To begin with, my health is more or less back to normal. Little by little I bring flavor and solid food back into my diet and my addiction to ice cream continues. I just gobbled up a half coffee, half pistachio cone from the stand on the corner. I don’t know what it is about traveling that makes me crave ice cream so much, but I just can’t seem to get enough of it.
These past two weeks have been very busy and it feels as if I just finished that long entry about bus rides and political climate. The majority of my time over the last few days has been spent translating a 13 page document that will hopefully bring in some funding for FUNDAHMER’s arts and culture initiative, “Sculpting a New El Salvador.” Those involved in the arts and culture branch of FUNDAHMER have worked really hard to develop a plan of action for 2008-2009 that is cohesive with their institutional values and constructive for the communities. It’s been really exciting to be a part of the brainstorming process and I feel so lucky to be part of this dedicated and creative team.
Saturday, February 23rd I traveled to Sacacoyo with Miguel, Anita and Alfredo to meet with community members to collect information, share ideas and introduce the concept of art for transformation and discuss the importance of recreation and creative opportunities and expression for the youth. The meeting was absolutely amazing! I cannot tell you how inspired, welcomed and motivated I felt after sharing a few hours with these people. When we arrived, Dorita, the wife of Don Ricardo came running over and wrapped her arms around me as if we were long lost friends. She is so full of energy and kindness and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her. To welcome me into the community, they had invited a group of young dancers to perform traditional Salvadoran dances. The group of 8 youth danced and spoke with eloquence and set a beautiful tone for our meeting.
We began with an introduction and a few dynamics and were able to fit in just about everything I mentioned in my last posting. The only thing that we left out was the filling in of the tree maps that outline the roles of the NGO, community and artist. These I will save for the first gathering when I am living in the community. (It looks like this will happen soon. I’ve got my fingers crossed and my face of persistence on.) There were about 32 community members present at the meeting. Miguel, Anita and I initiated discussions and dynamics, wrote down community aspirations and noted level of interest in Arts and Culture. A majority of those in attendance were adults and very young children, except for the group of young dancers, who were in their early teens. The meeting felt like a success, as we accomplished what we came to do; explain the purpose of Artcorps and vision of FUNDAHMER, get feedback and desires of community members, get to know each other and get a feeling for the already established creative enthusiasm in Sacacoyo while attempting to inspire more.
A lot has happened since the last time I wrote and for fear of leaving things out I will focus less on being poetic and more on making up for lost time. Aside from project planning for Sacacoyo and grant proposal translating, I’ve gotten involved in a few “mini-projects,” we will call them. The first of these projects is the “colorido,” the planning of a visual element for the march that will take place the 24th of March to honor Monsenor Romero. Comite Romero, has been meeting once a week to plan out our actions for the important day of commemoration. I have been put in charge of the “colorido” and if all goes according to plan, I will be working with Carlos Vasquez (a local artist) and a group of youth from his community, to paint a gigantic, portable mural which will be carried in the parade throughout the city.
Another project that is in its youngest stage is in Aguas Escondidas. Aguas Escondidas is a very modest community which is about an hour outside of the city. The kindergarten there is run by an energetic and kind woman named Arsenia, who has become part of our team for nutrition and support in the community. The other members include Betsaira, a nutritionist who recently graduated from La Universidad Nacional, Miguel and me. The idea is to use the kindergarten as a gathering space where community members can come for support, and also to learn about the importance of a nutritional diet for their children. The arts are going to be an integral part of this process, and because the community is only about 45 minutes from where I will be living in Sacacoyo, I plan on working with them at least once every two weeks. During this first meeting, we used dynamics and drawings to get to know each other and as a tool for Betsaira to share her knowledge and gather more information.
