Campo entry 1
Sorry I haven't written in so long. This past week has been very crazy with school stuff. I survived the week in the campo without incident. One student got dengue fever (though not necessarily from the campo), but for the most part everyone else came out in one piece.
It was a good experience overall. It wasn't incredible, but it was an opportunity to get a much better picture of Salvadoran life. The best part of the time was the first weekend. Monique and I went with Lupita to her house in Carasque, a community in the department of Chalatenango, close to the (very small) town of Nueva Trinidad. I loved her house. As Lupita said, it's very poor, but it was beautiful to me. Her parents live there, and Lupita lives there when she's not in San Salvador at the UCA (living with us). She originally had two brothers and three sisters. One of her sisters lives and works in the city of Chalatenango, a couple hour bus ride away. Another sister lives in Carasque, just up the road from her parents, and her third sister lives in Denver, Colorado. She's undocumented, but I guess she got a temporary work permit or something (I haven't been keeping up with immigration policy) that allows her to travel, so she's coming back to visit in May for the first time in six years. Lupita and her family found out on the Saturday while we were there, and they were so excited. She has two kids who were born in the U.S., and she's bringing them with her. Both of Lupita's brothers have died. One of the brothers, Nicolas, died in the war as a guerrilla in 1990. He was only 16 years old. Her other brother, Ismael, died three years ago, March 26, 2004. How he died is a little fuzzy to me, and I wasn't comfortable asking a lot of questions, but from what I gathered, he was on a bus in San Salvador, apparently on the 44 line, which runs close to our houses and the UCA, when a group of men, some with guns and some with knives, got on the bus. I think they were robbing the passengers, and Ismael was shot and killed. Every night we were there, people from the community came over to the house and prayed the rosary. They did it for nine days, starting on the 26th, the anniversary of his death. I got good at saying the Hail Mary in Spanish really really fast. It was really neat to be a part of that with Lupita and her family and their community.
One evening we went to a community assembly, which was interesting. We had been told beforehand that they have a lot of problems with mining companies trying to get into the area, but I didn't know any details. At this meeting, they were talking some about the issue of mining, saying fortunately their community is very organized against it, but other communities are having more trouble. Lupita explained to us later that mining companies discovered there is gold and other precious metals in the mountains there, and they want to come in and extract it. The problem is it would basically displace entire communities, and the people living there refuse to leave their land. They would not be able to survive without it.
I have so much to write about and so little time, that I think this is going to have to be a multi-entry series. I'll try to get it all written sooner rather than later because I know I'll forget stuff, but we have insane amounts of schoolwork due until the end of the semester. Vamos a ver.
Random note: On Wednesday at praxis I saw a guy with giant MS-13 tattoos in his chest and arms. He was right by Angelica's house. (MS-13 is one of the two main gangs here.) No wonder she's always scared to talk about gangs. Amilcar, who teaches the computer classes, said "Buenos dias" to him as we walked by. I can't even fathom what it would be like to live under the fear that so many people live under here. There's a place called Mariona, one of the praxis sites, where people can't leave their houses after 8 p.m. because it's too dangerous.
It was a good experience overall. It wasn't incredible, but it was an opportunity to get a much better picture of Salvadoran life. The best part of the time was the first weekend. Monique and I went with Lupita to her house in Carasque, a community in the department of Chalatenango, close to the (very small) town of Nueva Trinidad. I loved her house. As Lupita said, it's very poor, but it was beautiful to me. Her parents live there, and Lupita lives there when she's not in San Salvador at the UCA (living with us). She originally had two brothers and three sisters. One of her sisters lives and works in the city of Chalatenango, a couple hour bus ride away. Another sister lives in Carasque, just up the road from her parents, and her third sister lives in Denver, Colorado. She's undocumented, but I guess she got a temporary work permit or something (I haven't been keeping up with immigration policy) that allows her to travel, so she's coming back to visit in May for the first time in six years. Lupita and her family found out on the Saturday while we were there, and they were so excited. She has two kids who were born in the U.S., and she's bringing them with her. Both of Lupita's brothers have died. One of the brothers, Nicolas, died in the war as a guerrilla in 1990. He was only 16 years old. Her other brother, Ismael, died three years ago, March 26, 2004. How he died is a little fuzzy to me, and I wasn't comfortable asking a lot of questions, but from what I gathered, he was on a bus in San Salvador, apparently on the 44 line, which runs close to our houses and the UCA, when a group of men, some with guns and some with knives, got on the bus. I think they were robbing the passengers, and Ismael was shot and killed. Every night we were there, people from the community came over to the house and prayed the rosary. They did it for nine days, starting on the 26th, the anniversary of his death. I got good at saying the Hail Mary in Spanish really really fast. It was really neat to be a part of that with Lupita and her family and their community.
One evening we went to a community assembly, which was interesting. We had been told beforehand that they have a lot of problems with mining companies trying to get into the area, but I didn't know any details. At this meeting, they were talking some about the issue of mining, saying fortunately their community is very organized against it, but other communities are having more trouble. Lupita explained to us later that mining companies discovered there is gold and other precious metals in the mountains there, and they want to come in and extract it. The problem is it would basically displace entire communities, and the people living there refuse to leave their land. They would not be able to survive without it.
I have so much to write about and so little time, that I think this is going to have to be a multi-entry series. I'll try to get it all written sooner rather than later because I know I'll forget stuff, but we have insane amounts of schoolwork due until the end of the semester. Vamos a ver.
Random note: On Wednesday at praxis I saw a guy with giant MS-13 tattoos in his chest and arms. He was right by Angelica's house. (MS-13 is one of the two main gangs here.) No wonder she's always scared to talk about gangs. Amilcar, who teaches the computer classes, said "Buenos dias" to him as we walked by. I can't even fathom what it would be like to live under the fear that so many people live under here. There's a place called Mariona, one of the praxis sites, where people can't leave their houses after 8 p.m. because it's too dangerous.
posted by Amber at 3:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home