Showing posts with label delegations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delegations. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Counting Votes at JRV #00032 in San Salvador
Final count was 158 FMLN / 151 ARENA / 3 invalid ballots
video by C. Cargo
Election Day Crowds in San Salvador
Crowds entering and leaving voting center at La Feria in San Salvador
video by C. Cargo
Commotion inside voting center with FMLN and ARENA on March 15
Crowds of FMLN and ARENA supporters at voting center when ARENA candidate Rodrigo Avila arrives in person with his daughter to cast her vote
video by C. Cargo
Houston to San Salvador - Reflections on the delegation experience
CBC member John Thayer reflects on an intergenerational encounter early on in his first trip to El Salvador for the recent elections delegation:
10 March 2009
My traveling companion, Doug Norton and I boarded Continental 826 in Houston for our first ever journey to El Salvador. The experienced members of the Central Baptist contingent, Caroline Cargo, Bernie Peterson and Andy Smith had their own travel plans, but we would all meet soon in San Salvador. The five of us were registered to have training and participate as “International Observers” during the Presidential elections on March 15, 2009.
Doug’s seat assignment was near the front of the aircraft and I proceeded to the middle to 18C, an aisle seat. That seat was occupied! I rechecked my ticket, then asked the small, Spanish-speaking woman about her seat assignment. She seemed annoyed, and moved to the window seat. My sense was that if I had at least some facility with Spanish I might have handled that better. Oh, well.
Soon enough the third passenger in our row of three showed up. He was a young man who looked to be about 16 or maybe 17 years old. I saw him look at his boarding pass over and over and then he asked to get past me to the middle seat. I asked whether his boarding pass was for the window seat and he replied that it was, but that he was okay with the middle seat and would stay there. Once settled, I asked this fellow about his trip. He gladly related that he and about 30 of his classmates from a high school in Seattle would receive training from SHARE to be International Observers in the upcoming election in El Salvador. We were going for the same purpose! Secretly I wondered whether such young people would be up to the tasks that might even challenge Cargo, Norton, Smith or certainly, Thayer. Was he even old enough to vote? Likely not. As we conversed more my suspicions were eased some.
The flight to San Salvador was to take less time than from Philadelphia to Houston, so it wasn’t long before the steward brought the immigration forms to fill out and submit to officials in the airport at San Salvador. The woman in the window seat looked puzzled as she perused the form so the steward asked whether the man in the middle would be willing to help her out. The high school student said, “Oh, sure.” My pre-judging the role as observer was gathering data feedback and my view was adjusting. Soon the student and the woman, perhaps approaching middle age were conversing in Spanish about the items on the form. Okay. I get it. This guy was more mature and skilled than your average high school junior.
As we approached our destination I asked the skilled gentleman whether he was in a total immersion program and he replied, “No, but I have had classes since I can remember. And I am getting a little tired of it.” That’s when he related some of the history of his school, Northwest School of Seattle. That’s a story worth looking into. Then we landed. It was a very smooth landing. So how did the high school folks do with the observing tasks assigned to them? Sorry. This article doesn’t cover the final answer.
John Thayer
Central Baptist Church
To learn more about the Northwest School in Seattle, click here. The Northwest School has a formal partnership with the SHARE Foundation. Through SHARE, the school conducts annual trips with students to El Salvador. A large group of the school's students took part in SHARE's 150-member elections observers delegation in March 2009.
10 March 2009
My traveling companion, Doug Norton and I boarded Continental 826 in Houston for our first ever journey to El Salvador. The experienced members of the Central Baptist contingent, Caroline Cargo, Bernie Peterson and Andy Smith had their own travel plans, but we would all meet soon in San Salvador. The five of us were registered to have training and participate as “International Observers” during the Presidential elections on March 15, 2009.
Doug’s seat assignment was near the front of the aircraft and I proceeded to the middle to 18C, an aisle seat. That seat was occupied! I rechecked my ticket, then asked the small, Spanish-speaking woman about her seat assignment. She seemed annoyed, and moved to the window seat. My sense was that if I had at least some facility with Spanish I might have handled that better. Oh, well.
Soon enough the third passenger in our row of three showed up. He was a young man who looked to be about 16 or maybe 17 years old. I saw him look at his boarding pass over and over and then he asked to get past me to the middle seat. I asked whether his boarding pass was for the window seat and he replied that it was, but that he was okay with the middle seat and would stay there. Once settled, I asked this fellow about his trip. He gladly related that he and about 30 of his classmates from a high school in Seattle would receive training from SHARE to be International Observers in the upcoming election in El Salvador. We were going for the same purpose! Secretly I wondered whether such young people would be up to the tasks that might even challenge Cargo, Norton, Smith or certainly, Thayer. Was he even old enough to vote? Likely not. As we conversed more my suspicions were eased some.