After about fifteen minutes of talking and presentation, I noticed how fidgety the kids were getting. Luckily, I had planned ahead, and with Arsenia’s permission, I brought them outside to draw with chalk on the concrete. I drew a big circle for us to sit around and draw inside of and we laughed and got to know each other as we shared our colors and stories. Once we were all a little more comfortable with the chalk and each other a conversation we were having, led me to suggest that we draw the community. We spread away from our free circle of color, flowers, trees, etc. to draw the greater microcosm of the community. As the adults chatted away about worries, hopes and vitamins on the other side of the concrete wall, we got to work depicting out houses, our families and neighbors. Arsenia came out to show me some of the artwork her students had already created, and as I looked through the colorful collages and drawings, the kids crowded around, peaking over my shoulders and leaning in close to let me know which one was theirs and to express their pride. Thus far, we have arranged for more visits, and a celebration of to honor the kindergarten that was named after Monsenor Romero.
The highlight of my week came in the form of Blanca Estela, our regional Artcorps coordinator from Guatemala. She arrived Monday, toting her smiles, encouragement and good energy. We spent most of the afternoon catching up and exploring the beautiful airy grounds of the hotel where she was staying. It was really quite lovely and I felt so refreshed after our first afternoon together. The next day, we met with Armando in the morning and traveled to Sacacoyo in the afternoon to try to find a place for me to live. I now have two viable options, now I just have to make a decision. One is in the home of Mercedes and Billy, they live with their set of four year old twins and the brother, wife and son of Mercedes. They have multiple rooms in which I could stay, one of which was the room of the abuela, whose loss they are currently morning. The house is quite spacious and falls in between the youth center and the town center of Sacacoyo. The other house is the house of Teresita, her husband Pedro, their two daughters and an abuela. Though their house is a lot smaller, their energy and desire to have me live with them makes it a tough decision. If I end up living there, I would probably share a room with one daughter, if not both, and would have a lot less privacy, but I can already tell that I would be very well supported.
Teresa was one of the most involved people in the first reunion we had, and she is also very close with Dorita, which would give me an immediate connection within the community. I’m going to have a meeting with Armando on Monday to discuss it further and give him a date I would like to shoot for to be in the community.
My visit with Blanca Estela however, did not end there. The morning after our Sacacoyo visit we embarked on a new adventure. Borrowing one of the FUNDAHMER pickups we made our way to Ciudad Romero to visit Robyn, another Artcorps volunteer working in the region of Bajo Lempa. Robyn is a theater artist who has hit the ground running with her project. After a tour of the offices in San Nicolas, where we learned about environmental initiatives and visual art motivated anti-gang projects, we went next door to the market for some pupusas. We sat for a long time eating, talking and comparing stories about NGO work and various issues that Salvadorans face. After lunch, we reunited with Noe, the president of Ciudad Romero and active employee of Asociacion Mangle. During our training in Antigua, I had a chance to meet Noe, but was glad to share some more time with him here in El Salvador. Robyn was scheduled to have a rehearsal with one of her theater groups at 5, so we hopped into the back of the pick up and headed down the dusty streets to Ciudad Romero. The play they were rehearsing was of a story about the family of Noe and the story of their lives through out the war. There are 7 scenes and the scene we watched being rehearsed was about their time crossing the border into Honduras as they were escaping the war. After the rehearsal, Noe shared a song with us that he wrote about Monsenor Romero and the long days of the war. We ate dinner at his sister Cristina’s house, and her daughter showed us pictures and told us stories about the family’s past. With bellies full of rice and beans, we made it through the dark and dusty roads to Robyn’s little house to share some wine that Blanca Estela and I had brought from the city. Noe came by and told jokes and played Robyn’s guitar for us. All in all a wonderful day!
Robyn has been to the city to visit me once, but this was the first chance I have had to visit her at the site of her project. She is a lovely, lovely, lovely girl and I’m so excited to realize ho easy it is to get to her. We discussed collaboration and I am hopefully going to go back in a few weeks for their organic veggies market and to further explore how we can make an artful exchange.
As for right now though, I’ve got to get going. There have been delegations here at FUNDAHMER for the past few weeks, so I have been renting a room in an apartment on the other side of town and it takes me about 45 minutes to get there by bus and I don’t like to travel after dark in this city.
So, I shall bit you farewell. I am off to the bus stop and the veggie stand to see what I can muster up for dinner.
Big hugs and lots of love,
Laura
Ps. Feliz dia de la Mujer!
Happy international Women’s Day!!
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