Chanhassen Villager - El Salvador Mission: photos, video, commentary - Comments

The Salvadoran Lutheran

FAdams — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:15:38 -0600

The Salvadoran Lutheran Church is known as a leading voice for the protection of the poor, the oppressed, those suffering injustice, children at risk and women. Under the direction of Bishop Medardo Gómez, the church is said to live out the Biblical mandate to care for all of God's children. Critics call it "the guerilla church," with regards to its support for guerilla fighters during the civil war.

Service Learning Abroad: El

FAdams — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:43:51 -0500

Service Learning Abroad: El Salvador: Election Observation and Democratic Participation
Dominican University
March 7-March 17, 2009

This course is an opportunity to learn in depth about the political, social and economic reality of El Salvador and to help strengthen the democratic process.Course participants will be trained to act as official election observers to the Salvadoran presidental elections held in El Salvador on Sunday, March 15, 2009

This service learning abroad course will incorporate into an international electoral observer mission organized by the Center for Solidarity and Exchange (CIS) and recognized by the Salvadoran government.The CIS has implemented this mission in El Salvador since 1994 in response to the requests of community and development organizations. The international observer mission helps guarantee a transparent process and strengthens the democratic process in El Salvador by observing and witnessing violations of the electoral code, providing a presence which diminishes political intimidation, collecting data that has been used as a basis for electoral reforms by the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

For more information, go to https://jicsweb1.dom.edu/ics/Resources/Student_Services/Study_Abroad/El_...

El Salvador is in the

FAdams — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:00:03 -0500

El Salvador is in the initial stages of the 2009 municipal, legislative and presidential elections. The candidate from the right of the political spectrum is security force magnate and ex-Director of the National Police Rodrigo Avila. When he accepted the nomination of the ARENA Party, he said, “the legacy of Major Roberto D’Aubuisson and those that followed him in defense of liberty inspires me”.

Rodrigo is the owner of SERSAPRO, the largest private security firm in El Salvador, a country where armed guards abound, and homicides run at epidemic levels. He became a millionaire providing guards to businesses, and by providing cash transfer services to the big banks. SERSAPRO obtained a contract to service passports and visas handed out by the U.S. embassy. While running his private security empire, he was also the Director of the National Police. This is not a conflict of interest in El Salvador. It does make Avila a very powerful man, with control over both public and private security forces throughout El Salvador.

His immediate imprecation to the ghost of the death squad founder and intellectual author of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Roberto D’Aubuisson is chilling.

The candidate who opposes Rodrigo Avila and the in 2009 is Mauricio Funes, a popular television journalist who has the best chance yet of achieving a victory in a presidential race for the Frente Faribundo Marti para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN).

Shortly after Mauricio accepted the nomination to run for President, his son was murdered in Paris by someone identified only as a Moroccan, who ran from the scene. The crime is unsolved. In January 2008, the FMLN Mayor of Alegría, Usulután,Wilber Moisés Funes (not related to Mauricio) and Zulma Jaqueline Rivera, one of his administration, were assassinated as they investigated the acts of the prior ARENA admiinistration, which had handed over a local lake to private interests. The crime is unsolved. Salvador Sanchez, a journalist who was investigating crime was murdered in September of 2007, and the FMLN supporters Manzaneres Monjares, were murdered in 2006. The Monjares were an elderly couple who lived in Suchitoto and were tortured and murdered in their home. The crimes are unsolved.

There is violence in the air.

From the U.S. Department of

FAdams — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:09:41 -0500

From the U.S. Department of State: El Salvador Government and Political Conditions

El Salvador is a democratic republic governed by a president and an 84-member unicameral Legislative Assembly. The president is elected by universal suffrage by absolute majority vote and serves for a 5-year term. A second round runoff is required in the event that no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first round vote.

Legislative and municipal elections will be held in January 2009. Presidential elections will be held in March 2009.

Members of the assembly are elected based on the number of votes that their parties obtain in each department (circumscriptive suffrage) and serve for 3-year terms. The country has an independent judiciary and Supreme Court.