The flight to San Salvador was to take less time than from Philadelphia to Houston, so it wasn’t long before the steward brought the immigration forms to fill out and submit to officials in the airport at San Salvador. The woman in the window seat looked puzzled as she perused the form so the steward asked whether the man in the middle would be willing to help her out. The high school student said, “Oh, sure.” My pre-judging the role as observer was gathering data feedback and my view was adjusting. Soon the student and the woman, perhaps approaching middle age were conversing in Spanish about the items on the form. Okay. I get it. This guy was more mature and skilled than your average high school junior.
As we approached our destination I asked the skilled gentleman whether he was in a total immersion program and he replied, “No, but I have had classes since I can remember. And I am getting a little tired of it.” That’s when he related some of the history of his school, Northwest School of Seattle. That’s a story worth looking into. Then we landed. It was a very smooth landing. So how did the high school folks do with the observing tasks assigned to them? Sorry. This article doesn’t cover the final answer.
John Thayer
Central Baptist Church
To learn more about the Northwest School in Seattle, click here. The Northwest School has a formal partnership with the SHARE Foundation. Through SHARE, the school conducts annual trips with students to El Salvador. A large group of the school's students took part in SHARE's 150-member elections observers delegation in March 2009.
Reflections on El Salvador delegation
Andy Smith was one of four delegates from Central Baptist who participated in the March 2009 SHARE Foundation election observers delegation. Following is Andy's personal report about the elections and about some of his time visiting with a Salvadoran friend prior to the start of the official delegation.
I returned recently from El Salvador where I had the privilege to accompany the Salvadoran people as one of 4000 international observers for the Presidential elections on March 15. I went as part of a delegation from Central Baptist Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania, that was also endorsed by the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Alliance of Baptists. First I want to celebrate with the Salvadoran people. The victory of the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front), the party formed after the 1992 Peace Accords from former guerillas in the civil war, is a victory for the people. Having a President who for the first time will be on the side of the majority of the Salvadoran people who are poor will be a striking change. At the same time, replacing the system of global capitalism and domination by foreign powers that has kept the people in poverty for so long is a task that is much larger than this election, but the election does mark an important and hopeful step in the process of building a different kind of society, one based on justice, equality and sharing of resources.
I started the election day at the stadium in San Salvador where the Salvadorans living in the United States were to vote. The turnout there was low, only 175 for the entire day, out of some 39,000 who had received the necessary document of identification. For the afternoon our group decided to move to another location where there would be more voters.
The whole process that I witnessed took place in a peaceful way. As an election official at my own local polling place in the United States, I was struck by the similarities of the Salvadoran process. At the same time I noticed many differences, most strikingly the many vehicles with large groups of people and flags from the two parties, riding through the streets all day and chanting for their party. In front of the building where I was for the afternoon, there was a continuing demonstration with hundreds of people waving banners and chanting but the atmosphere remained more that of a festival than a political demonstration. In the middle of the afternoon as Rodrigo Avila, the candidate of the ARENA party (the party in power) came to the hall, a large group of FMLN supporters marched through the hall waving banners and shouting their party slogans. They continued to do so from the balcony as Avila, surrounded by a large group of ARENA supporters also with flags and chanting, entered, went to one of the polling stations, and then left. While such overt demonstrations are not permitted by the Salvadoran electoral law within the polling place, they were not stopped. The police were ready but always on the sidelines as the demonstrations continued in a peaceful way.
There was a real celebratory mood among the people at the place where I ended the day. As the election results were announced at each of the 60 polling booths in the large hall, chanting broke out. When all had reported a large group of FMLN supporters began to dance in the middle of the hall.
During the day I had opportunities to listen to Salvadorans. One man, Armando, wanted to tell me about how his people were without work and suffering. He wanted to know what it was like in the United States and if Obama could make a difference. While I understood much of what he said and could respond in my limited ability to speak Spanish, the experience made me resolve to recover my ability to speak and understand Spanish more fluently. It also made me more aware of how I, a person from the United States, carry the imperialism of my country by not being able to converse in the language of the people where I am.
In gathering the reports from all of the 150 observers in the SHARE Foundation group of which I was a part, we heard few incidents of problems, most of them minor. Overall the election process went very smoothly. In spite of the overwhelming spending of ARENA compared with the FMLN (about $24 million to $4million), many threats of job loss for not voting for ARENA, suppression of poll results that showed the FMLN with large leads, strong bias in the press for ARENA, well-publicized positions of Republicans in the United States of security threats to the United States if the FMLN won, and threats that an FMLN victory would mean the cessation of Salvadorans in the United States sending money back to Salvador (about 18% of the Salvadoran economy), the people spoke in an organized and deliberate process and hopeful change will occur. As observers we received many thanks from the Salvadoran people for being there. We learned on the day after the elections that the presence of so many international observers had been the reason that ARENA had conceded the election peacefully and did not challenge the results.
