El Salvador Trip Feb 3-21. The Final Week

This will be the final comments on this trip.  The weekend of Feb 15-16 is the time when the Padre says several Masses in the Chalatenango Department.  He helps a priest in a town called La Reina.  The responsibility of the parish priests is to not only say Mass at the large church in these town but to also say Mass at many very small churches that are dotted all around the mountains near the town.

There are so many people that are spread out around the mountainsides.  There are not necessarily little towns but just areas were you just see a church and you may see a public school.  Both the churches and the schools are small.  The schools usually only go to the 6th grade if they are lucky, which is another problem.  The roads to these areas are always dirt and winding and usually going up the side of the mountains.  They are usually one lane so that if a car comes in the other direction you have to find a way to pull off to the side.  The trips are not so bad in the now dry season but clearly this becomes more of a problem as the rainy season approaches and the roads get muddy and some areas are washed out by the streams crossing the roads.

Into this environment the Padre usually says 2 Masses on Saturdays and 3 on Sundays.  Even though it is sometimes difficult to get to these churches I really think that the Padre is at his best when he is among the very poor.  He greets them all and usually engages them in the homilies.  I just wish my Spanish was better.

Many times after Mass he is invited to dinner at one of the parishioners homes.  They are always so happy to have him.  That is one thing, the Padre will never go hungry.  Everyone wants to feed him.  Of course there are the usual people that need a ride back to their homes and so the back of the Padre's pickup truck is usually dotted with 4 or 5 people.  You then realize that the majority of the people at the Masses have walked there. Some close by but others maybe a mile or two away.  That is the importance of the Mass to many of these people.

This particular weekend the Padre had a baptism back at La Reina.  This very poor lady had a child and  was accompanied by her grandmother and brother.  The Padre and Marta, the principal at the colegio, were to be godparents as well.  So this was done before we left to return to Aqua Caliente on Sunday night.

We stayed at the colegio on Monday and I worked on the installation of the computers I mentioned above as well as work with Jicela on making sure we were set for the trip to La Libertad for Tuesday. That trip is to take 50 people to have their eyes checked and fitted for glasses and to take the three people that needed eye surgery.  All was set up and the mayor of the town was nice enough to pay for the bus to take these people to La Libertad, a trip that takes about 3 hours.  So we saved $225.  Thank you Mr. Mayor!  Actually the Padre says he is a fairly good guy. The plan was to leave bright and early on Tuesday morning at 4:00 AM.  It was decided that Jicela would be the chaperone and it was decided that I would return to San Salvador with the Padre that evening.

Tuesday we spent most of the day with EyeCare International in La Libertad.  All went well.  Our group arrived at about 8 AM and about 40 of the people were fitted with glasses.  The 3 that needed surgeries was performed and they needed to stay overnight.  We arranged to have them picked up on Wednesday and brought back to Aqua Caliente.  I returned to San Salvador with the Padre and later found out that our bus was in a minor accident after it broke down on the way back to Aqua Caliente. Jicela handled it well but the trip took about 7 hours in total as they had to get another bus to go back home.

On Thursday we were back at the colegio.  This was my final day on this trip.  The new plugs were being installed for the new computers and Jicela had each of them changed to Spanish by a guy that owns an Internet Cafe in town.  He really liked these computers.  Finally Jicela and I had wanted to start a PTA in the school if possible.  She had had a meeting of a group of interested parents a few weeks before, so this was the second meeting.  There were about 10 parents that attended. This is a somewhat new idea for the colegio.  My thought is that we should try to involve the parents in the activities of the school and ask them to help to make the school the best possible. What are their ideas to make it better?  So there was a spirited debate and it was decided that they would help the school get the money necessary to start up a band.  I guess this is something the kids really wanted and so far they had raised $800 towards this goal.  They will need at least $500 more to get it started.  So the idea of a raffle was brought up.  Ok, what to raffle off?  It was decided to try and get a farmer to donate a cow to raffle off.  They also wanted to sell some food at an upcoming festival in town.  So that is where it stands as of this date.  Did they get the cow?  I do now know. They seem to think they would.

I found the meeting rewarding because of the engagement of the parents.  I loved hearing about their ideas and it just fits into my believe that where possible we are giving them a hand up instead of a hand out.  I hope the PTA is just the beginning of many things they want to do to improve the quality of the school.  I will let you know how this all pans out in future blogs.

