2002 Annual Report to Members

A Report from the Delegation to El Salvador November 22-29, 2002

The delegation: Kent & Christine Madsen (Light of Life Lutheran), Michael & Ruth Cruddas (St. Stephens Lutheran), Rev. Larry Morkert (Chicago), Steven Barrett (Good Shepherd, Salinas), Rev. Meg Lumsdaine (formerly interim Associate Pastor at Good Shepherd, now at-large).

A Very Brief History

The Peace Accords, ending a long and brutal civil war (is there ever a non-brutal war?) were signed in El Salvador in 1992. At that time people began to “repopulate” the countryside, that is, they would go to places that had been decimated from the bombing and start building a community from scratch. The peoples of the communities of Guillermo Ungo started to repopulate the countryside near the Guazapa volcano during that time. It was during this time that the Rev. Larry Morkert made a visit, and discussed a “sister parish” idea with Bishop Medardo Gomez. Bishop Gomez took Larry to help celebrate the Word and Sacrament to these people loading their few possessions off trucks, and told him “you should partner with this community”.

NOTE: Guillermo Ungo is the name of the central and largest settlement. The Ciudadela de Guillermo Ungo is really a collection of settlements all very close to each other with separate leadership, but often working together on common problems, such as education, water, electricity, and roads.

Our first delegation, consisting of Larry & Kathleen Morkert and Kent & Christine Madsen (all from Light of Life Lutheran) was in November 1994. Since then we have made five more visits, with the last one being November 2002. In 1998 we welcomed several members from St. Stephens Lutheran in Santa Cruz, and this year added two people from Good Shepherd Lutheran in Salinas. With each visit we have seen much growth; as we have learned to tell first-timers on any delegation “this is how it was, but not sure what we’ll find this trip”.

Santa Cruz al Salvador

Handling money after fundraising, and bringing it to El Salvador, has always been a little awkward, and became more so as new churches were added to the group. Was it fair to add to the burdens of already overworked Church treasurers? How did we assure that funds did not inadvertently get commingled with other funds? How did we keep track of how much money we had raised? These questions would get harder to answer as we involved even more churches, which was our hope. After the November 2000 trip we decided to form a non-profit organization, which we called Santa Cruz al Salvador (Santa Cruz to El Salvador). It is not entirely grammatically correct, but when one looks at the literal meanings of the words (Holy Cross to the Savior), there is also a theological message. So that is the story of the name.

The November 2002 Trip

There is so much to tell. The delegation visited the communities of the Ciudadela de Guillermo Ungo from Saturday November 23 until Tuesday November 26. During that time we visited formally with people from the communities of Montepeque, Monsignor Romero, Los Enriques, and Guillermo Ungo. As we spent 2 of the 3 nights and ate many meals in Sitio Nuevo, we had several informal meetings in that community.

Observations on progress:

Quite a few more vehicles
Several new school buildings, including a building for the director and 2 bathroom buildings with flush toilets.
A health clinic, with a doctor who comes 5 days/week and staffed by Health Promoters from each of the communities.
A very organized women’s group: AMUDESCO (Association de Mujeres para Desarrollo communal de Ciudadela). As well as the health promoters, we met women in charge of legal problems and with environmental issues. This group is legally recognized as a non-profit, but does not have NGO status. They are being assisted in their work by an NGO well known in El Salvador with the initials IMU (loose English translation: Investing in the Education & Training of Women).

Meetings

The following is a list of our more formal meetings. What is impossible to really relate to you are the times at the dinner table, the short “conversations” (most of us have limited Spanish) on the road as we traveled from one spot to another, on the veranda of our friend Carmen, and on the porch of Luis’ house where we spent 2 nights.

