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My
recent visit to El Salvador (Feb 19 to March 9)
by "Chencho"
Alas
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"Thank God that Hurricane
Mitch came here." These are the words of Jorge Villatoro,
General Coordinator of the Coordinating Committee [Coordinadora]
of Bajo Lempa at the beginning of the first meeting that
I attended on arriving in San Salvador on February 21.
Members of the Executive Commission of the Coordinating
Committee and the directors of the recently founded Mangle
Association, which legally represents the Coordinating
Committee, participated.
Jorge’s words surprised
me because we are well aware of the destruction caused
by Mitch in Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Coordinating
Committee’s zone. I asked him what he meant and he
quickly replied: "The rest of the world remembers
us when there are wars or gigantic disasters. The daily
hunger of our children doesn’t matter for the press
and governments. Only a few good-willed men and women
continue thinking about us." Jorge just returned
from the Dominican Republic where he attended a congress
for the study and prevention of natural disasters at the
invitation of the United Nations. The Coordinating Committee
was the only institution in the country capable of presenting
a complete report to the United Nations on the disaster
caused in El Salvador by Mitch. Jorge, a campesino, was
very excited.
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Dionisio
Grande
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I arrived in El Salvador with four
objectives: (1) prepare a project for food production which would
continue the efforts in this area following Mitch; (2) study a project
in Bajo Lempa for cellular phones to make communication possible
between the 60 communities of the area and the rest of the world;
(3) the construction of an office and training center for the Coordinating
Committee in Ciudad Romero; (4) the continuation of workshops in
the Local Zone of Peace.
Of all the experiences which I had
during my visit, the most important for me was probably working
on the food production project for the campesinos. We worked a day
and a half including a good deal of the night. The four agricultural
experts who assist them were present as well as those in charge
of the agro-ecological plots, fourteen people in all. They first
presented an up-to-the-minute summary of agricultural activities.
With funds donated by Share Foundation they cultivated 600 acres
of white beans; this is a low-cost crop. They have also cultivated
92 acres of agro-ecological plots with funds donated by the American
Jewish World Service, ACSUR Las Segovias, the Jewish Coalition for
Disaster Relief, the Caroline and Sigmund Schott Foundation, Oxfam
Quebec, and the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency. The agro-ecological
plots require intensive cultivation. Fruits and vegetables are cultivated
on the plots, with shade trees around the borders. 720 producers
benefit from the plots. Additionally 600 chickens were purchased
to aid 120 families that lost their birds during the hurricane.
All of them have received technical assistance. Their successes
in the area of training are truly great. We ought to take advantage
of this to begin a second stage, which would be the expansion and
strengthening of organic food production.
It surprised me to verify the level
of agricultural knowledge that these campesinos have and the close
relationship that they have developed with their fellow communities.
It is evident that this constitutes a fundamental necessity for
the achievement of future development, which will guarantee them
food security. We could not finish the project proposal but it is
very advanced and we will soon be able to send it to several foundations
interested in food production.
With respect to the cellular phone
project I was able to meet with representatives of the three corporations
which exist in the country so that they could offer me a quote.
If the Coordinating Committee is able to complete this project it
will make a great gain in the zone which would ensure not only communication
but also the establishment of a system of security. It would have
been possible to save many things during Hurricane Mitch if the
people had had information of what was going to happen.
The Coordinating Committee needs
an office. The little house in which it is presently located in
Ciudad Romero is very small and the rent is high. On April 7th
we hope to lay the cornerstone of the new building, which will be
financed with funds donated by individuals to the Foundation for
Self-Sufficiency. Ruth Messinger and Sharon Miller, president and
vice-president of American Jewish World Service will be present.
I will return to El Salvador in
April. This time Ruth and Sharon will accompany me for three days
and then I will give workshops on the Local Zone of Peace. On this
occasion the director of IDHUCA, of the Universidad Catolica, Berta
Alicia Ruiz, will accompany me. She has given various workshops
on conflict resolution.
A
Catalonian Social Worker in the Zone of Peace
By Marta Gadea-Soriano
| In
October of last year I arrived in El Salvador in a brigade
of volunteers from the Spanish organization MON-3 [Third
World]. Just like the other Spanish compańeros, I came with
the idea of getting to know the country, helping the campesinos
who live in very difficult circumstances due to the many
injustices which have been occuring here, and to learn from
this experience.
In the beginning my work
was going to focus on adult literacy and the organization
of women through the Coordinadora de Comunidades del Bajo
Lempa y Bahía de Jiquilisco [the Coordinating Committee].
Then Mitch came and changed everything. I began to really
understand what the Coordinadora is and the importance
of its work.
Since then my work has
been to aid in the post-hurricane recovery. Now things
have settled down a bit and we’re going to return
to the work we had originally planned.
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Marta
Gadea-Soriano is a 24 year-old Social Worker from Barcelona,
Spain, who has worked in El Salvador since October of
1998.
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The Coordinadora was created as
a response to the different problematic situations of this area.
That is, by the campesinos themselves to find solutions to
their problems given that the government did not have the will to
accomplish this task. And thus, little by little, and through much
hardship, given that certain groups didn’t want them to organize,
the initiative of the campesinos brought the Coordinadora
to life. By their last Assembly 61 communities were participating
in this movement.
The work of the Coodinadora has
three central goals: disaster prevention, sustainable development
for the communities, and to always work with a new concept of culture:
a culture of peace.
