What am I doing?
I should be packing or studying Spanish or cleaning my room or something virtuous like that, but I thought writing another blog entry would be much more fun. I am the queen of procrastination. So here I am going to explain what I am doing with myself this coming semester and what this blog is going to be.
As you probably figured out by now, I am spending a semester studying abroad in El Salvador. I will be living in San Salvador and I'll be taking classes at the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA). I'm doing a program called Casa de la Solidaridad, organized/coordinated by Santa Clara University. Here is the mission of the program, as laid out in a Pre-Departure Handbook we were given:
The mission of the Casa is the promotion of justice and solidarity through the creation of a meaningful academic experience by integrating rigorous academic study with direct immersion with the poor of El Salvador. The program draws inspiration from the lives of the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter who were murdered at the University of Central America (UCA) on November 16, 1989 and from all the people of El Salvador who suffered during the civil war, especially those who were killed in their struggle for solidarity and social justice.
We invite you to immerse yourself in the "classroom" of the people of El Salvador. Dedicated to fostering "men and women for others," Casa de la Solidaridad is a unique living and learning environment. Here you can develop your intellectual potential, strengthen your ethical and spiritual values, and learn to become a socially responsible global citizen.
OUR DAILY LIFE INCORPORATES:
Living in Community:
We choose to live in community in order to share with and learn from others.
Living Simply:
We choose a simple lifestyle, uncluttered by materialism, in solidarity with the marginalized of our world.
Focus on Learning with an Emphasis on Justice:
We choose to integrate rigorous academic study with the experience of the marginalized of El Salvador in the hopes of committing ourselves in the world to justice.
Cultural Sensitivity:
We choose to live in the context of another culture and context, honoring and learning from Salvadorans whom we are visiting.
Integrating Faith:
We choose to invite our spiritual journey into our daily experiences as we seek to understand the world with which we live.
Here is a brief description of my understanding of what it will be like. I won't be a regular student at the UCA. There are special classes for students doing the Casa program (some of which are in English, fortunately for me). We take five classes, including Spanish and a fieldwork course. The fieldwork is what I was describing in my entry on my top choices for praxis site. Two days a week and some weekends, I will go to my praxis site (I still don't know what that will be). I will help them in whatever ways I can, and I will learn from the people there. I've taken two "service-learning" classes at USF, and while they've been good experiences, this to me is the epitome of service-learning. This is what really drew me to the program. SCU describes it well: "Through this learning environment, you will become more aware of and sensitive to the realities of those who are struggling to end social injustices while working to promote human dignity. You will become part of the Salvadoran society not as a volunteer, but as a learner." In addition to Spanish and fieldwork, I'm planning to take Salvadoran Literature (in Spanish), Religion in Latin America (in English), and El Salvador's Civil War (in English).
There are a total of 24 American students (including me) doing the program. We'll live together in three houses (Casa Romero, Casa Silvia, and Casa Ita), all very near each other and near the UCA. Most of us are from Jesuit universities. In each house there will be a Community Facilitator, who lives there full-time and is usually a graduate of the Casa program. Also, two UCA scholarship students ("becarios") live in each house. That gives us a connection to the Salvadoran students at the UCA. I'm really happy to be living in community with the other students in the program. I was in living-learning communities my first two years at USF, and I like them because it gives me a chance to get to know people both social and academic arenas. It allows us to get really close. And assuming everyone is as nice as they seemed in their e-mail introductions, I'll be leaving El Salvador with at least 21 new friends (plus my two old friends who are going).
The purpose of this blog is for me to share my thoughts and experiences with my friends, family, and whoever feels like reading it. I'm giving this URL to a wide range of my contacts, so it may be more formal than if I were just writing for my close friends and family, but I hope I don't get too caught up in thinking about what people will think of me. I want what I learn to reach as many people as possible. I spent two weeks in El Salvador in 2005, and that was a very powerful experience, and I remember someone telling us that the best thing we could do to help them was share what we had learned. I want to do that. Speaking of which, I recently ran across a reflection I wrote after my time there in 2005. It's over six pages single-spaced in my word processor, so I'm not posting it in the blog, but you can read it here.
I think my main challenge in keeping up this blog (besides laziness and lack of commitment) will be that I won't have internet access at home. I'll have to go to an internet cafe, so I won't have as much time and flexibility to write as I would like. I am bringing my laptop with me though, so I might write entries on my own computer, put them on my shiny new thumb drive, and bring them to the internet cafe. Still, I don't know how often I'll have internet access, so entries may not be as frequent as I would like.