Several days prior to prior to observing the elections I had the opportunity to visit several places I had not been before and see some of the natural beauty of this small country which is slightly smaller than Massachusetts. The contrast between the dire poverty (about fifty percent of the population) with the wealth of the elite and the beauty of the land is stark. On the trip into San Salvador from the airport I observed many roadside stands selling coconuts and other fruits and vegetables. These stands line many of the roads and streets in the cities and represent the alternative economy for those who can find no other work. Items for sale range from food, including entire roadside restaurants, to musical instruments to clothes to handcrafted furniture. Others who have nothing to sell but their own labor often stand at intersections and wash windshields.
The road from the airport to San Salvador climbs as it passes through the hills, many of them deforested as is much of the Salvadoran land. Groups of houses built from whatever could be found like corrugated metal stand on the hillsides. There is no electricity or running water. A major daily job of many rural Salvadoran women is to fetch water for their family. Often a long walk of several hours is necessary with the water being carried in a large urn on top of the head.
Along the way we also passed a group of maquiladoras. These foreign owned companies are assembly plants for items like clothing. Workers are paid little to put together materials shipped in which will be shipped out as finished products. The Free Trade Agreement required that new, interstate-like highways be built so that the tractor trailors could transport the materials to and from the maquiladoras. These new highways cut through towns and mountains without viable ways to cross for the people on foot and bicycles and were built with money diverted from education and healthcare.
As we approached the city I was warned to put my window up because we could be approached by someone with a gun who could demand something from us. At one intersection we passed through several times a 14 year old girl was washing car windshields. My host remarked that this could be her own daughter. She always stopped and gave her some money, noting the need to change the kind of a system that could put girls of this age in the streets because they had no other way to survive. When asked late one evening how long she would be there, the young girl remarked, “Until I get enough money.”
On Saturday we went to a beautiful volcanic beach where the coves and cliffs with the black sand reminded me of Hawaii. The surf is good here with several resorts devoted to serving foreigners. Some Salvadoran boys with their surfboards were enjoying the waves at a public beach next to the club where we were. The impact of the world financial crisis was clear at this club. Of the 30-40 shelters with picnic tables and hammocks, only three or four were occupied on a beautiful, warm Saturday afternoon.
Our trip along the Route of the Flowers took us through five small towns and majestic scenery of the many volcanoes in the Western part of the country. This was once prime coffee country. Now many of the coffee plantations have been converted into hotels and restaurants since the coffee business is not viable for the owners with the market price of coffee as low as it is. Each of the towns had its own unique ambience with a church and town square, an open air market, and many small stores with various arts and crafts. The markets were bustling since Sunday is the prime market day where one finds food of all kinds, clothing, shoes, and some arts and crafts.
Suchitoto is a treasure in the hills about one hour North of San Salvador. It’s the cleanest town I’ve seen in El Salvador with many houses having a sign painted on the wall beside the door indicating that they recycle solid waste and the slogan reduce, reuse, recycle. Other houses have a sign indicating that no violence against women is practiced in that home. A relatively new institution in town is housed in an old school that was abandoned during the civil war since Suchitoto was the scene of much intense fighting. The Center for Peace and the Arts is the vision of Sister Peggy Smith, a sister of Charity of New Jersey, who has made this her home for many years. The center includes a facility for housing delegations. Its mission is to provide training for people in the arts including theater, photography, music and many others.
Lake Suchitlan lies below Suchitoto. Created many years ago as a reservoir for the production of electricity, today it is a spot for fishermen and tourists. We spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon there with a group from Shekina, our partner congregation in Santa Ana. Following lunch at a restaurant beside the lake we boarded two small boats for a sunset cruise around several of the islands. Bird Island has a large population of nesting cormorants and some Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons and Little Blue Herons. Other bird life seemed abundant with vultures, Crested Caracaras, and swallows. The magnificent sunset over the mountains provided a fitting close to a beautiful day.
I have been to El Salvador six times since 1986 through relationships that my congregation has with congregations there. Each time I have had many feelings and new insights about the destruction of people’s lives and the earth through the systemic effects of the global economic system. Yet each time I have renewed personal relationships and started new relationships. Each time my resolve to fight this system and help create a new one is strengthened. The strength, creativity, and joyfulness of the Salvadoran people in the face of what appear to be overwhelming odds continue to be an inspiration to me.
El Salvador is a land of many contrasts, yet in spite of the poverty its people remain a people of hope. The electoral victory of the FMLN provides a monumental shift in the political scene that adds to this hope. My various times in El Salvador have always nourished my soul and stimulated my thinking. They provide an experience that I find necessary to continue my own life journey without becoming numb to the world-wide impacts of the society in which I live in the USA. I recognize anew each time I go the interconnectedness of our world. Deep and lasting relationships with Salvadorans will continue to be an important part of my life as I seek to work with others in building a world of justice and integrity.
