Volunteer Testimonial by Anna Von Essen December 2002

I have been in the Lower Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador for four months teaching English with the Coordinadora. My students and friends are already talking about my departure as I prepare for my last month in Ciudad Romero. I know that this Christmas will be bittersweet as I eat Salvadorean tamales and get ready for my flight back to the States. In reflection I think of the all my weeks in front of a blackboard or with a paper on my lap writing English words and laughing at my Spanish. My little English classes have been wonderful but in truth the classes mostly became a tool to get acquainted with the histories of my students and create friendships. In the end, my months in El Salvador have been more about learning than teaching.

I learned also in between classes when I visited Coordinadora projects. I have seen many parcels of land where campesino families are growing beautiful crops of tomatoes and chilies. As the farmers talk of their own crops it is the light in their eyes that surpasses languages and communicates the truth; that hope is alive in this tiny country. Liberated crops can grow out of earth that has been tortured for centuries. The light of this harvest is now being passed to a new group of Salvadoreans. After harvest the tomatoes and chilies are brought in the back of pick-ups to the patio of my friend Marta.

I give English classes out front of Marta’s house. The handful of women that come for my classes are waiting for the construction of a market; the newest project of the Coordinadora. The plan is to create a market, restaurant and hotel that will cater to locals and travelers on their way to the eastside of the country. These women are now in the process of learning how to sort tomatoes and I have found myself practicing “Good Afternoon” over tables of tomatoes. I want the dreams of these women to be realized and one incident in particular caused me to see the great importance of this roadside market.

Four weeks ago I was heading to San Salvador in the cab of a pick-up. The pick-up stopped in traffic at a construction site, the street immediately filled with young men and women selling food to the restless drivers and bus passengers. This is hard work, on the cement in the sun with car fumes in your lungs. The young vendors arrive at five or six in the morning work until seven at night and then head home, many on foot. On a good day twenty dollars can be made but many times a vendor will walk home empty handed. Thus, a car stopped in traffic endures a constant surge of questions: do you want oranges, pop, candy, sweet bread, gum? I had become accustomed to this process and no longer took in the sights, simply answering no gracias without much of a glance. Amidst the vendors a young woman asked if we wanted a bag of cashews. My head facing directly forward I politely responded “no gracias”, until I heard my name. The use of my name changed everything, the situation was no longer anonymous. I turned my head and saw my friend and student Deysey. Deysey is my age, twenty-two. She has a young daughter and supports a family of five including brothers and sisters. I knew from conversations in my class that she worked on the streets vending but hearing a life story and actually seeing it are two very different things.

That afternoon I learn a lesson in humility and I also saw the market project as a new job for my companera Deysey (a member of the Coordinadora group). When the market is standing full of produce, grown by the sweat and hope of families in Las Mesas or Amando Lopez, Deysey will be standing behind the crates. She will not be walking all day on the hot pavement selling nuts without a glance from motorists. This new project of the Coordinadora will give women of the lower Bajo Lempa a dignified job: both allowing these women to gain new skills and to participate in the development of a business. In closing I wish to send to you, along with these words, the joy and hope I have experienced with this women while working toward the future of a Coordinadora marketplace.