Comments to Family of Christ

FAdams — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:06:33 -0500

Comments to Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Chanhassen, Sunday, Sept. 14, approximately two minutes

By Forrest Adams

The theme for our mission trip to El Salvador this summer was “Let your light shine.” I’d like to tell you about the light I saw shining from Chanhassen to El Salvador and the light that reflected back at us from the Salvadoran people.

Your students and children shined their lights through good deeds and loving actions. They were beautiful, all of them. They embraced the experience. They did not complain. They poured themselves out like water. During our work projects in the hot, humid, sticky, muddy countryside helping with a Habitat for Humanity house, planting trees in a mountainous community and distributing backpacks with school supplies in them to Salvadoran students; and at the moldy, grimy, grubby homeless shelter where we scrubbed and painted walls; they invested themselves fully into the experience. Our backs and our bodies were wet with sweat from morning until night. They did not complain. Sanitary conditions were not the best, but they did not wine. The food we ate was different; the hours we kept were tiring; the showers were sometimes cold; but the students dealt with whatever situation presented itself. They worked, smiled and made friends. They loved the people of El Salvador and by doing so changed lives there and inspired me. They were truly one of the highlights of my experience, my amazing, fun, remarkable, humbling and, yes, life-changing experience.

We served in the presence of the Lord. He was in the Salvadoran people working through them. He was in us working through us. As Salvadoran students received donated backpacks from this congregation, their eyes sparkled. In those sparkles I saw hope for the future. You are contributing to their hope. For us to experience the faith and joy of the Salvadorans, despite their poverty, was valuable. We need to learn from them. They live by their faith. They find joy in the promises of God. Lack of material goods has not turned them bitter or angry against God. It has strengthened their faith, and just think how great their joy will be when God fully reveals himself to the world.

We served and walked alongside people whose lives have been shattered by war. Torture, death, hunger and poverty, all at the hands of their fellow citizens and their government so many years ago could have turned them into bitter, angry, hateful people. They could have hated God, but they didn’t. In the midst of their sorrows and turmoil, they put themselves into the Lord’s service, and now they live Jesus’ commandments on a daily basis. He is their life. They serve, love and follow the Lord. They ministered to us through their lives, just as we ministered to them through our good deeds.

By God’s grace, you are among the congregations from all over the world that God has commissioned to serve in El Salvador and contribute to the beautiful work that he is doing there. Thank you, and may God continue to bless your efforts.

To hear the author of this

FAdams — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:16:56 -0500

To hear the author of this forum wrap up this summer's El Salvador mission into two minutes, come to Family of Christ Lutheran Church in Chanhassen at 9:15 or 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14.

Reporter's Notebook, Day

FAdams — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:21:04 -0500

Reporter's Notebook, Day 8-11

We are in Antigua, Guatemala. It's a historic city that attracts many tourists from Europe and the United States. The difference between here and San Salvador is stark. They're not a good comparison, but this is a good transition spot for us to return to life as we know it.

The final day was our day to testify about how we were changed by our experiences in El Salvador. As you might expect, there were tears and there was joy. We stepped into the world of the Salvadorans, and we were humbled. Struck by how their lack of material possessions didn't hurt their faith, we see in them a deeper faith, something they hold onto, something real and true.

We have come together as a group, shared laughter and tears. It's safe to say that none of us will ever be the same again. Now we're back at work and in school. The challenge is to keep our experiences alive and to share them.

I've prepared a video that shows some of the fun things that we did during our final three days in Guatemala.

Reporter's notebook, Day

FAdams — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:45:07 -0500

Reporter's notebook, Day 7
Night at Casa Concordia

They had a party for the departing delegations tonight. It was very nice. Our group is scheduled to leave before 6 a.m. tomorrow on a double-decker bus for Guatemala.

I'm ambivalent about El Salvador. This country, this city, is confusing. There is so much poverty in the capital city of San Salvador that it's hard to understand where the foreign investment is, where the domestic investment is. I know there are very wealthy people up at the top of this country. Where is the development? Who is willing invest in this country? How is the government going to create an environment in which living conditions can improve? Is the government here doing what it can to create an environment that's attractive to investors?