Andy Smith
Devon, Pennsylvania USA
I returned recently from El Salvador where I had the privilege to accompany the Salvadoran people as one of 4000 international observers for the Presidential elections on March 15. I went as part of a delegation from Central Baptist Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania, that was also endorsed by the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Alliance of Baptists. First I want to celebrate with the Salvadoran people. The victory of the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front), the party formed after the 1992 Peace Accords from former guerillas in the civil war, is a victory for the people. Having a President who for the first time will be on the side of the majority of the Salvadoran people who are poor will be a striking change. At the same time, replacing the system of global capitalism and domination by foreign powers that has kept the people in poverty for so long is a task that is much larger than this election, but the election does mark an important and hopeful step in the process of building a different kind of society, one based on justice, equality and sharing of resources.
I started the election day at the stadium in San Salvador where the Salvadorans living in the United States were to vote. The turnout there was low, only 175 for the entire day, out of some 39,000 who had received the necessary document of identification. For the afternoon our group decided to move to another location where there would be more voters.
The whole process that I witnessed took place in a peaceful way. As an election official at my own local polling place in the United States, I was struck by the similarities of the Salvadoran process. At the same time I noticed many differences, most strikingly the many vehicles with large groups of people and flags from the two parties, riding through the streets all day and chanting for their party. In front of the building where I was for the afternoon, there was a continuing demonstration with hundreds of people waving banners and chanting but the atmosphere remained more that of a festival than a political demonstration. In the middle of the afternoon as Rodrigo Avila, the candidate of the ARENA party (the party in power) came to the hall, a large group of FMLN supporters marched through the hall waving banners and shouting their party slogans. They continued to do so from the balcony as Avila, surrounded by a large group of ARENA supporters also with flags and chanting, entered, went to one of the polling stations, and then left. While such overt demonstrations are not permitted by the Salvadoran electoral law within the polling place, they were not stopped. The police were ready but always on the sidelines as the demonstrations continued in a peaceful way.
There was a real celebratory mood among the people at the place where I ended the day. As the election results were announced at each of the 60 polling booths in the large hall, chanting broke out. When all had reported a large group of FMLN supporters began to dance in the middle of the hall.
During the day I had opportunities to listen to Salvadorans. One man, Armando, wanted to tell me about how his people were without work and suffering. He wanted to know what it was like in the United States and if Obama could make a difference. While I understood much of what he said and could respond in my limited ability to speak Spanish, the experience made me resolve to recover my ability to speak and understand Spanish more fluently. It also made me more aware of how I, a person from the United States, carry the imperialism of my country by not being able to converse in the language of the people where I am.
In gathering the reports from all of the 150 observers in the SHARE Foundation group of which I was a part, we heard few incidents of problems, most of them minor. Overall the election process went very smoothly. In spite of the overwhelming spending of ARENA compared with the FMLN (about $24 million to $4million), many threats of job loss for not voting for ARENA, suppression of poll results that showed the FMLN with large leads, strong bias in the press for ARENA, well-publicized positions of Republicans in the United States of security threats to the United States if the FMLN won, and threats that an FMLN victory would mean the cessation of Salvadorans in the United States sending money back to Salvador (about 18% of the Salvadoran economy), the people spoke in an organized and deliberate process and hopeful change will occur. As observers we received many thanks from the Salvadoran people for being there. We learned on the day after the elections that the presence of so many international observers had been the reason that ARENA had conceded the election peacefully and did not challenge the results.
Several days prior to prior to observing the elections I had the opportunity to visit several places I had not been before and see some of the natural beauty of this small country which is slightly smaller than Massachusetts. The contrast between the dire poverty (about fifty percent of the population) with the wealth of the elite and the beauty of the land is stark. On the trip into San Salvador from the airport I observed many roadside stands selling coconuts and other fruits and vegetables. These stands line many of the roads and streets in the cities and represent the alternative economy for those who can find no other work. Items for sale range from food, including entire roadside restaurants, to musical instruments to clothes to handcrafted furniture. Others who have nothing to sell but their own labor often stand at intersections and wash windshields.
The road from the airport to San Salvador climbs as it passes through the hills, many of them deforested as is much of the Salvadoran land. Groups of houses built from whatever could be found like corrugated metal stand on the hillsides. There is no electricity or running water. A major daily job of many rural Salvadoran women is to fetch water for their family. Often a long walk of several hours is necessary with the water being carried in a large urn on top of the head.
