Involving Youths in Building a Brighter Future

In 2002, the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency began an art project for at risk youths in El Salvador’s Bajo Lempa region. After a year and a half of work with kids, teens, and young adults – including some former gang members – many have learned not only to paint but also to see the world in a new way.

In 2003, thanks to generous donor support, this project will continue to grow. In addition to painting, students will learn silkscreening and a variety of arts & crafts.

Santos: Through painting and drawing, I’ve learned to see life in another way. I think that art is the other side of who I am because in every painting that I make, I show another part of my life.I want to keep learning because this is going to be helpful to me in the future.

Santos Amaya Ramírez, 22, from Ciudad Romero.

Balbino Jimenez Majano, 19 years old, from Los Ensayos

Balbino: This art project has helped us to use our time better and keep our minds busy instead of wasting time in the street like some of us used to do. I’m looking forward to learning silkscreening.

Maritza: This project has helped me a lot. I’ve met new friends, learned a lot about life, and learned a lot of things about art that you normally don’t have the chance to learn. I feel good when I’m in class and when I’m not there I miss it. Some of our classmates used to be in gangs, but now with these art classes they’re working hard to learn from our professor and have left the gangs. There are other students who were shy, but now they’re learning how to express themselves.

Maritza Hernandez, 19, from Zamorano.

Marina Haydee Ceron, 17, from Nuevo Amanecer

Marina: This project is going to help us young people to have good jobs and to get away from bad things like drugs and alcohol. I never thought we’d have something like this here, but thanks to the Coordinadora and the FSSCA, we have our art project.

SPECIAL THANKS

The solidarity of many generous individuals and organizations is making this work for peace and self-sufficiency possible. Outstanding donor organizations during the last few months include:

Self-Sufficiency for the FSSCA
by Jose “Chencho” Alas

Heraclitus, the founder of Greek philosophy, was famous for saying panta rei: “everything changes.” This wisdom, no doubt, has saved humanity from many man-made disasters, though certainly not all of them. Unfortunately, we also have a tendency to cling tightly to power. Change is not only inevitable but necessary if we, as individuals and organizations, are to grow and stay healthy.

Three years ago, I told our board of directors that I wanted to retire as executive director and dedicate my energy, full time, to directing the Culture, Spirituality, and Theology of Peace Project. Fortunately, they have supported that proposal and we have begun a transition process that will probably last until December 2005.

This change presents us with many challenges that we are managing, I believe, with a lot of wisdom thanks to the commitment of our board of directors, especially our Chair, Harold Baron. With the help of a professional facilitator, the board is creating a vision for what the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency will look like in the future, taking into account that it began to support the Coordinadora’s development projects and has recently evolved to include a Culture, Spirituality, and Theology of Peace Project in Central America, Southern Mexico, and here in the United States.

We have learned through our experience in creating a Local Zone of Peace for 86 rural communities in El Salvador, with our partner the Coordinadora, that peace work can form the foundation for self-sufficiency. The Coordinadora has focused its new five-year strategic plan on achieving self-sufficiency based on principles and values that come directly from their vision of a Local Zone of Peace. Ex-guerrillas, ex-soldiers, Catholics, and Evangelicals (groups that elsewhere in the country are usually at each others’ throats) are working harmoniously to achieve self-sufficiency for food, are reforesting the area, building homes, resolving conflicts, and more!

We have taken lessons from this experience and applied them to the Culture, Spirituality, and Theology of Peace Project. Our objective is to train peacemakers and generate a network of people committed to peace. Peace for us is more than stopping the bullets from flying. It is the harmonious state of the spirit and the body of the individual and community in an environment that is politically, economically, socially, and earthly good and beautiful. This holistic vision of peace inspires us to hold self-sufficiency as a fundamental value.

A crucial component of this holistic vision for peace building and self-sufficiency is the continuing support of donors like you. The FSSCA is your vehicle for sowing the seeds of hope and solidarity among your sisters and brothers to the south. The world, today more than ever, is yearning for messages of peace. With your generous donation, you are one of those messengers. Although the hat I wear is changing, I, for my part, give you my commitment to make sure your gift will continue making this vision for peace and self-sufficiency a reality.

FSSCA board and staff at their August 2003 retreat in New Mexico.

Changing lives: Cornelio, Lilian, and their Family
– an interview by Karina Copen and Rachel Abileah

Don Cornelio and Doña Lilian live in Canoitas with their five children. They have received chickens and agricultural assistance through our partner, the Coordinadora, and participate in their local Peace Circle.

Cornelio showing off his diversified field, where he uses organic techniques to grow tomatoes and bell peppers.

Cornelio: Things are changing for us. We didn’t have anything before. We lost everything in Hurricane Mitch. Now we have the chickens, so we have eggs to eat and even a chicken from time to time. We don’t have to buy eggs or meat any more. We have to work hard to grow our tomato crop, but now we’re starting to see the difference. And we don’t have to worry now about how to get our crops to market or whom we’re going to sell them to, the Coordinadora takes care of that for us.Our income is growing. Our kids are able to school now, before we didn’t even have money to buy them their notebooks.

Lilian: We feel good now. We have really felt the changes. Things aren’t like they used to be. We started out with nothing and now, thanks to God, the Coordinadora has helped us and we have seen differences in our lives. The Peace Circles are helping us. There used to be a lot of problems in our community. Since the Circle started, that has stopped. People don’t say any more that so-and-so is their enemy, and you don’t see women fighting with their neighbors.

Lilian with her daughter Rosita

Cornelio: The Culture of Peace is helping us, and it goes hand in hand with organization: Why do we fight? Why are we hungry? What do we want to change? How do we make those changes happen? We are starting to work together as a community, organize, and find our own solutions. We also worked on the Coordinadora’s Strategic Plan, and everyone was able to say what their needs were and participate in creating a vision.

Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America Newsletter, Spring 2004

The Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America is a US non-profit organization (501c3) dedicated to supporting the movement for Peace and Justice in El Salvador and the rest of Central America.