There are retail and commercial developments, but it all seems inaccessible to the people we're working with. We were in a procession for the human right to food today. I'm not sure what that means. Does it mean the government should take from one to give to another? I've always believed that rights are non-obligatory. Nobody else is obligated to do anything to held you achive your perceived right. They don't require government intervention, quite the opposite. If the government gets out of the way, people can enjoy their rights.

However, it's true that government has an obligation to stand beside and give a helping hand to the poor and downtrodden, and maybe that's what needs to happen here. They need to develop some social services, I guess. There are just so many of the poor and downtrodden here. It's overwhelming. But then again, there are very wealthy people. Like any third-world country, there's an upper class and a lower class. The majority of the population is in the lower class.

We are blessed to live in the United States.

They are blessed by us and we by them. They have hope and faith that we cannot understand. We love them and they love us.

Day of the SaviorReporter's

FAdams — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:28:19 -0500

Day of the SaviorReporter's notebook, Day 7
San Salvador, Parade and party

We were in the Day of the Savior parade today. The parade route brought us through the city, through poverty and affluence. See the photos.

Preparing for the procession

Bishop Gomez: Bishop Gomez tells the television camera that the Lutherans are preparing to walk for the human right to food.
Lutherans on procession

So that's what's behind the closed doors

The Lutheran Church of El Salvador is known by the government of El Salvador as the "guerilla church" because it was supportive of the guerillas that fought against the Salvadoran government during the civil war. In the past, it was dangerous for citizens to openly support the annual procession, but they are more open about it now.

Through the slums: The procession went through the slums.

While I was photographing the man sleeping on the sidewalk, a man approached me. He looked and acted like a gangster. Tattooed arms, a swagger, English slang, he was probably one of the 20,000 felons that have been deported from the U.S. Just before I started taking photos, the police had a guy up against the building patting him down. I cut the conversation with suspected gang banger short and found the procession again.

Gomez sermon: The procession ended with a sermon by Gomez and other Lutheran clergy.
Bishop's church: This is the Bishop's church, the end of the procession and where Bishop Gomez went after his sermon.

Reporter's Notebook Day 6,

FAdams — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:39:20 -0500

Reporter's Notebook
Day 6, Tuesday, Aug. 6
Casa Concordia

They're handing out backpacks again. We're back at Casa Concordia, and I'm going to take a few photos and then retreat to the Bishop's office, plug in the computer, process my photos from the Hope House and take a shower. I see some of the kids that were hanging around Hope House this morning.

Before they started this, I played some soccer on the pavement here with the kids. There were probably 25 of us. I recruited Allison and Katie to play, too. We had a game where every player tried to kick the ball past the person who was the goalie. We didn't have teams. It was every player for him or herself. The kids seemed to love it. I had a great time, even in the intense heat. I hope they'll have a great memory. I should have told somebody to take a photo of us. Most of our group was taking a shower or resting. Now it's my turn, to shower anyway, and I'm looking forward to the cold water.

He wants to be a doctor someday.
Ready for the next grade
Happy to have backpack

Reporter's Notebook Day

FAdams — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:18:40 -0500

Reporter's Notebook
Day 6
Tuesday, Aug. 5

We visited the Hope House Homeless Shelter today. The area was bleak.

It's a dirty place, a ray of light in a neighborhood where we couldn't imagine living, or even spending more than a few hours.

Gangs and murders are rampant. I guess you'd call it a slum, but from what I can tell it's not much different than a lot of areas we've driven through in San Salvador. It's more slummy than places I've been in the U.S. that could be considered slums.

A look down the street

The gangs that come out at night and keep the place in a state of fear and death are MS-13 and MS-18. They oppose each other. Mara Salvatrucha (MS) is considered by some to be the most dangerous criminal gang in the Americas. It's earliest members were Salvadoran, the children of refugees fleeing the civil war in El Salvador. It emerged from the tough streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s. The have around 100,000 members between them, mostly in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico and the United States. In the U.S., they are in Chicago, LA, the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Durham, N.C., and Omaha, Neb. They are know for extensive tattooing, even on the face, and the gruesomeness of their attacks. The U.S. deported some 20,000 MS felons back to Central America between 2000 and 2004.

