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Reflections on the trip to El Salvador March 7, 2010 Allison Hine - Sr. PF Leader On February 12th 28 members of our church community boarded a bus to begin our journey to El Salvador. The members of the Senior High Pilgrim Fellowship had been preparing for this journey for nearly a year. They collected and disposed of electronics for families in our local communities, lugged bags and boxes from cars during intake of the White Elephant Sale, and worked diligently at side jobs as a way to earn money for their trip. They also collected medical supplies and sports equipment to deliver to various communities in El Salvador. El Salvador is a broken country, ravaged by political unrest, extreme poverty, and natural disasters, but her people are beautiful and warm and welcoming. The smiles that greeted us each morning when we arrived at the work site let us know that the act of extending the hand of fellowship in El Salvador would not soon be forgotten. You will hear many varied and deeply personal stories today about the ways in which the trip affected the participants. The universal thread in each person’s experience is the fact that their very being was changed in a profound way and their perspective on life has been shifted forever. Carson Shook During our trip, we were fortunate enough to stay in a gorgeous house, with a pool out back and past the pool, beach access where we could swim in the Pacific Ocean. We were lucky, however, and we began to recognize that as the days went on. El Salvador has a difficult past that has lead it to be the fourth poorest nation in Latin America. It’s impoverished state has come from the never ending struggle against the aftermath of war and natural disaster. The disparity between the higher and lower class has always been present, but the disasters this country has faced in the past only made the separation more evident. The year, 1992, marked the end of a 12-year civil war between the small wealthy group dominating the government and the disappointed general population. The war lead to a great destruction of the country’s infrastructure, a destruction that totaled to approximately $1.5 billion US currency. The end of the war gave hope that the country could finally begin to repair and reconnect. In 2001, however, El Salvador was struck by two earthquakes. These earthquakes left trails of destruction, destroyed almost 150thousand houses and damaged 185thousand houses. Driving to the Fuller Center worksite everyday, we passed by many small clusters of homes and a few towns. Every day we were amazed by the dilapidation of the huts people lived in and way these people lived on so little. Those places we passed were just tid-bits of images, though. We didn’t get the up close and personal view of poverty until we reached the Fuller Center Village. At the village, a family of 5 may live in a small 3 room concrete building. None of the families had the money to buy cars or many toys for their children. Because of poor working conditions, many families find it easiest to sell tourist items from stands on the streets. We can hear these shocking facts, like that nearly a quarter of El Salvador’s 6 million population lives on less than one US dollar per day, but it doesn’t hit you hard until you are working side by side with people who are making 80 cents an hour and until you see that people are walking around shoe-less. Although I saw the poverty first hand and learned a lot about the history and turmoil the El Salvador citizens have been through, the biggest realization I received from the trip was their spirits were the highest of any group of people I had ever met. Despite their empty wallets and small houses, they were the most friendly, gracious and hopeful people I have ever met. Molly Case The Fuller Center organization in El Salvador fosters a structural, personal, and financial relationship through the parent organization in the U.S. and the rest of the world. Their partner organization, Homes from the Heart, brings years of local experience in housing and community building in Central America. They became partners to strengthen their ability to reach their mutual goal of eliminating poverty housing in the world. Currently, Michael Bonderer is the El Salvadorian Country Host and Micah Whitt is an intern working with Michael for the year. In February 2008, the organizations purchased a plot of land together in the town of San Luis Talpa, which is the site where we worked; it’s sufficient for 60 homes and a community center. Almost 32 homes are completed and gutters are being put on all the houses to promote water harvesting, they’ve also recently made electricity available. Homes From the Heart has completed the rebuilding of 149 homes in Soyapango, which is an area of San Salvador notorious for their gangs, and characterized by the separation of wealth. We visited this site on our last day. With the help of The Fuller Center for Housing they’re also working on restoring another community called Santa Cruz, which was completely buried from a tropical storm in November. They’re also hoping to send teams to Haiti soon. Another accomplishment is a program called Many Miracles which responds to the need of economic opportunities for residents of their communities. Also, they recently obtained industrial sewing machines in order to give women the chance to manufacture products