de participantes, el que va llegando tome un pequeño refrigerio
2- Saludo bienvenida y presentación
3-Pequeña introducción para explicar el objetivo de la jornada sobre el tema de violencia social, sus  raíces y su impacto
4- Desarrollo del tema atreves de lluvia de ideas realizamos un sondeo breve con la pregunta generadora ¿cómo se manifiesta la violencia en las comunidades?
5-Presentación de un análisis que realizo el padre Antonio Rodriguez donde el explica en detalle el origen, las causas y el impacto de la violencia
6-Espacio para escuchar opiniones de los participantes sobre la presentación
7- Almuerzo
8-Entrega de informes por escrito de cada comunidad sobre las actividades más relevantes
9 - Recordamos fecha de próxima de reunión


Con una lluvia de ideas preguntamos -¿cómo se manifiesta la violencia en las comunidades?   Fueron muy fuertes los testimonios de las personas. Una mujer del grupo de Pájaro Flor de Suchitoto compartió que su hija  estaba embarazada  y fue asesinada brutalmente después de ser amenazada toda la familia.  Este hecho violento fue cometido por un sujeto que es pariente de la víctima y según comento fue porque  la victima no quiso ceder a sus pretensiones sentimentales afortunadamente el culpable está preso.

En comunidad Llano Largo una de las mujeres del grupo de lácteos la Vaquita compartió que en la comunidad un hombre agredió salvajemente a su esposa estando embarazada y que por los golpes que recibió el bebé nació antes del tiempo y tuvieron que hospitalizar a ambos, ante este hecho el grupo de mujeres visitó a la mujer violentad.  Todos en la comunidad querían que el hombre  fuera preso, pero cuando la policía hablo con la mujer ella dijo que no sentía rencor contra el hombre, es así que se deja otro caso en la impunidad porque  la víctima no lo acuso, sin embargo de acuerdo a la información que nos compartieron la policía advirtió que si el bebé muere el hombre irá preso.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Isla de Espiritu Santo




In June I spent 5 weeks living in the Isla de Espiritu Santo with a wonderful host family. The experience was like no other I have had before. Spending so much time immersed in the life of the people and the culture in El Salvador has given me a greater understanding of what life there is like that you cannot get from any other kind of visit. This was more than traveling or tourism, this was living with the people, a unique experience with endless benefits, surprises and wonders.






I made this journey after graduating from university, and I highly recommend such an adventure to anyone. The relationship that I developed with the family I lived with and the community will be a part of my life and future actions forever. Taking the time to actually live with someone else and understand their life has been the best investment of my time. This was a unique and amazing opportunity that will be with me for the rest of my life and I encourage anyone considering an extended delegation with a home-stay to do it! 





by Rachel Reist Delegation member and Spanish Student