Street woman

I talked to the German guy who has helped run the Hope House for the past year. Maria Trinidad is the one in charge, but this guy and another young German girl have been very helpful to her. He came through an agency in Germany that sends young people to do service work in impoverished areas of the world. He didn't know any Spanish when he came, but now he's fluent.
German volunteer: This is a room where people learn to paint crosses that are made at Hope House. The crosses are sold at Casa Concordia.
He said gang members come into the shelter every day. They eat, wash and then go back to commit crimes in the street. Many of them speak good English because they have been deported back to El Salvador from the United States. The Germans are returning to Germany soon. He's in his early 20s. He plans to go to a university next year. He said on one of his first days going to the shelter, there was a dead body in front of the door.

We cleaned old paint off the walls and painted in some areas. The young people talked to some of the people who were there to receive services. I stuck to taking some photos and cleaning the walls.

People are depressed about this place and the reality that these people live, but we're happy to help. There are kids wandering around, but I'm not sure why. Are they homeless? Do they live in the neighborhood? Where are their parents? Maybe their parents are cooking lunch for the people who come here to eat, which includes our group.

A child
Emerging from the darkness
From the inside looking out

Reporter's Notebook Day 5,

FAdams — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:16:54 -0500

Reporter's Notebook
Day 5, afternoon
Monday, Aug. 4

We are in the church at Guaycume. The scene is chaotic as Family of Christ distributes backpacks with school and medical supplies in them to the students.

Happy: A Salvadoran girl approaches Katie Strand and Pastor Kristie to receive her backpack

Of course, before any of this there was a church service. It was called the Miracle of God Celebration. Bishop Gomez was there. His preaching, although in Spanish and unintelligible to me, was powerful. I heard in his voice passion and saw in his body language gesticulations that I'm sure affected the people who understood what he was saying.

I wish I knew and could communicate with these people in Spanish- more than the simple stuff- really do an interview.

Andrew Ulku: Andrew can't speak Spanish much either but more than I do. At least he looks native.
The people here are very gracious, yet they live very simple lives- lives that we wouldn't dream of living in America- the land of opportunity.

Here, in the rocky, rain-washed countryside of El Salvador, in this stuff, concrete church building that's crowded with happy, smiling families, the concept of opportunity- living in an environment where I'm surrounding by affluence unless I go out of my way to not be, where I feel like my life will improve day by day- the whole concept of opportunity has taken on a different form.

In a sense, by providing supplies for these children and supporting their going to school, we are exporting the American dream. It's a dream of creating the future, not stagnating but living an improved life every day.

Aaron Olson and Sydney Berry

The time is 1:58 p.m. They've been distributing backpacks for about two hours. The temperature is just as hot inside the church as it is outside. Stuffy, humid, still air that covers us like rain water allows us to all have body odor that back home is reserved for the gym, the athletic playing field, the mountain bike. It's not that much of a problem here because everybody has it. I'm sure our bodies are the healthier because of the profuse sweating.

The time is 2:50 p.m. They're still distributing backpacks to students. I'm a third party in this experience, an observer, hanging out at various positions in and around the church. I'm taking a lot of photos- more than anybody will see, except me. Some of the photos are good, some not-so good. Everybody seems pretty happy about what's happening today. I just wish I knew some more Spanish because these people really don't seem to know much English. We may have very little in common, but that's when the conversation is really fun- finding out you're very different but still human and in the same place at the same time talking.
Letter from sponsor: Her sponsors from Family of Christ Lutheran Church sent a letter to her in the backpack.

Reporter's Notebook Day 5,

FAdams — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:25:20 -0500

Reporter's Notebook
Day 5, morning, about 8 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 4

My grandfather's 80th birthday was on Aug. 1. Sorry I missed it. I remember his 70th birthday like it was last year. We had a surprise party for him at my aunt's house that year. I was living with my grandparents that summer in 1998. It was the summer before I left the country to live in China.