Along the way we also passed a group of maquiladoras. These foreign owned companies are assembly plants for items like clothing. Workers are paid little to put together materials shipped in which will be shipped out as finished products. The Free Trade Agreement required that new, interstate-like highways be built so that the tractor trailors could transport the materials to and from the maquiladoras. These new highways cut through towns and mountains without viable ways to cross for the people on foot and bicycles and were built with money diverted from education and healthcare.
As we approached the city I was warned to put my window up because we could be approached by someone with a gun who could demand something from us. At one intersection we passed through several times a 14 year old girl was washing car windshields. My host remarked that this could be her own daughter. She always stopped and gave her some money, noting the need to change the kind of a system that could put girls of this age in the streets because they had no other way to survive. When asked late one evening how long she would be there, the young girl remarked, “Until I get enough money.”
On Saturday we went to a beautiful volcanic beach where the coves and cliffs with the black sand reminded me of Hawaii. The surf is good here with several resorts devoted to serving foreigners. Some Salvadoran boys with their surfboards were enjoying the waves at a public beach next to the club where we were. The impact of the world financial crisis was clear at this club. Of the 30-40 shelters with picnic tables and hammocks, only three or four were occupied on a beautiful, warm Saturday afternoon.
Our trip along the Route of the Flowers took us through five small towns and majestic scenery of the many volcanoes in the Western part of the country. This was once prime coffee country. Now many of the coffee plantations have been converted into hotels and restaurants since the coffee business is not viable for the owners with the market price of coffee as low as it is. Each of the towns had its own unique ambience with a church and town square, an open air market, and many small stores with various arts and crafts. The markets were bustling since Sunday is the prime market day where one finds food of all kinds, clothing, shoes, and some arts and crafts.
Suchitoto is a treasure in the hills about one hour North of San Salvador. It’s the cleanest town I’ve seen in El Salvador with many houses having a sign painted on the wall beside the door indicating that they recycle solid waste and the slogan reduce, reuse, recycle. Other houses have a sign indicating that no violence against women is practiced in that home. A relatively new institution in town is housed in an old school that was abandoned during the civil war since Suchitoto was the scene of much intense fighting. The Center for Peace and the Arts is the vision of Sister Peggy Smith, a sister of Charity of New Jersey, who has made this her home for many years. The center includes a facility for housing delegations. Its mission is to provide training for people in the arts including theater, photography, music and many others.
Lake Suchitlan lies below Suchitoto. Created many years ago as a reservoir for the production of electricity, today it is a spot for fishermen and tourists. We spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon there with a group from Shekina, our partner congregation in Santa Ana. Following lunch at a restaurant beside the lake we boarded two small boats for a sunset cruise around several of the islands. Bird Island has a large population of nesting cormorants and some Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons and Little Blue Herons. Other bird life seemed abundant with vultures, Crested Caracaras, and swallows. The magnificent sunset over the mountains provided a fitting close to a beautiful day.
I have been to El Salvador six times since 1986 through relationships that my congregation has with congregations there. Each time I have had many feelings and new insights about the destruction of people’s lives and the earth through the systemic effects of the global economic system. Yet each time I have renewed personal relationships and started new relationships. Each time my resolve to fight this system and help create a new one is strengthened. The strength, creativity, and joyfulness of the Salvadoran people in the face of what appear to be overwhelming odds continue to be an inspiration to me.
El Salvador is a land of many contrasts, yet in spite of the poverty its people remain a people of hope. The electoral victory of the FMLN provides a monumental shift in the political scene that adds to this hope. My various times in El Salvador have always nourished my soul and stimulated my thinking. They provide an experience that I find necessary to continue my own life journey without becoming numb to the world-wide impacts of the society in which I live in the USA. I recognize anew each time I go the interconnectedness of our world. Deep and lasting relationships with Salvadorans will continue to be an important part of my life as I seek to work with others in building a world of justice and integrity.
Andy Smith
Devon, Pennsylvania USA
Thursday, February 12, 2009
El Salvador Partners to join international observers for elections in El Salvador
We are excited to announce that Andy Smith, John Thayer, Doug Norton, Caroline Cargo, and Bernie Peterson will travel to El Salvador with the SHARE Foundation's 150-person delegation that is part of an international consortium of observers calling for free and fair democratic process in El Salvador's presidential elections on March 15th. Nora Pullen is also participating in the SHARE delegation with a group of American University students.
The work of the election observers delegation members actually begins well before arriving in El Salvador. Already we have received a 30-page election observers training manual to review, and SHARE is providing frequent updates and analysis of the political campaigns. When we arrive in San Salvador on March 10th, we will have a busy schedule, including instruction in specific roles for election observation teams, explanation of our official data keeping and report writing tasks, visits to the Legislative Assembly, accreditation by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and press conferences. After the elections, we are expected to prepare final reports that we will deliver to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and to the U.S. Embassy, as well.