At Montepeque, we met only with the president, his wife, and a member of the water board.Here we learned about the latest multi-community water project. A second plot of land, with another spring, was purchased three to four years ago, but they don’t have the money to lay the pipe (needs to be galvanized because it can’t be buried). The mayor’s office has a plan for wells, but that is some time off, plus it will make the water more expensive because of the electricity needed to pump.
We met with groups of young women from M. Romero and Los Enriques. Although a rivalry was obviously present, in the end they all agreed that help in furthering their education was their number one need.
Pastors Morkert and Lumsdaine led a worship service at the church located in M. Romero, which they have named Los Martyrs (The Martyrs). This is always a highlight for all of us.
We met with and were entertained by a youth group from Los Enriques. They sang, danced, and did a skit; they even wrote a song for us. Their leader was a young man (18) Manuel. He is a student at Don Bosco University in San Salvador, and is also the newly elected head of the Directiva in Los Enriques. The group has 2 young men who play the guitar, and they have a desire for more instruments. They asked to meet with us the next day, but unfortunately, this did not work out. However, we told them to write out a proposal and send it to us. We obviously were pleased and impressed that expressed needs are of higher level than mere subsistence (reference Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
The women from AMUDESCO who told us about their work. We presented them with the medical supplies we had brought, and approximately $300 in cash given to us to purchase supplies in El Salvador so that we did not have to carry them. A visit to a pharmacy prior to going to the countryside showed us that things are very expensive (isopropyl alcohol was $5.00/bottle). At that time we decided that since the health promoters know what is needed, they could then perhaps buy at a discount and/or in bulk. In retrospect, this was a great decision. This will give the women the opportunity to learn, with the help of IMU, how to handle finances. We also discussed with them sending a proposal to us. Funding this group would be consistent with our desire to help groups that are benefiting the group of communities. [Note: One need mentioned was that the health promoters in 2002 did receive a small monetary incentive for working at the clinic, but that there is nothing for 2003.]
Craft Project with the school children: about 100 children came to the project, which consisted of making a butterfly (gluing tissue paper to a plastic mold), and coloring the “Life Cycle of the Butterfly”, using crayon markers which we brought (and left). They were extremely well-behaved children, and very studious in their work. They did a beautiful job.
School Teachers. We met with 6 of the “government” school teachers, and the Director of the school Don Fito (Noel Humberto Guerrero) after the project and lunch. School was not in session (a break from Nov. to Jan.), but these teachers came, most from San Salvador, to talk with us.
- Starting in January, they will have K-12—quite an accomplishment in only 10 years. Don Fito described this as “our garden with many blooms”. He shared magazine articles with us about the awards the children have received.
- There is even a marching band! The youth are teaching themselves (there is no music teacher) instruments like the drum, trumpet, & cymbal.
- There are children who are coming to this high school from other rural communities who no longer need to go to Suchitoto. If I translated a recent scholarship proposal correctly, the school will be expanding to 500 students in 2003.
- We asked about the need for scholarships, and the answer was a definite yes. There are fees that are required by the Ministry of Education (registration, supplies, uniform).
- We discussed the possibility of a Scholarship Committee composed of parents, teachers, the Director, and students, and various ways to administer the money. As of this writing (January 15, 2003) that proposal has been received and accepted. The committee has been formed, there were 100 children eligible, and 44 were chosen. At this time the NGO Funsalprodese is helping to administer the money, and close to $4,000 is being distributed. There are 24 scholarships K-6, 10 for grades 7-9, and 10 for High School. In addition, shoes for a soccer school were purchased.
FUNSALPRODESE: We met with the Executive Director, Americo Mauro Araujo, on Wednesday, November 27, 2002. Our primary concern was $4,000 which we had left with them in November of 2000 which they had informed us (email) that they knew nothing about. It is to be noted that we have had a long relationship with this NGO and Sr. Araujo (since 1994) and therefore were quite puzzled at this. When shown the canceled check, the chief accountant was immediately called in, and the money was found, and we received a receipt. With that straightened out, we were able to discuss the role of Funsal in helping to administer the scholarships. Americo assured us that Funsal is still active in these communities in the area of education. They are willing and able to help mentor the scholarship committee in learning how to manage these funds. In the meantime, Santa Cruz al Salvador can wire funds directly to Funsalprodese, no longer needing to wait for a delegation.
- We were given a report of the approximately $1,000 which had still been in our account. In November 2000, it was used for gifts and food for the end-of-the-school year celebration.
- We were given pictures of the children receiving books, doing skits, and generally showing their talents.
Bishop Medardo Gomez of the Lutheran Church. We met with Bishop Gomez on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2002. He welcomed us as he always does, and talked to us on the state of the church and a state of the country from his perspective. He has new headquarters (purchased by 4 Lutheran pastors from the US). There is a guest house for delegations (we did not stay there) and a small restaurant, and there are plans to build a new church building (Concordia Lutheran).
ProBusqueda: an organization dedicated to finding out about the more than 600 children (reported) who were taken from their families during the war. 233 children have been found (as far as Italy). It is assumed many were assassinated so that they could not become combatants.
Maquila Union Workers: the Maquilas are factory workers, and are often really sweatshops. We met with Union workers from a textile factory that was closed, but really looks like might open soon from international pressure. This is a very long and complicated story, and the subject of a whole article. We all must become much more informed about the effects of Free Trade Agreements on the workers in poor countries.

Financial Disbursements

The following disbursements were made by unanimous decision of the members of the board of Santa Cruz al Salvador present on this delegation:

$3,000 to Noel Humberto Guerrero for the galvanized pipe to bring water to the communities.
$3,000 to Noel Humberto Guerrero for equipment for the school (computers, instruments, etc.) NOTE: we received word that 4 computers were purchased.
$250 to Medardo Gomez on behalf of the Sierra Pacific Synod for use in his ministry.
$300 (cash) to AMUDESCO for medical supplies.

Paz (Peace),

Christine Madsen
January 15, 2003

Added by Kent February 4, 2009 (12:24AM)

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