Finally I had a nice meeting with the teachers and said goodbye for now.  So it was time to drive back to San Salvador that evening. On the way we had to stop at a small little house to pick up Alicia. She is the 35 year old lady that lives in the Padre's house and takes care of the children and cooks all meals.  This evening she was visiting the house were she grew up and where her 14 year old daughter Katherine was born.  We were offered good food and picked her up.  What struck me was what poor circumstances Alicia had grown up in and where Katherine was born. It was as poor of a house as I had seen way up the mountains on my first trip.  Just three rooms made out of adobe, dirt floor and an open fire room where all meals were cooked.  The padre says they have lived there for 30 years and just last year had electricity put in. Some deal with the Mayor again.  So once again I saw a place there the Padre had taken a young lady out of dire circumstances and helped her get an education.  And of course a much better life and opportunity for her daughter Katherine.  I thought that if the Padre could do this about 5 million more times in this country he would be one happy man.  It was very emotional to me to better understand the life of Alicia.

So Friday came and off I went back to the cold North.  It was about 95 degrees in Aqua Caliente on Thursday.  What a change!

So I hope you have enjoyed the information about my most recent trip.  Lots of opportunities to work on once I am back home.  We will see what develops.  Any people that would like to help, please give me a call.  Everyone has talents that could mean so much to the great people of El Salvador.

Peace,

Jim Nugent

El Salvador Mission 2014- Feb 12 thru Feb 14th

Following the eye care event on Feb 11 we stayed at the Padre's house on Tuesday night.  The following morning it was off to Aqua Caliente bright and early.   The trip takes about 2 hours and so we arrived just in time for the weekly Mass.  All children and teachers gathered in the large open conference building and the Padre conducted the Mass.

The rest of the day was spent reviewing the continued progress of the new Pilgrim House and I had time to  spend in a few of the English classes.  The rest of time was spent working with Jicela on many projects we are discussing.  One of them was determining if we should put internet into the computer room.  Currently there is Wi-Fi wireless at and near the principal's office but not in the computer room.   Both Jicela and I feel we need to take this step and are in the process of convincing the Padre that he needs to spend the $30.00 month especially now that we have the 9 computers from Bishop Hartley.  We will continue to work on justifying it. Once we do this or even before it will be so important to determine the best way to use these new computers.  What should the curriculum be?  Any help would be appreciated in this area.  Give me a call.

There are also 2 young men about 22 and a boy about 12 that the Padre has allowed to live at the colegio.  This is because they live very far away and come from very poor circumstances.  The goal of the older two is to go to college or a technical college.  In the meantime he has them do a little work around the school for room and board.  The young boy is in the 8th grade and he is allowed to go to the school free.

This situation is so common for the Padre.  If he sees a need and a willingness to try he is right there helping fulfill there dreams.  He is always looking for sponsors for young men like these.  Actually the public university in San Salvador is almost free.  That is the good thing.  The cost come in for books, lodging, food and transportation it they are going back to the rural areas on the weekends.

It is good that this country provides this type of training.  I do not know the quality but it is some additional education for these young but poor men and women.  Let me know if you would like to help and we can assign a person to you and watch that person grow and hopefully lead the new generation into a more productive time for this country.

On Friday it was time to take the director and another person to Chaletenango to review the site for the possibility of having their Eye Care International come to that city in 2015.  We picked them up in La Libertad and spent most of the day with them.  We looked at facilities of the Catholic Diocese to examine most of the patients and the retreat area that could house up to 45 people during the two week stay.  After that we visited the Clinic started by the Padre and finally the local area hospital.  This is a government run hospital and is for the local people of the area.  The city of Chaletenango has a population of about 40,000.   The hospital has 100 beds.  The idea here is that this could be the place to have the eye surgeries.  The director was very accommodating and was happy to see that this group might come because of need.  The hospital is fairly clean but dark. There appeared to be no air conditioning in the patient rooms.  The director was really trying to help in any way he could.  He said the hospital has many needs that are slow in coming.

The eye people seemed please with the accommodations in all aspects of this trip and so they will decide in the next few months whether Chalatenango is the place for next year.  Keep your fingers crossed.  The need exists in this area.  So we can at least try and help 5000 of them during that two week period of time.