If you want to contact me in El Salvador, I'll be using my regular puella at pacbell dot net e-mail, which also receives my armcchesneyyoung at usfca dot edu e-mail. My mailing address will be:
Amber McChesney-Young
Casa de la Solidaridad
Apartado A-179
Antiguo Cuscatlan, El Salvador
Central America
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
-Archbishop Oscar Romero
As you probably figured out by now, I am spending a semester studying abroad in El Salvador. I will be living in San Salvador and I'll be taking classes at the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA). I'm doing a program called Casa de la Solidaridad, organized/coordinated by Santa Clara University. Here is the mission of the program, as laid out in a Pre-Departure Handbook we were given:
The mission of the Casa is the promotion of justice and solidarity through the creation of a meaningful academic experience by integrating rigorous academic study with direct immersion with the poor of El Salvador. The program draws inspiration from the lives of the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter who were murdered at the University of Central America (UCA) on November 16, 1989 and from all the people of El Salvador who suffered during the civil war, especially those who were killed in their struggle for solidarity and social justice.
We invite you to immerse yourself in the "classroom" of the people of El Salvador. Dedicated to fostering "men and women for others," Casa de la Solidaridad is a unique living and learning environment. Here you can develop your intellectual potential, strengthen your ethical and spiritual values, and learn to become a socially responsible global citizen.
OUR DAILY LIFE INCORPORATES:
Living in Community:
We choose to live in community in order to share with and learn from others.
Living Simply:
We choose a simple lifestyle, uncluttered by materialism, in solidarity with the marginalized of our world.
Focus on Learning with an Emphasis on Justice:
We choose to integrate rigorous academic study with the experience of the marginalized of El Salvador in the hopes of committing ourselves in the world to justice.
Cultural Sensitivity:
We choose to live in the context of another culture and context, honoring and learning from Salvadorans whom we are visiting.
Integrating Faith:
We choose to invite our spiritual journey into our daily experiences as we seek to understand the world with which we live.
Here is a brief description of my understanding of what it will be like. I won't be a regular student at the UCA. There are special classes for students doing the Casa program (some of which are in English, fortunately for me). We take five classes, including Spanish and a fieldwork course. The fieldwork is what I was describing in my entry on my top choices for praxis site. Two days a week and some weekends, I will go to my praxis site (I still don't know what that will be). I will help them in whatever ways I can, and I will learn from the people there. I've taken two "service-learning" classes at USF, and while they've been good experiences, this to me is the epitome of service-learning. This is what really drew me to the program. SCU describes it well: "Through this learning environment, you will become more aware of and sensitive to the realities of those who are struggling to end social injustices while working to promote human dignity. You will become part of the Salvadoran society not as a volunteer, but as a learner." In addition to Spanish and fieldwork, I'm planning to take Salvadoran Literature (in Spanish), Religion in Latin America (in English), and El Salvador's Civil War (in English).
There are a total of 24 American students (including me) doing the program. We'll live together in three houses (Casa Romero, Casa Silvia, and Casa Ita), all very near each other and near the UCA. Most of us are from Jesuit universities. In each house there will be a Community Facilitator, who lives there full-time and is usually a graduate of the Casa program. Also, two UCA scholarship students ("becarios") live in each house. That gives us a connection to the Salvadoran students at the UCA. I'm really happy to be living in community with the other students in the program. I was in living-learning communities my first two years at USF, and I like them because it gives me a chance to get to know people both social and academic arenas. It allows us to get really close. And assuming everyone is as nice as they seemed in their e-mail introductions, I'll be leaving El Salvador with at least 21 new friends (plus my two old friends who are going).
The purpose of this blog is for me to share my thoughts and experiences with my friends, family, and whoever feels like reading it. I'm giving this URL to a wide range of my contacts, so it may be more formal than if I were just writing for my close friends and family, but I hope I don't get too caught up in thinking about what people will think of me. I want what I learn to reach as many people as possible. I spent two weeks in El Salvador in 2005, and that was a very powerful experience, and I remember someone telling us that the best thing we could do to help them was share what we had learned. I want to do that. Speaking of which, I recently ran across a reflection I wrote after my time there in 2005. It's over six pages single-spaced in my word processor, so I'm not posting it in the blog, but you can read it here.
I think my main challenge in keeping up this blog (besides laziness and lack of commitment) will be that I won't have internet access at home. I'll have to go to an internet cafe, so I won't have as much time and flexibility to write as I would like. I am bringing my laptop with me though, so I might write entries on my own computer, put them on my shiny new thumb drive, and bring them to the internet cafe. Still, I don't know how often I'll have internet access, so entries may not be as frequent as I would like.
If you want to contact me in El Salvador, I'll be using my regular puella at pacbell dot net e-mail, which also receives my armcchesneyyoung at usfca dot edu e-mail. My mailing address will be:
Amber McChesney-Young
Casa de la Solidaridad
Apartado A-179
Antiguo Cuscatlan, El Salvador
Central America
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
-Archbishop Oscar Romero
posted by Amber at 1:32 AM
1 Comments:
Thank you, Amber, for writing such a great, valuable blog. It's more important than cleaning your room, and you'll have plenty of opportunity to further your Spanish language. This is a really well-done site. Thanks for your reflections on your 2005 trip, which I'd never seen, and the New Yorker article.
I'm deeply proud of you, your love and commitment, your intelligence and courage. Go with God. God is with you. Blessings and love to you!
- Ann
Post a Comment
<< Home