Day 12

Patty, Brittany and I at the school she attended

During the second day of our service site, we were able to visit local schools on the volcano in El Salvador.  Our liaison has volunteered and worked with these schools and these children for years.  Right now, he has a scholarship program set up where a few students intern for him and he provides work experience and also scholarship funds for their university tuition.  We were able to meet Patty, an intern at La RED, who lived and went to school at one of the schools we visited.  At one of the schools, we interrupted a Mother's Day celebration of kindergarten and elementary students thanking their mothers for all their love and support.  Between the two schools we visited, there was a huge discrepancy between facilities, resources and funding, and the schools were only about five miles apart.

Mother's Day Celebration

When we came back to our site, we were able to start translating their website into English.  My Spanish is not good enough to translate from Spanish to English, so we translated from "Google English" to website friendly language.  I really enjoyed helping in this way.  Recently, La RED lost its funding from Spain because of the financial crisis there.  So, now they are looking to expand their funding and trying to target donors in the US as well as Canada.  They are looking to partner with NGOs, organizations and universities within North America that have an interest and passion to fund work for people living with disabilities.  If anyone is interested in partnering with them or desires to check their agency out, here is there website www.laredelsalvador.com.

The students received our donations.

After our site visits, we did presentations about our agencies.  At the end of the presentations, our professors asked us what we learned about ourselves through the site visit.  One thing I was reminded of about myself is that I work really hard to make everyone comfortable and engaged in situations that might be uncomfortable.  Everything at the agency visit was new--people, organizational structure, work day flow and the mission.  I also felt the language barrier a lot during the day, and was frustrated that I could not converse freely with everyone at the site like I would had they spoken English.  Through the service experience, I also remembered my strong desire to complete projects.  My work and grad school experience has turned me into sort of an "achievement addict."  I find myself loving to work hard and complete projects well.  While this is a great strength, it can also be a hindrance in the big picture of things.  Dr. Guevara reminded us that it is not always doing for people that is welcomed or appreciated.  Instead, it is solidarity--standing beside, choosing to listen and feeling empathy that leads to some sort of intentional action.  Again, here is where the difference in the Salvadorian culture and our North American culture stand out.  It is individualism verses collectivism.  Individualistic cultures look for product first whereas collectivist ones may look for community first.  Individualistic cultures seek to fix and complete whereas collective ones long to be heard and work then to organize around pertinent issues.

Once again during this trip, my thoughts and perspectives are being widened and changed as we live and share the space of others.  I keep wondering what the transformation will look like when I return.

Brittany and I riding down the volcano.