2000 Trip Report
This past November 12 people from St. Stephens Lutheran Church in Santa Cruz and 2 people from Light of Life Lutheran church in Scotts Valley went to visit our sister communities in El Salvador. Of the 6 “new-timers”, four were family members brought by people who have gone on previous trips. They wanted their families to meet the wonderful people we have learned to call our friends.
The sister community relationship started with the first delegation of 4 people from Light of Life in 1994. We were encouraged by the Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador Medardo Gomez to form a relationship with this group of communities. They are located in the countryside about an hours drive from the capital city of San Salvador, and have been built from the ground up since the peace accords were signed in 1992. Much as the name of our county is the same name as the largest city, we call our communities by the collective name of the largest, Guillermo Ungo. There are five other communities that we consider part of our relationship. In 1998, a group from St. Stephens Lutheran joined the delegation, and we have been working together ever since.
People often ask us what we “do” when we visit. The answer is: we visit. We have brought medical supplies the past two years, which brings grateful exclamations from the health care workers living in each community. What we thought was a lifetime supply of Hydrogen Peroxide they assured us would soon be used up. We also had a craft project this year. We took Polaroid pictures and had the children decorate the cardboard frames. They had a blast – and so did we. One participant described it as 3 hours of the most enjoyable chaos she has ever experienced. Afterward, the two churches were presented with diplomas and a ceramic plaque as a thank you. The plaques depict a street scene painted inside a mango, which is the Salvadoran “national fruit”. These plaques are in prominent display in each of the churches, and are symbolic of the great friendships that have developed since our first trip in 1994.
There have been many exciting changes in our communities over the years. There is real (as opposed to bootleg) electricity in all of the communities. We participated in a ceremony in which six families in one of the communities received the keys to their brand new Habitat for Humanity houses. There is also an inter community council to work on the common problem of water, roads, and education.
Fund raisers were held by the churches during the year, receiving matching funds from the local branches of Lutheran Brotherhood and Aid Association for Lutherans. We were able to leave $4000 with the non-governmental organization that we work with, FUNSALPRODESE who will be helping us to administer individual scholarships to High School, college, trade school, or short-term classes.
Because there are now two churches involved, and we hope to involve other churches, we are in the process of incorporating as a group, which we call Santa Cruz al Salvador.
There are many more stories that we would like to share. St. Stephens will be having a pot luck on February 4th at 11:00, and Light of Life will be having one on February 18th, at 11:45. More stories as well as pictures will be shared at these times. The public is invited, and it is not necessary to bring anything.
St. Stephens Lutheran Church is located at 2500 Soquel Ave., and has services at 9:30 every Sunday led by the Rev. Jim Lapp. Call 476-4700 for more information. Light of Life is located at 360 Kings Village Road in Scotts Valley and has services at 8:30 and 10:45 on Sundays, led by the Rev. Charles Daley.
We are happy to say that our communities, as well as the organizations we work with down there, suffered little or no damage in the recent earthquake. We do encourage you to send support either through the Red Cross or ELCA Disaster Relief fund. Both of these organizations have excellent reputations for getting help to the people.
Written by: Chris MadsenAdded by admin February 2, 2009 (10:18PM)
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