Although the mission of this delegation is clearly focused on supporting the presidential elections process rather than visiting with our sister church communities, we are hoping that we will have an informal opportunity to connect with some of our friends from Shekina and Shalom since SHARE is likely to send a team of observers to the voting sites in Santa Ana. Also, Caroline Cargo will be arriving early in El Salvador in order to spend several days with Ruth and Alex Orantes and other members of Shekina prior to the official start of the SHARE delegation.
We look forward to reporting back about our experience! We have tentative plans for a CBC luncheon in April. Doug Norton is coordinating a presentation to Villanova University's Center for Peace and Justice Education, which provided some financial support for the delegation. And we plan to share written reflections with the Baptist Peace Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists, both of which organizations have endorsed and promoted this election observers delegation as an official Baptist witness and presence in El Salvador .
The work of the election observers delegation members actually begins well before arriving in El Salvador. Already we have received a 30-page election observers training manual to review, and SHARE is providing frequent updates and analysis of the political campaigns. When we arrive in San Salvador on March 10th, we will have a busy schedule, including instruction in specific roles for election observation teams, explanation of our official data keeping and report writing tasks, visits to the Legislative Assembly, accreditation by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and press conferences. After the elections, we are expected to prepare final reports that we will deliver to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and to the U.S. Embassy, as well.
Although the mission of this delegation is clearly focused on supporting the presidential elections process rather than visiting with our sister church communities, we are hoping that we will have an informal opportunity to connect with some of our friends from Shekina and Shalom since SHARE is likely to send a team of observers to the voting sites in Santa Ana. Also, Caroline Cargo will be arriving early in El Salvador in order to spend several days with Ruth and Alex Orantes and other members of Shekina prior to the official start of the SHARE delegation.
We look forward to reporting back about our experience! We have tentative plans for a CBC luncheon in April. Doug Norton is coordinating a presentation to Villanova University's Center for Peace and Justice Education, which provided some financial support for the delegation. And we plan to share written reflections with the Baptist Peace Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists, both of which organizations have endorsed and promoted this election observers delegation as an official Baptist witness and presence in El Salvador .
Thursday, August 14, 2008
March 2009 Election Observer Delegation to El Salvador
Are you interested in joining a delegation to El Salvador? The El Salvador Partners Mission Group is considering a delegation to El Salvador at the time of their presidential elections in 2009. We want to know who might be interested in going.The dates would be March 10 - 17 for the presidential elections. This might be an observers group going with SHARE or an unofficial "observers" delegation that might be in Atiquizaya with Shalom during the elections.
We have 5 people potentially interested in taking part in the March delegation. Please contact Andy Smith if you are interested.
(Note -- There is also an opportunity to join a SHARE official observers delegation for the mayoral/legislative elections Jan 12 -19.)
SHARE Delegation Mission: Delegates will join other international elections observers to ensure free and fair participation and reporting of the election results, and will meet with members of SHARE partner communities who are advocating for social and economic justice through women's empowerment, leadership development and citizen participation.
More information about El Salvador's 2009 elections and the SHARE election observer delegations is available on the SHARE website.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Rutilio Grande anniversary March 12th
This week marks the 31st anniversary of the martyrdom of Fr. Rutilio Grande on March 12, 1977. The assassination of this Jesuit priest who was speaking out against the injustices of an oppressive government was a turning point for El Salvador and a catalytic event in the live of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Read a brief biography and reflection on the legacy of Rutilio Grande on the SHARE Foundation website, including this excerpt from William J. O’Malley, SJ, The Voice of Blood: Five Christian Martyrs of Our Time (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1980):
Increasingly, Grande began to exemplify a new church in El Salvador , committed to awakening in the poor a sense of their dignity and rights as children of God. This was s time when the social contradictions in El Salvador were building to a violent crisis. In this atmosphere, Grande acquired a reputation as a “radical” priest, an enemy of the system. With the bishops facing pressure to “do something” about this troublesome influence, Grande resigned from his position in the seminary and took up an assignment as pastor of Aguilares, a small town near his birthplace. There he established a vigorous pastoral ministry, training lay catechists to insert the gospel message throughout the community. In base communities, peasants studied the word of God and in that light raised critical questions about the sources of their oppression. Grande’s sermons on social justice were infamous among the town’s elite, and once again the pressure mounted on him to have him silenced.
In March 2002, a group from CBC took part in a SHARE delegation to El Salvador for the 25th anniversary commemorations of Fr. Rutilio Grande.
In addition to participating in the march along the road where Rutilio Grande was assassinated and celebration events in the town of Aguilares, we visited with our friends in Santa Ana and Atiquizaya and traveled to the Lower Lempa to learn about a women's shrimp cooperative and other successful rural cooperatives.
