The Coordinadora Keeps Growing

Today the Coordinadora has grown to represent 86 communities. This popular, democratic movement has diverse leadership. It includes, for example, former FMLN guerillas, former members of the Salvadoran armed forces, women, Catholics, and evangelicals. Today its accomplishments include:

• 121 community organic farms in the region.
• Twelve shrimp farms.
• 450 cottage chicken businesses.
• 1,200 campesinos trained in green agriculture techniques.
• The Local Zone of Peace.

In addition to providing project grants, the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency (FSSCA) helps cover the Coordinadora's general operating fund, with which other donors and relief agencies do not help. Last year the Coordinadora received $1,000,000 in project grants and relief aid from other donors. With less than $100,000 from the FSSCA for operating expenses, they covered the costs of running $1,000,000 worth of projects! Every dollar donated to the Coordinadora allows them to use $10 of project money.

Budget projections for the rest of 2000 indicate that without an additional $22,000, the Coordinadora will not cover all of its operating expenses this year.

This year, can you make an additional donation of $100 or $50? Your contribution will ensure that the Coordinadora continues to improve the lives of the 45,000 campesinos it represents.

The Struggle for Peace Continues
by Richard Salem

Richard Salem, President of Conflict Management Initiatives (http://www.cmi-salem.org/), is coordinating FSSCA's assistance to the Conflict Management Project for the Coordinadora's Local Zone of Peace. He has worked in addressing community conflicts in Africa, the US, and elsewhere during the last three decades. The project attracts him because of its potential for meaningful change at the grassroots level and its importance in helping the Coordinadora achieve its goals of peace and sustainable development.

In response to the high levels of violence that are impeding development in southern Usulután, La Coordinadora del Bajo Lempa has asked the Foundation for Self Sufficiency to help design and implement a conflict management program that will serve as the cornerstone of the region's Local Zone of Peace. FSSCA's work on this project began with a series of 25 two-day Culture of Peace workshops conducted in 1998-99 by Chencho Alas. At each session, campesinos developed a list of the conflicts in their communities. The lists were all encompassing and reflected the culture of violence that has grown in the region since the civil war ended in 1992. They included conflict in the home, in the community, within and between community organizations, and conflicts related to the lack of adequate law enforcement and civil justice as well as the government's failure to provide services to the region.

The destruction of arms is just the first step towards ending violence and conflict.

Chencho enlisted former FSSCA board member Ruth Cowan and me to participate in a two-day retreat in September 1999 with a Coordinadora planning committee. There, we explored the ways the organization might address the high level of conflict in their communities. The Coordinadora planning committee recommended that the organization develop training programs in the areas of conflict management skills, collaborative problem solving and mediation. A second round of planning took place at a three-day retreat workshop with some 25 members of Coordinadora's staff and volunteer leadership in February 2000. Leading that session were three trainers and planners from the USA who are affiliated with the Mennonite Conciliation Service. They are Mark Chupp and Phil Thomas, each of whom had spent several years working on conflict and peace issues in El Salvador, and Ms. Luzdy Stucky, a native of Columbia specializing in non-violence training. This workshop set the stage for a final session with the same team in May 2000. During this session, the Coordinadora will complete the design and long-term plan of training and other activities that will contribute to the transformation of the culture of violence in the southern Usulután region to a culture of peace. The final plan is expected to include non-violence workshops, conflict management and transformation training and the development of mediation and other conflict intervention skills. 

The FSSCA has funded this project with the support of the American Jewish World Service and the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. The U. S. Institute of Peace has committed a grant of $40,000 to the long-term program. We are presently seeking additional long-term funding from several large foundations.

The Judeo-Christian Ecumenical Peace Conference
by José “Chencho” Alas

On March 18 and 19, in the Maya Salon of the Hotel Terraza, in one of the richest neighborhoods of San Salvador, more than one hundred people of very different origins gathered. We listened closely to fifteen-year-old Yanira Leiva, who, to help her family, cuts sugar cane for $3.45 a day. She talked very elegantly about Conflict Management and Mediation, the second component of the Local Zone of Peace Project. It was not easy for her to get to where she was. The same day that she attended a small workshop to prepare her talk she found out that a maquiladora factory had hired her and offered her $190 per month. She had to choose between working for and within her community or earning more money to help her parents and five younger siblings. During that same workshop she decided to not take the job, to continue cutting cane, and to dedicate herself to serving the communities within the Local Zone of Peace project. As you might expect, everyone interrupted her to applaud when they heard this.