Time flies by in our busy lives.

I was in China most of the time until the spring of 2001. Time passed quickly there because I was busy. It was exciting. I enjoyed myself. I remember it like it was yesterday. Since I returned to the U.S. time has spead up every year, and I always wish I had more of it.

I wonder if people in El Salvador feel the same way about time. I wonder if their days fly by. Do they wish they had more time to get more stuff done? Or are they just happy to get through another day? Maybe they don't even think about it.

Maybe they have a totally different concept of what time is and what to do with it. A lot of the people we're meeting have faith in what they read in the Bible. They live by it. More power to them.

We're a very prompt society in the United States, especially in Minnesota. We're programmed to be on time, monitor our whereabouts and arrive where we're supposed to be when we're supposed to be there. We're efficient and industrious, and we value what we can get done in the time we're given. We wish for more time to get more done. We work, play, meet, program, eat on the run and show up 10 minutes early if at all possible, just to be respectful and get a good start on things.

In El Salvador, if an event is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., it begins sometime between 8:15 and 9:00. The roads are bad. People get where they're going when they get there. They aren't governed by wrist watches or wall clocks or computer clocks or automobile clocks. They finish their conversationss, exchange favors with their friends and neighbors and go to an appointment when they're done doing what they do. It all happens in good time. They're very free in that sense, more free than we are.

We're happy to be here, and they're happy to be. We'll be leaving soon to returm to our structured lives. They'll still be here. We'll be returning to more than enough. They'll be here living on faith.

I'm still having a hard time getting over the story of Romero- the stories of people we're meeting. They were sympathetic to Marxist guerillas, and for that they were enemies of their government and were tortured. Some of their family members were killed. Don't get me wrong. I'm not sympathetic to Marxism, but these people are not power-hungry. They don't think it would be good to install big government in place of God. They aren't atheists.

The people we are meeting just wanted to improve their quality of life, wanted the chance to own land that they could farm, wanted the government to stop killing their friends, to live in a free society, not a fear society. They wanted to live in an economy that would allow them to succeed if they worked hard, not one that would hold them down forever. The capitalistic concept of success through ability and hard work does not apply to the lower class of El Salvador.

The country has free trade rights with the United States, but the peasants who are fortunate enough to have land for growing crops oftentimes can't even afford to export their crops because of all the stipulations attached to foods that the U.S. imports. They can't afford to sanitize the food to the extent that the U.S. requires. The ones making money from this deal are the large land holders who already own most of the land and possess most of the capital in El Salvador already, according to Julie, the 21-year-old who goes to spend time at Casa Concordia every summer.

As the Scriptures say, "No one is good- not even one. No one has real understanding; no on is seeking God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one" (Romans 3:10-12).

Languages and culture, economics and perceptions separate us, but according to that we're all unjust. We're all rotten- rich and poor, timely or random.

There is so much poverty around here. The average home we saw in San Salvador yesterday consisted of a few pieces of corrogated metal. Living in that might be a family of five, seven, nine. Who knows what's behind those metal walls?

There's commerce in the city, and I have a hunch that there's a growing middle class. We went dancing one night with Christian Chavarria. The place was packed with young people. The downtown area was nice. But I wonder how much of it is actually accessible to the people we've been working with.
Commerce behind a fence

We're headed back to the same church we were at yesterday, and I'm curious about the Salvadoran perception of time and propriety as we cruise by in the mini-bus, on our way to arrive there and then distribute backpacks with school and medical supplies in them to lovely Salvadoran children.
Passing by in the van/bus

Graffiti and bricks

Reporter's Notebook Day 4,

FAdams — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:13:48 -0500

Reporter's Notebook
Day 4, afternoon

San Salvador-- After we ate tortillas, beans and some fruit at the church in Guaycume, we got back into our mini-busses and returned into San Salvador. The students mostly rode in our bus. The adults rode in the other bus. We're somewhat segregated, like that, but I think it's all for the best. Everybody is happy when we arrive at our destination and see each other again.

