First, some news...I doubt this will make the news in the U.S., but just in case it does know that I am fine and all is well. This morning there was a bit of a disturbance in the center of San Salvador. The mayor (perhaps with good intentions) is trying to get the street vendors out of area near the center of the city I think so that it will be cleaner and nicer looking. Many people set up little shops and sell whatever they can such as fruit, vegetables, candy, shoes, clothes, toys, etc., etc. As is most construction in El Salvador, these shops are constructed of a hodgepodge of whatever they can manage to find to construct the shop. Not always the best looking, but functional. There has been an ongoing struggle for at least a couple of weeks between the vendors and the mayor. One night a few days ago, crews came in to demolish some of the shops and the mayor is continuing to try to get rid of the vendors. However, this is the vendors´ only job and many of the vendors are understandably upset that the mayor is trying to move them out. Today there was a march and protest with some of the vendors who were expressing their discontent with the mayor and the police were trying to keep the protest under control. The footage on the news looked pretty ugly (people throwing rocks, burning tires, police in riot gear). All is under control now though.
Yesterday, was a beauty pageant of sorts at the kids school. For each grade (kindergarten through 9th grade), a girl was nominated to be the ¨princess¨ for that grade. Then all the princesses competed against each other to see who would be the ¨queen¨ of the school. This was a fundraiser for the school- the girls got one vote for each 5 cents they collected. Whoever got the most points would win. The youngest kid who lives here, Julissa, who is in kindergarten, was the princess for her grade. She (and the rest of the princesses) got all dressed up in beautiful dresses and we (Julissa, her mom, a couple of her cousins, her aunt, one of the university students who lives here, and 7 young women from the States) all went over to the school for the afternoon assembly. The girls paraded out in front of everybody watching and they announced how many points each girl had up to that point. Then it started raining...at first just a little bit but then it poured and thundered and there was lightening. The assembly was outside so things had to be adjusted a little. Meanwhile a few boys started playing soccer in the pouring rain and got soaking wet. I guess nothing can stop them from playing soccer. Julissa was in 3rd place I think, but then all the girls had a chance to collect more money from the crowd or turn in money that they had collected at home. Well, before we left for school Julissa had collected some money from all the gringos, so that helped put her in first place! The rain let up for a little bit for the crowning ceremony. She got a sparklely crown and a sash that said she was the queen and she got to sit in a chair decorated with tissue paper and flowers. She is such a cute little thing and she was very clearly happy that she won!
While we were at the school we got to see some of the kid´s classrooms and we got to meet a few teachers. The classrooms were smallish, but decent (they even had whiteboards, rather than chalkboards. Julie was jealous because she doesn´t even have a whiteboard in her classroom in the U.S.!). The kids go to school either in the morning or in the afternoon. So the teachers teach one class in the morning and a different class in the afternoon. It seemed that there was probably about one class for each grade. There were about 5 policemen who were there at the school. Julie was brave enough to talk to one of them and she found out that the police have to be at every school while there are kids there. I know many schools in the U.S. have guards, but there certainly aren´t police at every school like there are here.
Of course the group of young white women attracted a lot of attention from the kids. They all wanted to come see and talk to the gringas. Some of them practiced the few phrases they know in English, while others were too shy to say much of anything. Some wanted their picture taken and some wanted to use our cameras to take pictures. I never like to be the center of attention, but being white in a country of brown people certainly attracts attention.
Today I went to the Casa Esperanza (Hope House). This is a place run by the Lutheran Church that supports homeless people in a variety of ways. The Casa Esperanza is located in one of (if not the) poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in San Salvador. While going to this neighborhood may not be the most pleasant or safe thing for the people who help run it, this is where people are in great need. The Casa Esperanza is open Monday through Thursday and on these days it provides a meal, a place for people to sit and talk with each other, clean up, and wash their clothes. There is a room for homeless children to come play and have a meal as well. Unfortunately they don´t have someone that can come everyday to take care of the children so today there weren´t any kids. They can provide some limited medical care- they have some medicine and supplies that have been donated, but there isn´t anyone with any serious medical training who can help. They also hold periodic AA meetings. There is some equipment for woodworking and painting. They make various wood crafts (crosses, Christmas ornaments, angels, etc.) to sell to make some money.
I went with Alvaro (an amazing Salvadoran who I will tell you more about later) on the bus to get to the Casa Esperanza. (Please also look forward to an upcoming post about the buses in El Salvador.) When we got there I got a little tour and then I helped make tortillas. I´m certainly no expert at making tortillas, but I didn´t do too badly. They were mostly round and were pretty much the correct thickness. I just formed them into the correct shape and put in on the grill to cook, then I let the expert flip them and take them off the grill.
Once the tortillas were all made, I went down to the room where all the homeless were gathering. Some were washing themselves and their clothes (but eventually the water ran out, so they couldn´t do that anymore), others were talking with each other, and some were watching the TV (soccer and then the news), but they were all waiting for the lunch which probably would be the only meal they would have all day and maybe until Monday when the Hope House opens again. About 30 people (mostly men, but a couple of women came too) wandered in by the time lunch was served.
Before lunch I talked with some of the men, then we had a brief worship service led by a pastor, we served lunch, some of the men helped clean up, I talked with some more men, and then we closed up and left. The conversations I had with the men were not what I anticipated.
The first man I talked to, Roberto, started talking to me in nearly perfect English when he learned I was from the U.S. He had lived in Maryland for 20 years before he was deported about 8 years ago. The second man I talked to (we also spoke in English) had lived in California for 30 years before he was deported 2 years ago. Both of these men told me that they did not like living in El Salvador. They had both spent most of their lives in the U.S. and they had to leave it all behind when they were deported. They left their families, kids, friends, houses, cars, jobs, etc. Both men were born in El Salvador but the life and culture they knew for practically all their lives was in the U.S. They aren´t used to Salvadoran culture and they aren´t used to being without their families. They are here practically all alone. I asked Roberto if he was going to try to go back. He said that he very much wants to, but he doesn´t have enough money, it´s too dangerous, and he doesn´t want to risk getting caught by the police again. He has a wife and two young kids in Maryland, but after he was deported his wife started dating another man, and now Roberto´s wife won´t let him talk with his kids. I asked the other man if he ever got to talk with his teenaged kids on the phone, and he practically started crying and told me no. I also talk briefly with another man who had also been deported recently.
I talked with a few other men and I asked them mostly about their families and if they are ever able to find work. Families in El Salvador are a mess (this subject will be yet another post) and it was sad to hear their stories of being estranged and apart from their family members. A majority of the men I talked with had some sort of trade (auto mechanic, construction, selling food) that they had skills in, but they just are not able to find work and even when they do find a day of work they don´t make enough money to support themselves or their family. I felt bad that all I could do for these men was listen to their stories and sympathize with them.
