Pues ... esta manana fuimos (yo con Madre Alicia) a la escuela de los derechos humanos de la procuraderia del derechos humanos de El Salvador para asistir a un foro sobre la situacion de los indigenas en El Salvador. Que interesante fue!!! Escuchmos a
un hombre que es un trabajador para las derechos humanos y tambien esta estudiando para ser un shaman en la tradicion de los Mayas. Hay mucho que pudiera contarles en este momento, pero porque no tengo mucho tiempo, voy a decir que el hablo sobre el Popul Vuh, el libro sagrado de los Mayas y Nahuat, y la significancia que tiene. Hablo mucho sobre la perspectiva cosmologica de las indigenas de MesoAmerica, que es como ... un dialogo entre el cielo y la tierra. Y hablo sobre la significancia de los numeros en su tradicion, y de muchas otras cosas. Hablo sobre la discriminacion historica y hasta hoy contra la gente indigena, y dijo que todavia en El Salvador no han ratificado ni una ley para la proteccion de los derechos de las indigenas de El Salvador . Hablaron sobre la necesidad de luchar por eso. Habian mucha gente y despues de que hablo este hombre, muchas personas hichieron preguntas y comentarios muy intersantes, elaborando y profundizando la tema. Y despues, conoci a unas personas, incluyendo los directores de la escuela de DH , y ellos fueron muy muy amable y abierto y collaborativo, y uno de los directores me dio su direccion de correo electronico, para que podemos estar en contacto. Que buena gente son ... los Salvadorenos, muy fuerte y muy humilde al mismo tiempo! Una cosa mas de interes: Han elaborado un censo (real, dijieron) que muestra que en El Salvador ahora existen entre 10-12% de la populacion del pais que son indigena. Muy interesante!!!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Que hicimos hoy
Bueno ... desde jueves el 13 de agusto he estado aqui en El Salvador, disfrutando mucho la vida, mis amigos/as, la comida, la clima, la historia, el espiritu tan fuerte de la gente, etcetera. Estoy quedandome con Madre Alicia, quien es la Directora de Las Comadres, el comite de madres de los deseparecidos y asesitnatos de El Salvador. Eso es un gran honor para mi, y siento, con mucho respecto, claro, como estoy con familia. Siento MUY MUY comoda, bien cuidada y feliz! Ademas, por que estoy tan cerca de ellas, estoy aprendiendo mucho sobre como trabajan los organizaciones de la defensa de los derechos humanos. Siento que tengo mucha suerte por eso!!! Hoy fuimos en un grupo de 14 personas en un microbus hasta el pueblo donde nacio Monsenor Romero, el gran proponente de la teologia de la liberacion aqui en centroamerica. El fue asesinado en 1980. Y ahora estan pidiendo para la canonizacion de el. Todos que fueron hoy juntos en el microbus son de una coalicion que se llama la Concertacion de la Memoria de Monsenor Romero. Fuimos a un servicio Catolica en la iglesia, y luego hicimos una marcha desde la iglesia hasta el museo de Msr Romero. Y comimos mucho ... de tamales, pupusas, etcetera, y bebemos mucha cafe y horchata.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Talk at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting
I will be giving a talk about the Comadres and my trip today at 1:00 pm at the Brooklyn Quaker Meetinghouse at 110 Schermerhorn Street.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sunday
Hello all,
I worked Thursday and Friday and felt exhausted yesterday. Today I feel better, and was quite social, going to Quaker Meeting, brunch, and will be going to dinner with some friends tonight. Tomorrow I plan to stay home and WRITE WRITE WRITE about my experience, and finally type up the Alicia de Garcia interview! I learned so much, and I don't want it to get pushed aside, so to speak, by other things that are happening in my life here (like work, Pilates teacher training, etc.).
It feels strange to be back ... I miss the community that I became a part of in El Salvador. I don't really have that here. Here my job is much more isolated ... I am a free agent, in a way ... I come into a community center or a school, I teach ESOL class, and I leave. Where I work here, anyway, I have not really been treated as a part of the community, and I have not felt very welcomed.
Where I worked in El Salvador I felt incredibly welcomed and like the people felt that I could be very useful to them, and that I was interesting to them. They also loved to tell me about their country and their work and their experiences, as well as wanting to learn about me. There are members of Alicia de Garcia's family working in both the Comadres office and the Cooperative run by disabled veterans. It really felt like a family, and literally, in part, WAS a family. Then again, I found that sense of inclusiveness and community to be true of many people I met in El Salvador - that people I met on the bus, in my travels around the country, in the neighborhood where I stayed, etc. were very open and more often than not initiated conversations with me and enjoyed talking very much. Often people I did not know invited me to their homes, and if I accepted, fed me (very well) and entertained me for hours! Many different people invited me to stay with them when I return.
Well, here also I live alone, so it is a different feeling than being surrounded by people all the time, as I was in El Salvador. But people in general are different there than here ... I received so many warm smiles on the streets and markets of El Salvador, and here (so typical of New York City - I felt this way when I returned from Vermont as well) it is very hard to get anyone to smile back. Ah, well!
XO
M
I worked Thursday and Friday and felt exhausted yesterday. Today I feel better, and was quite social, going to Quaker Meeting, brunch, and will be going to dinner with some friends tonight. Tomorrow I plan to stay home and WRITE WRITE WRITE about my experience, and finally type up the Alicia de Garcia interview! I learned so much, and I don't want it to get pushed aside, so to speak, by other things that are happening in my life here (like work, Pilates teacher training, etc.).
