I am not leaving for long...

...just heading to El Salvador for a week and will be without internet. I am going to meet a crew from North Cross School, where I taught for six years in Roanoke. There will be 14 students and five teachers working to build a classroom in a small pueblo called San Jose Villanueva through the non-profit organization Epilogos. Susie and Mike, the movers behind this organization met in El Salvador in the 60's while they were both involved with Peace Corps. Forty years later they committed to returning to San Jose after both had experienced life-threatening illnesses and decided that they needed to return to doing something more meaningful with their lives before their time was up. Today they and numerous volunteers have been responsible for countless projects in and around San Jose, including the construction of schools, medical facilities and help with obtaining clean water. I will surely have a number of photos to post upon return.

An unrelated note to end. Today Josh received news that Pictures of the Year International named the project on aging that he documented in photography and video the documentary project of the year. Josh and writer Beth Macy along with multimedia editor Seth Gitner (and a team of designers and editors) achieved first place in this "prestigious contest." Second went to the LA Times, third to National Geographic. Other finalists were from the New York Times, Detroit Free Press and Washington Post.