Spring Break Students Honor Romero
By Isaac "Ike" Treviño

Making life better by planting trees in El Salvador and honoring the memory of Monseñor Romero, Latin America's martyr and leader: who would guess that this is a description of an alternative Spring Break by more than a hundred students.

The reforestation of the Bay of Jiquilisco is already improving life at the community. Estella Hernandez, the Coordinadora's Volunteer & Youth Coordinator, describes it this way, "Since the reforestation began, the people in the community have seen the growth of the plants and animals that are their main source of sustenance. This fills them with hope for a better tomorrow that anyone can see through the smile of a little girl who once again enjoys fish from the wetlands of the Bay."

In memory of Monseñor Oscar Romero, a man who gave his life so that others could live in peace, harmony, and self-determination, FSSCA set out to plant 50,000 trees in El Salvador among the communities of people for whom he struggled more than twenty-five years ago. After one year, 6,000 trees honoring Romero have been planted and more than 15,000 extra mangroves have been planted using the same funds! This far exceeded our expectations for the first year. As Sean Hale, Deputy Director of FSSCA stated, "once the communities got started there was no stopping them."

So by popular demand in both the US and El Salvador, the Romero Memorial Project will continue permanently! At $10 per tree, you can still honor Romero and help reforest El Salvador.

Trees for all Seasons

Noam and Anat open a hole for a tree

We've learned that the tree project has broad appeal for a variety of occasions. I recently gave a friend who was leaving her job to move to Dallas a pair of trees as her going away gift. I was rendered speechless when she announced to those assembled at her going away party, "this is the best gift anyone has ever given me!" Karina, one of our supporters in New York, asked people to donate to the tree project instead of giving her birthday gifts this year. Her friends and family responded with more than 100 trees!

If you'd like to know more about how she raised more than $1,000 for trees with less than an hour's work, contact Deputy Director Sean Hale by email or at 512-388-7957.

Or click here for more information
on the Romero Memorial Tree Project.

A Flower Taught Me How to Live
by Jose "Chencho" Alas

Last year I had the honor of participating in a peace conference with the Dalai Lama and meeting him personally. The Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and an inspirational world leader, had truly beautiful things to say.

Chencho meeting the Dalai Lama during the Tanenbaum Center's Peace Activist Conference

Nonetheless, for me his words were overshadowed by a story a young Mayan woman from Guatemala told us last year as part of the Culture, Spirituality, and Theology of Peace Project. People's personal stories can provide some of the richest and most powerful inspiration we have found in the Peace Project. When they're full of values and principles, they help to live our lives ethically and in concert with nature and our neighbor.

Sara, a 27-year old Mayan woman, lives in Xela, Guatemala. She wears lovely, indigenous clothes that reflect the beauty of the tropics. When she was 22, she married in the hopes of building a happy home, but things didn't turn out as she expected.

After she gave birth to their first son, her husband fell in love with another woman and abandoned her and their baby. She started blaming herself for his infidelity. Self-doubt began to weaken and destroy her. She would tell herself "He probably left me because I'm not pretty. Maybe the other woman took better care of him. I probably didn't know how to take care of his things the way he liked. Maybe I didn't know how to cook well or maybe it bothered him that I took care of our boy instead of taking care of our corn crop." Every day she hated herself more.

On one of those terrible days, she decided to do the worst. She wrote a letter to her parents explaining the pain she felt for losing her husband and that she had decided to kill herself and her son. She had no reason to live if the love of her life had left her for another woman. She even set the day and hour for her suicide in the letter before hiding it away to be discovered after her death.

Soon after, some friends in the Association of Mayan Presbyterian Women invited her to a self-esteem workshop. She went just to get out of the house and distract herself for a while. Little by little, during the workshop she began to wonder if she was worthy of self-esteem. She asked herself, "How would I feel if I loved myself?"

On the way back home she decided that, following Mayan custom, she should consult a spiritual guide - a community elder - about her situation and how to resolve it. The elder recommended that she go to the forest every day and try to admire everything she saw there: the trees, leaves, the different colors of the flowers, the stream, and the animals; that she feel the fresh breeze and listen to the birds sing. Most of all, she should forget everything else and enter into communion with all the life in the forest.

Sara during a Peace Workshop.

So, every day she took a walk in the forest. One day, a little plant caught her attention. It was the smallest she had noticed on all her walks, and it had a little white flower with a pink center. She leaned over to see it better and finally knelt down in front of it. The little flower enjoyed the breeze that softly moved the flowers petals and leaves as if they were dancing. She felt goose bumps all over followed by a wave of heat. She told herself, "If this plant is so happy, so full of life in spite of being so small, why can't I be happy too? She doesn't envy the giant trees nor the other flowers with their beautiful colors. I have to be myself; I can't be someone else; I should accept myself as I am and live."

She went straight home and destroyed the suicide letter. Then she ran to her mother's house to hug her while crying with happiness and loving her son. At the end of her story, Sara told us, "A little flower saved me. Nature taught me how to live."

You can still join the Summer 2006 Tour!

Please join us this summer, July 22-29, to see how the spirit of Archbishop Romero and the Four Churchwomen continues to live in the hearts of the Salvadoran people.

Activities Include:

Costs: $900 per person (this does not include airfare)

Deadlines: Space may be limited. Please contact us as soon as possible to reserve a space.

For more information, or to sign up,
contact Sean Hale by email or phone: 512-388-7957

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:

We are also thankful for the gifts made in honor and memory of hundreds of people, especially as part of the Tree Projects.

Finally, we are grateful to those who volunteer, raise money for the Tree Project and other purposes, and promote this important work in general.

Another New Face in the Office

Karla Pineda began working as our new Administrative Assistant in March. She holds a B.S. in Public Relations and Business from the University of Texas at Austin and has experience in bilingual marketing, communications, business, and the Hispanic market. Before graduating with honors in 2005, she interned with Time Warner Cable where she promoted new services, events, and products. Finally, Ms. Pineda's main interest is in the international scene, being an alumna for the Future World Leaders Presidential Classroom Program.

Spring 2006 Newsletter

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 Central America.