Thank you to Andy Smith for sharing these images from the 2002 delegation and the march from El Paisnal to Aguilares. To see more of Andy's images from the 2002 delegation, visit these links:
CBC in El Salvador 2002
Images of El Salvador
Friday, January 18, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
January Meetings in El Salvador with Shekina and Shalom
Marcus, Ron, and Nora are traveling to El Salvador from Jan 3 to 7 for meetings with Ruth and Alex Orantes and other members of Shekina and Shalom, our sister congregations in Santa Ana and Atiquizaya. They will be talking about future plans and ways to strengthen our relationships.
Join us to hear the report from their meetings on Sunday, January 13th, following worship. Bring your lunch and we'll gather in a downstairs classroom at 12:15pm.
Join us to hear the report from their meetings on Sunday, January 13th, following worship. Bring your lunch and we'll gather in a downstairs classroom at 12:15pm.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Reflections on the School of the Americas protest weekend
Thank you to Kathy Stayton for this report on our experience in Georgia at the School of the Americas protests in Georgia. See earlier post for photos from the SOA weekend.....
Veterans for Peace: www.veteransforpeace.org
It is SO quiet, I realized, though I, Gwyneth Lewis and Caroline Cargo were surrounded by about15,000 other people for the procession organized by School of Americas Watch. We were there to remember the thousands of Central and South American people who have been killed or tortured by men who had training at the U.S. Military’s School of Americas at Ft. Benning, in Columbus, GA. These were testimonies to the brutality that is exported from this training center. We were saying with our bodies,“No more!” The U.S. should not be in the extreme interrogation technique export business!
After a name of one who was killed or disappeared was called from the stage, we lifted our handmade wooden crosses with names of individuals or whole villages who had died and shouted “Presente”. That meant that named person was present with us in remembrance. They will not be forgotten. It took one hour and 45 minutes for names to be called about every 5 seconds before all of us had finally passed by the chain link fence across the road to the School, and erected by the School for this weekend, to place our crosses in it. All this in respectful quiet of thousands.
Respectful, yes, even spiritual, like a procession in a cathedral to honor a loved one, the solidarity among us was palpable. Police and military cameras were focused on us from outside the fences or police tapes that defined our area. Thirteen people chose direct action by either walking around the fence on to Ft. Benning property, or going over the fence. Why? To bring attention of the media of why they are there, to have a chance to give their case in a courtroom, and to express their outrage and their deep commitment to peace in a nonviolent manner. They ranged in age from mid20’s to late 70’s. Hundreds or thousands of Catholic high school and college students were there as were Jesuit priests and Sisters of Mercy and other orders. So was Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America!
This event was the end of a weekend of events—the Convergence of Hope & Resistance. Workshops, plenary sessions, and concerts were offered at the Columbus Trade Center and a nearby Holiday Inn, several miles from the School, now called Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. (WHINSEC) Nonviolence training, from minimal to extensive was offered. Criminal Justice issues, Indigenous values, Struggle for Civil Liberties in El Salvador, Torture Survivors speak, Film screenings, Free Trade, Immigration & US Foreign Policy, Network of Spiritual Progressives, a Theater of the Oppressed – just a taste of the choices of workshops for all of us.
An exciting presentation for us all was one by Rabbi Michael Lerner who, with Sister Joan Chittister, and Cornel West of Princeton, started Network of Spiritual Progressives, a project of the Tikkun Community. With a packed room, he challenged us all to consider their alternative to the status quo which “judges institutions and social practices as efficient, rational and productive to the extent that they maximize money and power. The New Bottom Line, which they advocate, is that institutions and social practices should be judged rational, efficient and productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring, ethical and ecological sensitivity and behavior, kindness and generosity, nonviolence and peace.” He then spun out scenarios of the possible.
“A Theater of the Oppressed” caught the attention of Caroline and me. Hector Aristizabal, a psychologist, and a victim of torture in Colombia, acted out his life in a 45 minute drama. Then he took us through some activities that led to express through body motion what torturing would be like and then what we would feel if we were tortured— heavy stuff done effectively.
Plenaries, concerts, southern foods and networking rounded out our time. Our dream is that we could have a van or busload from CBC and other nearby churches to attend next year. Hopefully it will be closed by then; only 6 more votes were needed to curtail the function of SOA in 2006. Your call to your congress people will help. Below are a number of peace organizations their websites that you can check out as you wish. I visited their tables. Check out the Columbus, GA newspaper coverage of SOAW in the church narthex. It was fair and the pictures give a sense of the street theater and the crowd.
Thanks to Caroline, whose parents live about an hour from Birmingham, she met me at the airport there and took me to the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham. On the way back to Birmingham she took Gwenyth and me to Montgomery and we visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and museum at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
What a privilege for us! We knew we had many supporters back at CBC for this, our first SOAW event. For this I give thanks for us all.