There were many different people in the salon: twenty-five campesino peasants from southern Usulután representing the Coordinadora, twenty Jewish youths from the University of New York who spoke only a few words of Spanish, alumni of San José de la Montaña Seminary (most of whom are now ex-priests), an Episcopal bishop, a Lutheran bishop, five rabbis from New York (two of whom are women), four justices of the peace, and other guests. Although we come from different backgrounds we have something in common, something which transcends history and geography. That is, the Torah, particularly the books of Genesis and Exodus. All of us came together to attend the Judeo-Christian Ecumenical Peace Conference, the first of its kind in the history of El Salvador. The Coordinadora, the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency, the American Jewish World Service, and the Alumni Association of San José de la Montaña sponsored the event.

Before and during our twelve-year civil war (1980-1992), our campesino peasants tried to understand, in the heart of their Christian Base Communities, the significance of the Israelites' oppression by the Egyptian pharaoh and God's liberating intervention. The Book of Exodus guided them, as did documents of the Latin American Church, in the analysis of their oppression and their aspiration for liberation. Today, we want to understand the Book of Genesis better as we move from the Theology of Liberation towards a Theology of Peace. The first two chapters of Genesis help us to understand and value human rights, equality, and our obligation to make the land produce while protecting the environment. The Jewish people describe this obligation in their principal of tikkun olam, or "repairing the world." Genesis chapter 3 presents conflict, which appears throughout human history. It ought to be managed appropriately, according to the methodology that Jesus presents in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, and especially in the Sermon on the Mount. In addition to these themes, we discussed another that has been very important in the last thirty years of Salvadoran history: prophecy and peace. The conference took place during a week of celebrations marking the twentieth anniversary of the martyrdom of Monsignor Oscar Romero. This Salvadoran bishop was assassinated on March 24, 1980. His blood symbolized his role as a prophet of justice and peace.

The campesino peasants were not used to public speaking, they prefer group dialogue in which each person receives an opportunity to offer their thoughts. Therefore, we used open, participatory methods in the conference. We organized the small group sessions beforehand so that each would have a balanced representation from the different participating groups. This bore fruit in a rich dialogue that created the new relationships among different people that we had hoped for. The rabbis played an important part in the dialogues due to their knowledge of the Torah. After each session everyone met again in a plenary session to hear the rabbis' commentaries.

The conference has produced very positive results. Firstly, we have established a deeper spiritual and cultural relationship with some of the people who have generously contributed funds to our projects. In receiving, our interest lies not only in materials but also in knowing why the other person gives. This understanding leads us to stronger ties between people. The Episcopal bishop, Martín Barahona, has begun to seek funds for the Coordinadora's programs. The four justices of the peace will give workshops on conflict management and mediation. The rabbis have donated eleven computers and have pledged to provide medical assistance, agricultural assistance, and irrigation expertise. The American Jewish World Service and Rabbi Rachel Cowan, the director of the Nathan Cummings Foundation Jewish Life Program, are planning to offer their help as well.

We say that peace is the fruit of justice, but not just that. Justice is necessary for peace, but by itself is insufficient to enjoy it. In addition to justice, humans need to have spiritual relationships based on the principles by which women, men, and the planet were created. We achieved this in the Maya Salon, and we know that it will last.

Join us in the Zone of Peace

We are presently organizing the 2000 summer delegation to celebrate the second anniversary of the Declaration of the Zone of Peace. It will be there August 8th – 15th. We invite you, your family, and friends to participate. On the Zone of Peace tour you will visit agriculture and aquaculture projects, learn about Salvadoran history, visit Monsignor Romero’s tomb, relax at the beach, and spend time with the campesino peasants that you are supporting.  If you or your group are interested in participating, please call or email us as soon as possible for more information.

1999's Zone of Peace delegates

Fund Raising Drive

In addition to providing direct support to the Coordinadora, the Foundation has set three fundraising priorities for 2000. The completion of each of these goals will be another step forward along the road to peace, social justice, and sustainable development in the Zone of Peace.

· The Multi-purpose Building – The Coordinadora's field office in Ciudad Romero practically complete! A recent donation is now allowing the Coordinadora to add the finishing touches.

· The Chicken Project – we hope to supply 4,000 chickens and 400 roosters this year. With chickens costing $5 each, and roosters $8, the total cost is $23,200.

· Homes – the Coordinadora has received a grant for building homes, but does not have land to build them on. $100 will allow them to purchase land for one of the 1,000 homes they hope to build.

Your assistance in meeting any or all of these goals will make a significant difference in the lives of community members in the Zone of Peace.

The Foundation for Self-Sufficiency is a US non-profit organization (501c3) dedicated to supporting the movement for Peace and Justice in El Salvador and the rest of Central America.