The Coordinadora is growing: other
areas of the country and other countries want to know about their
experience. But we have to be realists and see that the work of
the Coordinadora requires everyone’s help. Coordinating all
of the communities is difficult and complicated work. The more this
movement grows and the more people know of it and help it, the more
there will be people scared by it and will attempt to stop their
work. Jaime Aristides, of the San Hilario community, put it well,
"The tree that gives the most fruit is the tree that hits you
the most." Their work is good work and that is why some other
groups are more and more threatened by it. For that reason there
have been some actions against the Coordinadora.
The help that institutions and private
citizens can offer to the Coordinadora are extremely valueable as
they can strengthen their grass-roots organization so that they
themselves can carry out their process of "development"
according to their needs and not the needs of donating countries.
The needs are defined by them, and the solutions are proposed
by them. Who is going to know which foot is lame better than
oneself? Thus, any economic, technical, or personal help that one
can offer will meet a need that is real and well defined.
I personally believe that working
for the Coordinadora is one of the best ways to "help-out"
to be able to achieve a better world for everyone.
A
new face in the Round Rock office
| We
have a new employee in the Round Rock office. Sean Hale
will work here as my assistant. Sean is a Master’s
student in the Institute of Latin American Studies at UT-Austin.
He speaks Spanish very well, and has experience with Cuban
Refugees, Internet homepages, and fundraising in addition
to other skills that will be of service. His duties include
office management, the design of the Foundation Webpage,
database management, preparation of the newsletter, translation,
and other activities that will facilitate and support our
work.
Sean’s regular office
schedule will be 8-12am, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
When I am out of the country we have planned for him to
be here from 8 – 11am Monday through Friday so that
someone will be in the office every day.
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What
is the Agro-Ecological Plot Project?
By Mauricio Antonio
Chávez and Dionisio Grande
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Mr.
Chávez, a campesino, is one of the founders of the Coordinating
Committee [Coordinadora]
and presently is responsible for the Agro-Ecological Plots
Project. Mr. Chávez’s record of service to his community
includes leadership of the Commission for the Creation
of the Local Zone of Peace.
(Thanks to Mr. Mario
Pasin for the great t-shirts, like the one Mr. Chávez
is wearing.)
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- The Agro-Ecological
Plot Project is the beginning of new road to sustainable,
ecological agriculture.
- It seeks to improve
our soil.
- It seeks to maintain
a higher level of health for the communities of Bajo
Lempa and Bahía de Jiquilisco.
- It upholds the belief
that campesinos should use their own resources, such
as bird and animal waste. Once this waste has decomposed
it will be used for cultivation, as fertilizer, creating
a positive effect on crops.
- The project creates
incentives for the community to gain education so as
to diversify their crops and improve the quality of
the soil; it is only then that the sustainability of
our community will improve.
- What is an Agro-Ecological
Plot in South Usulutan? It is a two-acre plot of land
where one finds up to 24 different crops whose growing
periods range from short, to medium, to long term. During
the summer we maintain these crops with irrigation from
15-meter deep wells. Around the plots we have sown wind
breakers, fruit and wood trees, trees that generate
green fertilizer [natural, organic fertilizer], and
organic insecticides.
We help the population
to change from chemical to organic agricultural methods.
The Agro-Ecological plots contribute to the healthy diet
of children and the elderly, which one can clearly see
in the way that our young people study and aid in their
parents’ work (parents send their children to study
in the morning and they work in the afternoon). Thank
You.
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Summer
1999 Building Project
During the Summer of 1999
the Foundation plans to aid in the construction of two
buildings in the Zone of Peace. These will serve a variety
of purposes, among which are offices for the Coordinadora
[Coordinating Committee], an education center, and visitors'
center.
We hope that some of our
friends will be able to join us in El Salvador and help
raise these buildings beginning in June, which will serve
to strengthen their communities and our fellowship with
them.
For more information about
the Building Project, including blueprints of the buildings
and updates on how you can participate, please visit our
homepage: http://itama.home.texas.net
If you or your group would
like to participate, or you would like to contribute financially,
please contact either José Alas or Sean Hale by email).
Or, send us a letter or fax here at the Round Rock office.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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Peasants
Peace Award
Dick
Astle (right) receives the Peasants Peace Award from Foundation
President Harold Baron "For Wise Counsel and Imaginative
Legal Guidance." Mr. Astle, an attorney, generously
donated his time to help register the Foundation as a
non-profit organization allowing us to devote our resources
to beneficiaries in Central America instead of legal fees.
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FUNDS RECEIVED
BY THE OFFICE, January – February 1999
| Overbrook Foundation (disbursed
on Dec.30, 98 by Overbrook)
Jewish Coalition for Disaster
Relief
Individuals
__________________________________
Total
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$50,000.00
37,500.00
107,882.82
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$20,337.82
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FUNDS DISBURSED TO
THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE LOWER LEMPA RIVER
| January 25, for general
operating expenses
January 29, for general
operating expenses
for food production
March 24, for general
operating expenses
For office construction
Total
___________________________
Balance
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$ 5,000.00
15,000.00
37,500.00
15,000.00
15,000.00
$87,500.00
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$20,382,82
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At the end of March there will be
a new disbursement of funds to the Coordinadora of $15,000 for general
expenses, with $15,000 more for the construction of offices. The
purchase of a 1993 Isuzu truck is being considered to use in the
Bajo Lempa region to carry fresh produce (watermelon, bananas, papayas,
etc.) to market, which will cost around $15,000, plus another $3,500
in taxes and transportation costs to get it to El Salvador. The
final price of the Summer 1999 Construction Project is approximately
$37,500. Thus, while not every dollar has been disbursed today,
all have been earmarked.
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