such as purses, which are then marketed in the U.S. giving the women an income. In addition to the Many Miracles program, many men and women are employed by these two organizations building houses and getting sites ready for building. In a country where less than half of the population has formal jobs, this is an important step toward eradicating poverty. Michael and Micah also have established a relationship with a local clinic and help to fund it. This clinic serves people in San Luis Talpa as well as the surrounding communities. The clinic is not publicly funded so relies heavily on its relationship with the Fuller Center and Homes From the Heart. Kiersten Sinko Each of our days was different yet similar. Between Monday and Thursday, the 30 of us would get up early in the morning – usually 6 or 7a.m., depending on when our work day would start. During this hour-long time we had, we would pack our necessities for the day; hats, work gloves, sunscreen, sunglasses, water bottle, and of course, good work shoes. Since we did not have time to enjoy a meal from Yolanda each morning, we would all enjoy a quick meal of corn flakes and fruit before starting our day. Once our vans arrived, we all piled in and would prepare ourselves for the long ride to our worksite. Usually the ride is less than a half-hour, but with morning traffic, it would take us over an hour to get there – not including our daily pit stop for tangerines and bananas. The drive to the site, however, was different for each van. We had the “adult” van, and then we had the “teenager plus Allison” van, where we jammed to all sorts of music with Jonathan Ramirez, who was our van driver for the week. As we got out of the vans, we set straight to work, putting bags of cement into Micah Whitt’s truck and grabbing all the necessary tools such as pick-axes, shovels, hard hats and buckets. Then, as the girls said, “Hi Ho Hi Ho, It’s off to work we go!” We worked very long and hard days trying to get all sorts of projects done. We worked on a new foundation for two houses, poured cement flooring for two houses, built sewage holes, swept houses and we even spent a full day pouring cement walls for a whole house. Michael, the director of the Fuller Center for Housing in El Salvador, told us that a group of 95 people came to work for one day of volunteering. Their project was similar to ours; pour cement walls for a whole house. They accomplished this task in 11.5 hours. We did it in 6.5. Our crew had a system called the “bucket brigade” where we would create an assembly line; 4 people were shoveling sand and cement, 2 people were filling the mixer for the cement, 3 were shoveling the finished cement into buckets, and then the buckets would be passed down a line of people which would soon reach the people on the top of the building who were pouring the cement. Then the people on top would toss down the empty buckets, and they would be sent back to the cement shoveling people. Our system was no less then “dynamite.” However, we did have to make sure that each of us was getting water and sun screening ourselves. We had teenage group leaders everyday who organized jobs to get done and to make sure that everyone was being safe. After a few people got very sick from lack of water, EVERYONE was watching everyone’s back, making sure that each person got water every 15 minutes and sun screening every hour. We were a team, so we needed to make sure our teammates were staying healthy, strong and safe in order to survive these long work days. After a hard day of work (including an hour long lunch break), we would return back home to our house to enjoy the swimming pool, the beach or simply a shower to cool off after such a hot day. One day after work we even decided to celebrate by going to a cantina called Punta Cola where we enjoyed a wonderful meal and got to listen to music from a mariachi band. However, on regular days, we would enjoy a fine cooked meal by Yolanda, and we would help Allison by contributing to group emails back to home to all of our beloved ones in the states (that’s you!). Finally, after such a long day, we would gather for a reflection, having either a group of teenagers contribute to a reading or a inspirational quote, or we would all go around in a circle and talk about our days together, giving each other great advice and support. Then we would all cuddle into our thin sheets and mattress’s and enjoy a long nights rest before starting it all again the following day. No complaints though, because we truly all enjoyed what we were doing for these people. Abby Visel While I was in El Salvador, the thing that affected me the most was the amount of poverty there. People bathed and washed their clothes in a muddy river. Kids wore no shoes and clothes that were 2 sizes too small. Houses were made from scrap sheets of metal and rope. Dogs looked like they would die any moment from starvation. People rode bikes, horses, and sometime carts pulled by ox. A good paying job paid .80 cents an hour -- that's less than 1/10 our minimal hourly wage. The village we worked at was considered better off than most. They had a sturdy house with plumbing and electricity. Yet, everyday, after lunch, they would eat our scraps -- food that we would just throw away and think nothing of. One day, while eating lunch, one of the boys came and sat next it me. I asked him if he wanted my tortilla, and his face lit up with