Trying to Make a Difference

What a week. This is going to be a whopper of a posting with an overview of my time working with fourteen students and three teachers from North Cross School in a small pueblo called San Jose Villanueva in El Salvador. We were working for the organization Epilogos, run by a sweet couple from New Hampshire, Mike and Susie Jenkins. Each day we had a separate service project to carry out in and around the the small town. Below follows more detail on each project.

Day One
David, Nick, Morgan (sophomore boys at NCS) and I met Carlos Antonio and his mother Maria Luisa and his son Carlos. They are the proud new owners of a house perched on a hillside with trees growing every kind of fruit you could imagine; zapote, mandarins, bananas, mangoes, jocotes. We tried the zapote, which was the size of an avocado with a light brown outer shell, and the inside was the color of papaya with a beautiful slender dark pit. The fruit itself tasted like a cooked sweet potato. We also tried olives picked right from the tree, which left the strangest immediate bitter sensation in my mouth.
The construction of Carlos' house was funded by the Rotary Club. It is a simple structure with an outdoor space for a kitchen and two bedrooms. Our job was to convert the house from gray to shades of blue. Both Carlos' fervently helped us and Marie Luisa waltzed from room to room humming- she was so happy for her new home. At one point Tim (the head of North Cross School) and Ig (Tim's great friend from New Hampshire who has helped make Epilogos run as well as it has) stopped by to bring Carlos junior a frisbee and we all gave it a toss for a while. It was the most satisfying day, as we finished our project and were able to experience seeing the beneficiaries of the project so full of happiness and gratitude.

Carlos and Maria Luisa

Day Two
This second project was simple in details, and grueling in labor. There was a 200 yard gradual hill with a sand pile at the bottom and we had to get the sand to the top. Using a human chain we each covered about 30 or so yards passing bucket after bucket of sand up the hill. The sand was going to be used in the construction of a new house, and something that could have been accomplished in a few hours by a machine took us an entire day and then some. On this particular day I was so impressed with the strength and stamina of the students as we grew more and more tired- and dirty.

This is a boy who lives at the top of the hill. Water only reaches San Jose for a few hours every morning and many have to transport it from a public source. It is not potable.

Day Four
Our third project once again could have been carried out in hours by a machine, and took a group of twelve of us a whole day to complete. The goal was to dig the foundation for a kitchen at a school outside of San Jose Villanueva. The top soil was incredibly dense and it seemed as we began hacking at it with pick axes that cement had already been poured over the surface. We took turns picking and shoveling, ensuring that we were staying within the lines of the roughly 12 x 10 foot base. We then had to remove all of the dirt from the premises and carry it 50 feet up a hill to dump over the exposed roots of an old tree. The whole while curious children from the school kept coming over to watch the spectacle.

The work crew

David kept coming back to watch us

Nubia began helping us transport dirt

Day Five
This was a much more laid back day. A group of five of us stayed in San Jose while others traveled out to Por Venir (20 minutes away) to work on the construction of two latrines (one of which was for Carlos Antonio's new home). Over a month ago an artist from New York and a group of students began a two-block long mural with the help of students from San Jose Villanueva. The mural is nearly complete and Erin, Amy, Grace, Natalie and I stayed behind to help with finishing touches. The first day I arrived in San Jose while I was waiting on the rest of the group I also worked on this mural and became fast friends with the teenage boys who were spearheading the project; Carlos, Elias and Mauricio.

Jasmine and a burro

Carlos and Elias

Amy, Ms. Davies (Natalie), and Valeria

On our final day in the afternoon we rode in the work truck out to Los Naranjos, a small community very close to San Jose. This was the location where most of our work was carried out last year, and we wanted to head out to see how things had transformed. The most thrilling moment was visiting a house where some of us had created a foundation the previous year, and the woman who is living in the now completed home joyously hugged and thanked people in our group.
What is inspiring about this community is that they are working to make themselves self-sufficient and prosperous. They have ponds where they farm shrimp, a newly planted terrace garden is taking start, they have a corn mill, a water pump that was constructed by Engineers Without Borders. They have a school and large dirt soccer field and a small restaurant that serves the fish and shrimp from the nearby ponds.

Riding in the work truck

A man who lives in Los Naranjos (Alfredo) and the newly planted terraced garden

A mariñon fruit (which produce cashews, which you can see on top of the fruit)

David and young bananas

Alfredo showing us the beans that he grew

Alfredo and a Jocote tree

Mid-way through the week we spent a day in San Salvador visiting the residence of Oscar Romero and the group visited a neighboring hospice to sing to its patients. We also were fortunate to hear a lecture from Dean Brackley, a professor at University of Central America (UCA) who spoke to us about issues in El Salvador such as migration, politics and poverty. Some of the most stirring figures he noted included the fact 700 people leave El Salvador every day for Mexico and the United States as they have lost all hope in their home country. 40 percent of the people who live in the country make less than 2$ a day, and around 83 percent of the people are illiterate.
In great contrast, later that day we headed toward La Libertad, a coastal area where there is a beautiful restaurant and there are rustic cabañas nestled next to the Pacific ocean. We enjoyed the surf (which was strong! This is an infamous area for surfers) and tried out iguana, rabbit and a variety of sea foods for dinner.


Each evening we reflected on our experiences with Rose (something good from the day), Thorn (something bad from the day), and Elephant (something weird from the day). Students noted how they had been changed and how this trip was making them think more than they previously had about their values and what poverty looks and feels like. Some went so far as to say that this has inspired them to join the Peace Corps or work for social justice. One of the teachers noted how much they wished they had done something like this earlier in life, as it is hard to change one's direction once through with college and settled in with a job and family.

To end, a note about Mike and Susie. This couple began this organization seven years ago with no idea how many volunteers and donations would surface. They are special people, and yet are people just like you and I. They have recognized a need and are doing something about it. Throughout the week as we often felt discouraged by the amount of need that seemed to exist all around us we were reminded of the notion that you can't do everything, but you can't do nothing.

View from the convent where we were staying

Road construction coming very close to houses

Angie, Natalie and me