Today is my first day out of language school, so I have begun to scope out different ministry options. I had an appointment this morning with a human rights organization in San Salvador, called CODEFAM. I met with the directora (Madre Lupe) at the office, and we talked about two different projects that interest me. One is located in Paisnal and is focused on informing youth about human rights. The woman who runs this project gives workshops to the youth at a central location (because the youth come from surrounding communities) but also visits each of their communities as well. La Madre Lupe has promised to arrange a meeting where the three of us can get together to discuss the possibility of me visiting this project and getting involved. The second project is located in Zacatecoluca and involves working with the families of victims of the war through a committee dedicated to preserving the memory of this tragic history. I´m not sure exactly what my position would be, but la Madre Lupe has also promised to set up a meeting with one of the committee members. Hopefully something will turn out!
Another avenue that I am looking into is working in the small, indigenous town of Panchimalco. I have visited there several times, and I have fallen in love with the effort being made to revive the indigenous culture, which has for the most part been non-existent since the massacre of thousands of indigenous people in 1932. I have been going there each week to take weaving classes with a woman at the cultural center, Doña Claudia (pictured above). This art form, called el tejido de cintura, is practiced only by a few people now, primarily in her family. Leave it up to the gringa to want to continue it!! I have to start with a more basic material before I can make the beautifully colored cloth that I am holding in the picture. We shall see how that goes! I am interested, though, in learning more about the effort to revive the indigenous culture, so I am going back to Panchimalco on Saturday. I will be accompanied by one of the workers at Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (where I studied Spanish). She knows a married couple who runs a school there, which is connected to a cultural center that offers activities for youth and adults. I would be very excited to see if there is a possibilty for me to support their work.
For now, these are the two that interest me the most. Of course I have plenty more time to keep looking, so who knows what my camino will be!
Hi. Good work. Bye
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