such joy while he answered, "Si!" Seeing how much food I had left, I asked him if he wanted chicken on it, and his eyes got bigger and a huge grin spread across his face. Noticing a trend, I asked if he wanted rice too. The look on his face looked like an American kid's face on Christmas morning. So we sat there together, eating a small tortilla with chicken and rice. This really affected me. We think nothing of opening the fridge and grabbing something to eat. And if we don't like what we see, we complain we have no food in the house every though we have enough for at least a week. They don't have that luxury. On the last day, we visited a village that was done building houses. One girl ran straight up to me and grabbed my hand. She looked up at me with a gleaming smile on her face and said, "Hola!" We sat next to each other in the shade and talked. She asked where I was from and I told her I was from the USA. I asked which house was hers and she pulled me along until we reached her house. She asked me more questions about my life in America and asked if I was taking a plane home. Then out of nowhere, she gazed up at me. The smile on her face had disappeared, and I could see in her eyes something was wrong. She muttered, "Can I come to America with you?" I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know how to tell this 7-year-old girl that she had to stay there, that she had to stay where she’s surrounded by violence and where she lives in poverty. I simply told her she couldn't, and like nothing had happened, she went back to smiling and showing me around her village. Rob Bruno Good morning, I’d like to talk a bit about what I learned from Amir and my colleagues from the FCCOL during our time working to build houses with the Fuller Center in El Salvador. Amir is a Salvadoran who worked beside us at our building site. He caught my attention for a number of reasons … 1) he had a “classic Central American” appearance (just visualize the profile of a Mayan king etched on a pyramid in Tikal); 2) he worked earnestly hard with minimal breaks carting huge buckets of gravel, sand and cement from one pile to the next and 3) he wore a red long sleeved turtle neck under another heavy work shirt and long pants, despite the 90 degree temperatures and blazing sun. I came to know a little bit about Amir during our side conversations. He lived in the US (specifically in NJ) working at a Pathmark Super Market for thee years until he was deported for overstaying his tourist visa. So he returned, attempting to support his aging Mother& Father at home in El Salvador. He loves his country, but says there is no work for him. Not in the capitol of San Salvador, not in his local village, no where. So he worked along side us building Fuller Center houses. From 8am – 5pm each day, he hauls materials from one place to another, clears and levels building sites, digs and fills ditches, mixes and pours concrete, etc. Believe me all back-breaking work, for which he receives $5/day. This gave me reason to pause …. Now, I manage Biomedical research, so I’ve been trained to follow the scientific method. To give you an abbreviated definition ….the Scientific Method refers to the acquisition of new knowledge based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.[1] So, I reasoned and thought about our trip as a series of Inputs vs. Outputs. Inputs – what resources did we expend? Well, time (a week of our time), people (30 strong), materials (sand, gravel, concrete, etc.) and of course $. We all put up a substantial amount of money to finance our trip and as a contribution to the Fuller Center. Outputs – What did we produce? Well, we cleared, dug and filled in the foundation for a new two unit house. We dug deep holes for two 5’x5’x5’ septic tanks. We poured the concrete floors for two houses, and we prepared, mixed and poured the concrete walls for a new families’ house. By all accounts, we achieved an amazing amount of work given the size/constitution of our group and the time we spent. But, the scientific method called for reasoning, so I thought … if we pooled all the money we 30 spent, we could hire 30 workers such as Amir for about a year. How many foundations, floors and houses would they produce? How many Mothers and Fathers could be supported? How much impact would the wages of these 30 workers have on the local economy? Wouldn’t this be a better use of our inputs? But then I remembered … I remembered the determination, endurance and good lessons learned by our church teenagers, I remembered the good will generated by the caring presence and words of my fellow church adults, I remembered the obvious appreciation of the many Salvadoran people we touched, and I remembered the laughs and smiles of the kids with whom we played. And then, I realized that these are things that can not be quantified, that go beyond reason. Perhaps there are better ways to build houses and help a country develop, but there are no better ways to help extend the world community. Phoebe Ritrovato This is the first time I’ve ever traveled out of the country, besides Canada. So, this was a very new experience for me, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot of things about myself and about people in general. For someone living in the United States and hearing about what life is like in El Salvador, you might think the people there would be sad or missing all of the things they