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Rebuilding
El Salvador with Solidarity
After the earthquakes hit in January,
the Coordinadora shifted into high gear. Hundreds of families in
the Bajo Lempa region had lost their homes. Many became sick, while
others still suffer trauma from the aftershocks that continue even
today.
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Fortunately, international
solidarity is helping to make a dent in the tremendous need
that people have. The American Jewish World Service sent a
delegation of doctors and psychiatrists to treat the worst
cases during the first weeks following the tragedy. In March,
three delegations of Jewish college students spent their spring
break helping to rebuild homes.
Many generous organizations
and individuals have collaborated to help resolve the housing
crisis, including the American Jewish World Service, the
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One of the three
delegations of students who spent their spring break helping
the Coordinadora and its communities to rebuild.
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Jewish Coalition, the Shefa Fund,
the Overbrook Foundation, the American Friends Service Committee,
and Boltcutters International. They have already to helped to repair
28 homes, build 12 cinder block homes, and erect 25 Roundhouses.
Forty more houses are under construction. Negotiations continue
with a variety of organizations to house dozens of additional families
during the coming year.
As happened following Hurricane
Mitch, the Coordinadora is helping families by building a sustainable
economic future for the region, rather than distributing handouts.
The Coordinadora has provided credit to three cooperatives to rebuild
their shrimp ponds. Another important sign of the Coordinadora's
self-sufficiency is the initiation of the Marketing and Tourism
Center. Located where the Zone of Peace meets El Salvador's main
highway, this site will provide a market for organic produce and
serve as a departure point for ecotourism in the Bajo Lempa region.
Conflict Management
Update
by Jose "Chencho" Alas
If you go to El Salvador and ask
Estela Hernández, or any of the Coordinadora's leaders, what is
the most important thing for the development of their lives, they
will immediately tell you: "Education in principles and values for
our communities." Their Culture of Peace Program has precisely this
as its goal: helping community members strengthen their principles
and values to improve their solidarity and mutual respect, to cultivate
the land in a sustainable way, to work together in a truly democratic
way, and to contribute to the common good of their country.
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The Peace Initiative Committee
(CIPAZ) is made up of seven campesino peasants from different
regions of the Local Zone of Peace.
On May 28, Dick Salem and
I met with the CIPAZ at the Coordinadora's office in Ciudad
Romero. Dick is the professional mediator who helped us begin
this program two years ago.
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CIPAZ members learning
how to build peace in their own lives and in their communities.
Photo by Dick Salem.
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This project is essential for building
the principles and values that guarantee peace in a region that
was one of the most violent in El Salvador during the civil war.
The CIPAZ members, in their own
words, can testify to the project's impact:
"When I started in this program
a year ago, when I was 15 years old, I was fighting with people
in school all the time. Now I know how to work with people." --
Yanira
"I used to be impatient and needed
to get an immediate response when there was a problem. Now I am
more patient. I have a more peaceful life." -- Carmen
"I have learned that problems
which I thought had no solution can be solved. Now I can find
solutions. I am doing this with my own family." -- Salvador
"I learned that conflict is neither
good nor bad. You can resolve it if you have the will." -- Mario
"Since working with the team,
I learned that we must be the first ones to change our behaviors.
I used to avoid conflict. Now I know how to confront a problem
and not evade it." -- Chevo
"I used to be impulsive. Now I
think before I act. I'm doing this with my family and friends
and in school. I don't get angry at my teacher any more if I don't
understand things." -- Estelita
"In the beginning, I thought conflicts
were bad and irresolvable. Now I understand that we can solve
problems if we know the causes." - Rigo
In the Zone of Peace we are achieving
a model of development that includes more than just material goods.
You get real development only when you build a strong relationship
between the spirit and materials, between values and the production
of goods. In the middle, therefore, you'll find human beings. Creating
this relationship is achieving peace.
Sustainable Agriculture
is Growing!
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Irrigation
Elevated hand pumps, like
this one in Ciudad Romero, are allowing farmers to diversify
their crops and water them during the dry season.
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The Coordinadora began working
on alternative irrigation systems, with the help of a grant
from the American Jewish World Service, in 2000. Irrigation,
be it with hand-powered or gasoline-powered pumps, is proving
to be an important component of sustainable agriculture in
the Bajo Lempa region.
These new technologies and
methods are allowing farmers to diversify their crops and
grow them during the dry season. This is especially important
in this region because crops grown during the rainy season
are often flooded and destroyed right before harvest.
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The Coordinadora
began an Agricultural
School last year with the goal of community members themselves
becoming the local teachers in sustainable farming. 20 women
and men have already finished the first year of this three-year
project and each has begun working independently with an average
of three neighbors for "sustainable agriculture in their own
fields and their communities."
Grants from the Funding Exchange
and the Tides Foundation are financing this project's second
year, honing participants' skills in organic farming, crop
marketing, and building community participation. By 2005,
we hope to see graduates of this program in each of the Coordinadora's
86 rural communities.
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Leadership
in Organic Agriculture
Participants
in the Agriculture School are learning about organic farming.
They are becoming teachers in their own communities, breaking
their dependence on outside experts.
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Roundhouses:
Helping Homeless Earthquake Victims
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The first of the 25 Roundhouses
to go up in Río Roldán. Angelita and Juan Martínez live here
with their son and grandson.
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Roundhouses
offer a housing alternative for many of the rural families
left homeless by the earthquakes in El Salvador.
These 200 square foot structures
provide enough space for a family of six to sleep comfortably
in their hammocks. Their durable construction makes them earthquake
and hurricane-resistant. Yet, they are surprisingly affordable,
at only $2,000 each (plus installation).
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El Salvador's first 25 roundhouses
went up in Río Roldán, a rural community in the Bajo Lempa
region. Six members of Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison,
WI, in partnership with International Building Concepts and
Boltcutters International, made this gift possible.
Elizabeth
Dole visited Río Roldán, in the Bajo Lempa, on April 25,
2001. Her visit here marked the beginning of a new relationship
with this region and the people there who are working hard
for self-sufficiency through their own grassroots movement,
the Coordinadora.
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Maria Brizuela
(El Salvador's Foreign Relations Minister),Angelita Martínez
(a community leader), and Elizabeth Dole in front of Angelita's
Roundhouse.
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Foundation for
Self-Sufficiency in Central America Newsletter,
Summer 2001
The Foundation for Self-Sufficiency
in Central America 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.
1411 Lisa Rae
Round Rock, TX 78664
(512) 388-7957, (fax) 388-2057
http: //fssca.net
Executive Director: José "Chencho"
Alas
Assistant Director: Sean Hale
El Salvador Office: 011 (503) 274-2781
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