Margie comes back every year!

Margie showing off the pockets in her new backpack from the CIS store.

Margie Legowski is a former teacher, Peace Corps volunteer, education and training specialist
and program manager with the Peace Corp and the Corporation for National and Community
Service (the agency that funds AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps, NCCC). She is active in Holy
Trinity Catholic Parish, Washington, DC, the group that first brought her to El Salvador and a
group which has had an on-going relationship of support and solidarity with the parish of Maria

Madre of Los Pobres (where she now has a goddaughter) in San Salvador for over twenty-five years. Margie has been involved in this solidarity work for the past five years and has studied at CIS four times in order to learn Spanish and/or increase her fluency. In addition to spending time working in the parish, she has also participated in election delegations with CIS and Cristosal in 2014 and 2015. She is here again this year for two months and is spending her mornings studying at CIS, so we had a chance to interview her about her experience with classes at CIS and her time in El Salvador. 

Elections forum

Margie´s words:
My first teacher was Zulma and there were only two of us in the class. Basically, Zulma took us
from where we were to a new level. My fellow student and I both love music so she used music
and her own stories to engage us in learning. All the CIS teachers have helped me understand
¨la lucha¨ - the struggle for justice here in El Salvador – and all use very creative strategies to
work with us to improve our language skills.

Each time I have come, I have stayed with Nora, who has one of the host homes for students and volunteers at CIS. She is one of those women made in heaven– former teacher, activist with the FMLN and even in her 70´s full of more energy than most young people. She has also been a student in the English classes at CIS. 

My experiences with CIS and with Maria Madre Parish have led to so many other things in my life. I have new friendships in El Salvador and with people in DC, Baltimore and other communities that work for justice Latin America. I've participated in several the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) meetings in Fort Benning, Georgia, and a few months ago I joined a delegation to Venezuela to broaden my perspective about Latin American issues. And I am now an emergency foster parent with the Latin American Youth Center in DC. 

I can see that security issues are difficult for people living and working in El Salvador. The people at CIS, my host mother and my friends and family at Maria Madre de los Pobres do everything they can to to keep us all safe. I'm particularly interested in the issue of security as I lead my church's delegations here twice a year. The CIS document analyzing violence in El Salvador was particularly helpful in that regard.

Basically, I listen to the advice Salvadorans give me: I take cabs when I am out after dark, and I don´t carry or wear valuable items when I am out traveling around by bus or on foot. I use many of the same safety precautions here that I use at home in Washington, DC. or when I travel anywhere outside of my own country.