El Salvador - june 2007

I´m currently sitting in an internet cafe in Juyua, El Salvador, a 90 minute drive from the capitol of San Salvador. I´ve been here now since Friday, when i meet up with the rest of the Habitat for Humanity team that I´m working with for the week. This trip was an invite from a friend of mine, Father Mike Johnson, a Franciscan Frier. I meet Mike on my first habitat trip 3 years ago in Guatemala. With a strong religious focus for this trip, we immediately started diving into the recent history of El Salvador and the role the church has played, or attemted to play to change the course of this country where vast poverty is starkly contrasted with the wealth of a few.



Yesturday we visited the church where Oscar Romero was assasinated in 1980 while preaching to the people he stood for. El Salvador was in the midst of a brutal civil war that pitched the govermental lead army (mostly controlled by the few rich families of El Salvador and thier financial backers....... the US) against the poor of the country who were attempting to organize and had the gall to ask for fair treatment and wages. Oscar Ramero stood as a voice for the voice less and spoke of truth and justice, of faith and grace. He died because of his faith and his service to the poor...... the people of God. Shortly after Oscar Ramero was killed, a group of military men, trained at the school of the America´s, assasinated 6 Franciscan Fathers at the nearby University of Central America. The murders were commited execution style and the brains of the Franciscans blown out. This was specifically done because the mind is considered of high importance to the Franciscans. I could go on describing the injustices of this time in history here in El Salvador, but the reality is that it was not so different from the injustices happing at this moment in places like Sudan, Congo, what happened in Ruwanda, and as depicted recently in the movie Blood Diamond.



The family we are building for is five women spaning three generations. Two sisters, one of their daughters, and two grand daughters. The picture is only of the two sisters and two grand daughters because the mother is the only one with a full time job. Here are some numbers that describe what her "full time" job consists of. She works 13 hours a day at a hotel 7 days a week. It takes her 1.5 hours and at least 3 different busses to get to and from work. For this time commitment she earns $7 a day (the minimum wage in El Salvador) The bus costs approximately $3 round trip. So, she nets $4 a day to support her family. Thanks to Habitat's no interest cost only loans this wage, along with other income from selling pupusas and other home made goods, will be enough to support the $50 monthly mortgage payment for the new house and support the family. This story is unfortunately a very common one among the large population of people living below what is considered the poverty level.

I realize as I write this that this blog could turn into a massive monolouge, so I will instead show some pictures and summarize with short thoughts and memories:


The view of the beautiful volcanoes and mountains off in the distance from the front of our hotel in Juyua. The father holding his daughter between the stubs of his legs, cut off above the knees, as he monouvered his wheelchair down the rocky road.

Lush gardens surounding a gaurded restraunt, sipping ice tea, with views of corogated sheet covered and sidded homes just across the street conveniently obstructed by trees and shrubbery.


Trucks loads filled with tons of sand, gravel, and bricks. Shovels, picks, re-bar, gatorade, water, watermellon, coconut water.


Smiling faces at the orphanage, youthful excitment, pato, pato, ganso!


Tears,


a greatful family,


digging completed!



I'VE SEEN GOD

I've seen god on my people's faces
in all different races
in many, many places

I've seen god on the streets
as well in people that struggle to eat
visible faith that cannot be beat

I've seen god at home
when im alone
i feel the breeze that makes my body stiff as stone

I've seen god in people of young age
by thier smile even in an orphanage
although it may seem like they are incaged

They are happy and they are livin
they appreciate everything they have been givin
its hard to see thier life is only beginnin

Instead of living life in vanity
try to live in unity, as one family
I've seen god in Habitat For Humanity
- Kevin