We are tired, emotionally spent, tired of eating beans and tortillas at every meal, but thankful for the experience. Everybody is in good spirits, with a few cases of traveling sickness. I don't think they drank the water, but it was something, if you know what I mean.

Back at Casa Concordia, we cleaned up and got back into the buses for a ride downtown to hear about the assassinated Bishop Romero and go through a few churches.

We're in the church where Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated. I've read about this in books. They killed him during Mass. It's surreal to be here. My whole heart cries out against the injustice, yet I sit and listen to Julie describe what happened. They killed him for speaking truth to power.

Inside the church where Romero was assassinated

Amazing churches, amazing stories, and we're off to a second church. This one is Iglesia El Rosario. I'm still stunned and emotionally vulnerable. Enveloped by urban noise, the church is breathtaking. It is magnificent, stunning, the picture of serenity.

Iglesia El Rosario

Sydney Berry, 17, Chaska

From the outside, it appears to be something like an abandoned airport hanger. Hidden away from the grit and grime, noise and pollution of downtown San Salvador, it lies behind doors that open into a vast expanse of open space and orderly church pews. They are sitting under a soaring arched roof that is a series of overhanging steps inset with a rainbow of stained-glass panels.

The interior decor is urban-industrial. The figures on the walls are made of scrap metal, with larger, more detailed stone and metal statues displayed in the wings on either side of the main entrance. It is simply beautiful. Padre Delgado, the father of Central American independence, is buried here.

The following information is from Wikipedia and was gathered after returning from El Salvador...

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), commonly known as Monseñor Romero, was a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador.

As archbishop, he witnessed ongoing violations of human rights and started a group which spoke out on behalf of the poor and victims of the country's civil war. In 1980, he was assassinated by a right-wing group headed by former major Roberto D'Aubuisson as he held the consecrated host up during a Mass. This provoked international outcry for reform in El Salvador. After his assassination, Romero was succeeded by Msgr. Arturo Rivera.

It is believed that the assassins were members of Salvadoran death squads. This view was supported in 1993 by an official U.N. report, which identified the man who ordered the killing as former Major Roberto D'Aubuisson. He had also planned to overthrow the government in a coup. Later he founded the political party Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), and organized death squads that systematically carried out politically-motivated assassinations and other human rights abuses in El Salvador. Álvaro Rafael Saravia, a former captain in the Salvadoran Air Force, was chief of security for Roberto D'Aubuisson and an active member of these death squads. In 2004, Mr. Saravia was found liable by a U.S. District Court under the Alien Tort Claims Act ("ATCA") (28 U.S.C. § 1350) for aiding, conspiring, and participating in the assassination of Archbishop Romero. Mr. Saravia was ordered to pay $10 million dollars for extrajudicial killing and crimes against humanity pursuant to the ATCA.

Romero is buried in the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador (Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador). The funeral mass (rite of visitation and requiem) on March 30, 1980, in San Salvador was attended by more than 250,000 mourners from all over the world. Viewing this attendance as a protest, Jesuit priest John Dear has said, "Romero’s funeral was the largest demonstration in Salvadoran history, some say in the history of Latin America."

During the ceremony, a bomb exploded on the Cathedral square (Plaza Gerardo Barrios) and subsequently there were shots fired that probably came from surrounding buildings. While no one died from the bomb-blast or the shots, many people were killed during the mass panic that followed; official sources talk of 31 overall casualties, journalists indicated between 30 and 50 dead. Some witnesses claimed it was government security forces that threw bombs into the crowd, and army sharpshooters, dressed as civilians, that fired into the chaos from the balcony or roof of the National Palace. However, there are contradictory accounts as to the course of the events and "probably, one will never know the truth about the interrupted funeral."

Day 4 Video, FOC Morning

FAdams — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:01:07 -0500

Day 4 Video, FOC Morning Activities, including tree planting, learning about water project and part of an interview with an ELCA representative in attendance at the Day 3 church dedication.

El Salvador Mission: photos, video, commentary

FAdams — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:40:21 -0500