Kathy Stayton
Websites of some peace and justice organizations that participated in the SOA weekend
SOA Watch www.soaw.org
Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA: www.ghrcusa.org
The SHARE Foundation: Building a New El Salvador Today: www.share-elsalvador.org
Veterans for Peace: www.veteransforpeace.org
Witness For Peace: www.witnessforpeace.org
Network of Spiritual Progressives: www.spiritualprogressives.org
Just Faith: www.justfaith.org
Center on Conscience & War: www.centeronconscience.org
War Resisters League: www.warresisters.org
The Indypendent - a free paper for free people: www.us.indymedia.org and www.indypendent.org
Latin America Solidarity Coalition: www.Lasolidarity.org
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America: www.bpfna.org
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Photos from Nov 2007 SOA protests
Kathy, Gwenyth, and Caroline returned on Monday night from the weekend events at the SOA in Columbus, GA. We were inspired by lots of great music (Holly Near and Indigo Girls, for starters), great speakers (Rabbi Michael Lerner, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, others), workshops on non-violence, theater performances. On Sunday, we carried the set of crosses made at CBC and shared several of them with others in the crowd as we all took part in the solemn procession. We'll be writing up some reflections from the experience, and we brought home resources to share at CBC.
A few things to look for in the slide show above:
- college and high school students, grandmothers and grandfathers, Salvadorans, families, friends from SHARE and the Baptist Peace Fellowship
- "non-conforming" crosses from CBC being broken down to size as required by police before we could enter the vigil area
- chain link and barbed wire fence lined with crosses and one Star of David
- military police surveying the crowd from raised platforms and police helicopter circling the events
- giant puppet of Rufina Amaya (sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre) with outstretched arms placed against the chain link fence at the very end of the day
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Annual School of the Americas protests in November
CBC's Salvador Partners and CBC's Peacemakers invite you to consider taking a stand for justice!
On the weekend of November 16-18, 2007, thousands will gather at the gates of Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia, for the Vigil and the Nonviolent Direct Action to Close the School of the Americas. The weekend will include a massive rally, nonviolent direct action training, workshops, benefit concerts, puppet shows, teach-ins and more! You can find out specific details on the SOAWatch website.
Some of us have been considering making the trip to Georgia this year to participate in the Ft. Benning events, possibly joining with others from the Romero Interfaith Center of Philadelphia. Adults and teenagers from St. Vincents, Tabernacle United Church, and the Builders Delegation (which includes Mishkan Shalom and others) have participated in previous years. Here's what Joanie Brooks had to say about her past experiences on the trip:
On the weekend of November 16-18, 2007, thousands will gather at the gates of Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia, for the Vigil and the Nonviolent Direct Action to Close the School of the Americas. The weekend will include a massive rally, nonviolent direct action training, workshops, benefit concerts, puppet shows, teach-ins and more! You can find out specific details on the SOAWatch website.
Some of us have been considering making the trip to Georgia this year to participate in the Ft. Benning events, possibly joining with others from the Romero Interfaith Center of Philadelphia. Adults and teenagers from St. Vincents, Tabernacle United Church, and the Builders Delegation (which includes Mishkan Shalom and others) have participated in previous years. Here's what Joanie Brooks had to say about her past experiences on the trip:
- It is an overwhelming experience of solidarity, to be certain. One year we had two people from El Salvador with us. One of the two, Alberto, who had been through the war, lost a leg, and stood in the bitter and damp cold for an entire day demonstrating, said that day was the best day of his life. He was so moved by so many people standing in solidarity with him and his people.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Youth Delegation reports from June trip to El Salvador
A group of seven youth and five adults from CBC spent a week in El Salvador at the end of June. Six Salvadoran young people from Shekina Baptist Church and Shalom Baptist Church traveled with the CBC youth to visit important sites around the country. and to participate in meetings to learn about the current political and economic realities of the people of El Salvador. Read reports and see photos from their visits by clicking here.
For the beginning of the trip, the delegation members were hosted by families from Shekina Baptist Church in Santa Ana. Other meetings and events during the week were coordinated by the SHARE Foundation. The itinerary included visits to women's cooperatives in Chalchuapa and the Bajo Lempa, a base Christian community and urban youth program in Mejicanos,
various sites in San Salvador including Divina Providencia (where Oscar Romero was assassinated) and the UCA (where the Jesuits were martyred), and the community of Nueva Esperanza.Prior to the trip, our CBC youth set up a blog to record some of their year-long program of learning activities and fundraising efforts at www.youthdelegation.blogspot.com.
This most recent youth delegation builds on the foundation of our first youth-focused delegation in 2004 and represents a new era in our history when a new generation of young people receives the legacy of our justice commitments and make them their own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