It feels strange to be back ... I miss the community that I became a part of in El Salvador. I don't really have that here. Here my job is much more isolated ... I am a free agent, in a way ... I come into a community center or a school, I teach ESOL class, and I leave. Where I work here, anyway, I have not really been treated as a part of the community, and I have not felt very welcomed.
Where I worked in El Salvador I felt incredibly welcomed and like the people felt that I could be very useful to them, and that I was interesting to them. They also loved to tell me about their country and their work and their experiences, as well as wanting to learn about me. There are members of Alicia de Garcia's family working in both the Comadres office and the Cooperative run by disabled veterans. It really felt like a family, and literally, in part, WAS a family. Then again, I found that sense of inclusiveness and community to be true of many people I met in El Salvador - that people I met on the bus, in my travels around the country, in the neighborhood where I stayed, etc. were very open and more often than not initiated conversations with me and enjoyed talking very much. Often people I did not know invited me to their homes, and if I accepted, fed me (very well) and entertained me for hours! Many different people invited me to stay with them when I return.
Well, here also I live alone, so it is a different feeling than being surrounded by people all the time, as I was in El Salvador. But people in general are different there than here ... I received so many warm smiles on the streets and markets of El Salvador, and here (so typical of New York City - I felt this way when I returned from Vermont as well) it is very hard to get anyone to smile back. Ah, well!
XO
M
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Back in Brooklyn
Hey all,
I am home now ... got home at 12am @ JFK last night/early morning, and went to the first day of professional development at my job this morning at 9am in Harlem. Now I am very tired! I plan to post more pictures and blog entries here, so stay tuned!
Marita
I am home now ... got home at 12am @ JFK last night/early morning, and went to the first day of professional development at my job this morning at 9am in Harlem. Now I am very tired! I plan to post more pictures and blog entries here, so stay tuned!
Marita
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Recent activities
Sorry I haven't posted in a while ... I will be flying back to NYC on Wednesday 8/27, and so have been focusing a lot on what I have to/want to get done before I leave here! Yesterday I visited the church in which Archbishop Romero was shot, and I also went to the Museum of the Word and Image (Museo de la Palabara y Imagen) to watch a video of the testimony (oral history) of Rufina Amaya, one of the only survivors of one of the largest massacres here during the war - El Mozote. While there, I also bought a copy of the Salvadoran Peace Accords and the Report of the Truth Commission (in Spanish, of course!) I can't believe I'm going home already!!! : 0 I wish I had another month here! (I really do!)
Today I went with Alicia and 3 of her children, 8 of her grandchildren, and a son-in-law, TO THE BEACH! Yes, the mini-bus was VERY FULL! We had SO MUCH FUN! First, we swam in the ocean, and played ball in the ocean, and then ate delicious fish and danced a bit and sang a bit with a band that came by. After that we went to the pool. The kids were so sweet, and wanted me to swim with them a lot! They were all really into working on their swimming strokes, and wanted me to teach them more ... which I did a little of, to the best of my ability, with my limited Spanish. Then one of our party organized swimming races, which occupied us for between 2-3 hours! So much fun! Now I want to sleep!! (I will be teaching at 7:30 am again tomorrow!)
It is bitter-sweet to leave here! Ah!
Today I went with Alicia and 3 of her children, 8 of her grandchildren, and a son-in-law, TO THE BEACH! Yes, the mini-bus was VERY FULL! We had SO MUCH FUN! First, we swam in the ocean, and played ball in the ocean, and then ate delicious fish and danced a bit and sang a bit with a band that came by. After that we went to the pool. The kids were so sweet, and wanted me to swim with them a lot! They were all really into working on their swimming strokes, and wanted me to teach them more ... which I did a little of, to the best of my ability, with my limited Spanish. Then one of our party organized swimming races, which occupied us for between 2-3 hours! So much fun! Now I want to sleep!! (I will be teaching at 7:30 am again tomorrow!)
It is bitter-sweet to leave here! Ah!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Interview with Alicia
Hello all,
Just want to post quickly here to say that today I interviewed Alicia de Garcia, asking questions that I had for her, regarding the founding of the Comadres, what they are doing now, regarding her relationship with God, and many other subjects. It was a very moving experience. She answers questions by telling stories, instead of answering them directly, as I had expected. This is a lovely style, but it takes a bit longer, so she suggested that we can continue tomorrow afternoon. So lovely! (And an honor, for this woman is a very well known, well-connected, and busy human rights worker with a lot of experience, but she seems to have cleared quite a bit of her schedule to make time for me!)
More to follow!
Marita
Just want to post quickly here to say that today I interviewed Alicia de Garcia, asking questions that I had for her, regarding the founding of the Comadres, what they are doing now, regarding her relationship with God, and many other subjects. It was a very moving experience. She answers questions by telling stories, instead of answering them directly, as I had expected. This is a lovely style, but it takes a bit longer, so she suggested that we can continue tomorrow afternoon. So lovely! (And an honor, for this woman is a very well known, well-connected, and busy human rights worker with a lot of experience, but she seems to have cleared quite a bit of her schedule to make time for me!)
More to follow!
Marita
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