don’t have, but they’re actually all very happy and joyful people. I don’t think there was one person there who didn’t smile at me or wave hello. Let me remind you that these people have next to nothing. They don’t have many possessions, and they have very little money. There’s no trash disposal system and the air quality is very poor. Despite the fact that these people don’t have much, they still manage to be happy with their few possessions. I think this is because they’re grateful for all of the little things in life that we seem to forget about and take for granted. When we were at the worksite, there were a lot of little kids there and if you were taking a quick break from the heat, they were always looking for someone to play with. Knowing there would be lots of little kids, we brought tattoo books, toys, and candy to give out. When we were giving kids tattoos, there was this little girl who got a tattoo of a flower on her hand. When she saw the tattoo on her hand, her smile was so big and she was just amazed at the tattoo. If you pointed to it on her hand she’d look back up at you and smile. This little girl was extremely grateful for such a little thing as a tattoo. If I got a tattoo like that, I’d probably say, “Oh that’s so pretty!” and then it would be over. It wouldn’t really mean that much to me because I have so much more than that. However, if you stop and look around for a moment at all of the wonderful things you possess, no matter how small, you’ll realize just how lucky and privileged you really are. Matt Searle This February vacation, 27 other people and I embarked on a journey to the Central American country of El Salvador. The purpose of the trip was clear: to aid in the construction of houses in partnership with the Fuller Center Organization. When I first heard about the trip, I must admit I had mixed emotions. The chance to help out people in need seemed like an opportunity too great to pass up, but I still had some reservations. After all, could I really survive seven days without an i-pod, a television, or even a bed to sleep on? Was I willing to do hard labor for seven hours a day in the blistering heat? Though I contemplated these aspects of the trip, I realized it was a chance worth taking. I had heard the stories of how fun and rewarding these types of trips had been, and yet I had never actually been on one. It was also an opportunity to go some place outside the country and expose myself to another culture, something I had never done before. Though I thought about the trip in the weeks after I signed up, the magnitude of what I was doing never truly hit me until after the 6 hour flight had reached its end. There was a purpose for this trip, and in my mind it was an important one. As we arrived at the beach house at which we were staying, I realized that this vacation would be unlike any other. Perhaps the aspect of this excursion that I found the most surprising was how much fun I had. The other boys-Mike, John, Andrew, Dan, Gabe, and I formed a group known as the “bros.” We played cards together, had manly conversations, and learned how to tear apart coconuts with a machete. We also made use of the pool as well as the surf provided by the nearby ocean. In spite of a scary event on the beach involving a riptide, most of the mission was marked by effort and determination. Those that were able to work put in everything they had, and those that weren’t made sure that everyone was healthy and on task. Even the teenagers, so often stereotyped as lazy and apathetic, were amongst the best and most dedicated laborers. The truth was that my fellow “bros” as well as the other kids my age that decided to come made the best of every situation. I entertained everyone with stirring renditions of “Funky Cold Medina” and “Ice Ice Baby” while Mike expressed his displeasure with drinking out of bags and the run down appearance of the dogs. Gabe also broke the world record for using the phrase “straight up” and John made it a point to bring home not one, but four machetes. I think what made the experience a positive one for us was that we all came for the right reasons. Though living without technology may have seemed like “roughing it” to some, we realized it was nothing compared to what the people in this country go through everyday. I was impressed with not only the hard work, but also how people went out of their way to be kind to those they met. Many of our group played football, aka soccer with the little kids, and others had conversations with some of the workers who helped us. One little boy in particular, named Kevin, came over to me while I was taking a break and put his arm around me. I was touched by the gesture, as I had never met or said anything to him before. This moment allowed me to see that there is nothing in the world that can compare to an act of human kindness. Though the people in El Salvador may live in a foreign country and lead lives dissimilar to our own, they are not all that different than us. In retrospect I, as well as the other members of the group, were simply reaching our arms around a random stranger, and doing so purely out of the kindness of our hearts. We may only have helped build two houses, but the care we displayed made our impact far greater. For me, the trip not only one of the most memorable experiences of my life, but also the most rewarding.
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