El Salvador Perspectives

As the headlines from Newtown, Connecticut, cause us to sorrow with the families who lost precious children in a senseless killing, I was reminded of this poem written by Laura Hershberger on her blog.  Laura wrote this after spending the day working with a team who was interviewing women who participated in the Civil War in El Salvador: A Mother's Heart  I think every mother has the same heart. In that the thing that we love the most And the thing that we most fear losing Are the same. Something in our biology That makes us ache for our children if we haven't seen them enough That puts our attention on something else first, before ourselves Is he hungry? Is she safe? Will they always feel my love? And it is that heart That breaks For other mothers And their loss. My heart, my mother heart, breaks with the pain of the Salvadoran mother. Who lost 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, children in the war Whose child died of dengue Whose child left for the States and never came back Who wailed ...

VMM-USA is sponsoring a delegation to El Salvador from October 28 - November 4, 2012.   Sign up is open to anyone with a spirit of solidarity for the people of El Salvador.   I'll be on the trip to share my knowledge and passion for the country, and a special part of the trip will be the presence of Edwina Gateley , poet, theologian, artist, writer, lay minister, modern-day mystic and prophet, and a single mom.   You can read more about the delegation at this link . This delegation is also supported by the efforts of the SHARE Foundation .

Danny with friends My friend Danny Burridge has lived and worked in El Salvador for the past 4 1/2 years. Recently he started a new blog titled Embracing Crisis , about some of his experiences. Danny states that his purpose in writing the blog is "to incite awareness and weave a better world." Danny's two initial posts, Starting a Story and The Little Cicada , talk movingly about at-risk youth from the La Chacra neighborhood where Danny volunteers. Here's one of Danny's insights from Starting a Story : To be sure, there’s more little kids that will one day want in the gang than the pandilla could ever accept. I would say that in La Chacra, it’s a myth that gangs “recruit” little kids. It’s the poverty, the family disintegration, the lack of a support structure, the lack of education, the lack of opportunities, the lack of somebody to care, the lack of love that recruits little kids. It’s the fact that the gang members are the coolest and most powerful ...

One of the blessings I have received as a consequence of writing this blog is to get to know an organization named the Volunteer Missionary Movement or VMM.  In fact, the organization so impressed me that I now serve on its Board of Directors. VMM makes it possible for people to volunteer in poor communities in El Salvador and the rest of Central America.   VMM volunteers make a two year commitment to volunteer as a way of living out their calling as Chistians to be of service to the poor, the homeless, and the marginalized.  VMM places these dedicated volunteers with project partners doing such things as promoting community development in Usulutan, working with at risk youth in gang-ridden neighborhoods of San Salvador, leading a pre-school program in a poor neighborhood in Mejicanos, connecting North Americans in solidarity relationships in communities in El Salvador, or teaching indigenous women in Guatemala principles of animal husbandry. The volunteers from VMM...

Today I am republishing a post written by my friend Laura Hershberger. Laura is working in El Salvador with the SHARE Foundation , and is sponsored there by the Volunteer Missionary Movement or VMM. (More about VMM below). Laura's blog post is titled Back pain : This is a reflection on the week in June that I spent as a medical interpreter at the clinic at Maria Madre de los Pobres Catholic Church in La Chacra, San Salvador. The medical professionals who I interpreted for come to El Salvador everyone on a SHARE delegation from Visitation Parish in Kansas City. She was a street vendor who walked around carrying a giant tub of juice cans. The pain in her heals was unbearable. He threw his back out six years ago. He still has horrible pain. He thought it was cancer. But really it was the fact that he lifted tires everyday and put more and more strain on his back. She lost her arm during the war. Her husband just had a stroke and is paralyzed, she now does everything for him and w...