We got back to El Salvador late but happy with our accomplishment for the day.  The weekend is next. That is the time for the padre to say Masses in many of the small towns that dot the countryside of Chaltenango Department.

El Salvador Trip 2014- Eye Care Proje

For the last few months we have been planning on working with the group called Eye Care International.  This group has been coming to El Salvador for 15 years.  This year they are in La Libertad.  This is a costal town about 45 minutes from San Salvador.

Since this organization sees about 5000 people in a two week period of time, it was my hope this year to have them set up shop in the area of Chalatenango. This is the area where the Padre's school is and the home of very poor rural people high in the mountains.  Their plans however were already set but in my contacts with a local Columbus person associated with them we were able to send a few people this year to that town. I worked closely with Jicela Gonzales who is the Padre's project coordinator on alerting the community of Aqua Caliente about the eye service there and we set out some flyers about the project. The Padre announced it also in the Masses he had leading up to the event.

Since we were not the host city we were limited to the number of people we could take.  So the plan was to take 20  people on August 11th to have their eyes checked to see if they needed surgery for cataracts or another problem that creates a film over their eyes due to the intense sun down here.  That was completed and 3 people qualified for the surgery.   We will attempt to have a little story about each of these in future blogs.  Jicela coordinated the use of a van and truck and so all made the trip starting at 5 AM to the city.  The trip takes about 3 hours to get there.

The Padre and I arrived at Libertad at about 10:00 AM.   It looks like after doing this for 15 years that they really have it together.  All people started at the sign in stations and the process began.  At the same time as we were there the local area people were their as well.  They not only were being checked for surgery but also there to see if they needed glasses.  They try to process about 500 total people a day.  There is a morning and an afternoon group.  You need a ticket to be there to keep it flowing.

We visited the various stations and talked to the people in charge. The group is made up of volunteers and doctors.  They even had a station where people can be fitted with a glass eye if necessary.  Of course there were many shelves of eye glasses that had been donated, repaired, assessed for strength and labeled.

We spent the day there visiting and asking questions.  We also had a nice visit with the surgeons that perform the surgeries.  They had been given permission to use three rooms at the local public clinic. This team had to move all of their equipment in, clean the whole place, put portable air conditioning in and set up the procedures.  They are very dedicated nurses and doctors.  They said they will do about 10 surgeries a day from those rooms.

You can get eye surgery and glasses in El Salvador.  This service is not free and it is expensive.  As a result there are many people with needs that just go unattended.  This is in contrast to the public clinics.  These are free for the people for medical attention and for dental care.  Of course like everything else the facilities are in poor shape.  The waiting lines are long and the detail of the care is not good.  Of course I do not think there is anything like preventive care at all for the poor.  You just go there when you get sick or your teeth are so bad you have no choice but to have some of them pulled out.

We also had a nice visit with these doctors and nurses.  Most have done this many times before and in different country.  Later in the day we meet with a Mr. Phil Loar.  He is the director of this organization down here.  We approached him with the thought of coming next year to Chalatenango.  He said he would like to consider it.  So the good news is that we arranged to take him on Friday to that area to review the facilities that the Padre felt would fit the needs of the organization.

So in many ways we completed our objective this year with this group.  We sent some people that need help from our poor areas and we are now given an opportunity to convince them to the come next year and help as many as 5000 people in the poor area of Chalatenango.  The Padre began making the plans for the trip with them on Friday.

It was hot in La Libertad that day.  I always thought that if you are near the ocean you would always have a nice cool breeze.  Since this is a tropical area and the ocean is very warm this place is quite humid as well. So again the issue of elevation is so important here.  Actually San Salvador is about 2200 feet above sea level. That is why it is always cooler there.

So to avoid the traffic we stayed longer in La Libertad.  Of course the Padre knows many nice restaurants in the area and he picked one and we had a nice meal of fish and shrimp.  After dinner it was back to San Salvador where the air is dry and the temperature is nice and cool.

Mission trip 2-14 Guatemalan people come to El Salvador

As I left off on my last blog we had just arrived in El Salvador.  It was late Saturday night on Feb 8th.  Three people came with us for the opportunity to review the mission of Padre Fuentes after them being so nice to show us all of the areas they were working on in Guatemala.

Jason Powell, his wife and lady named Claudia came.  Claudia works for their organization and is Guatemalan.  She is educated with a college degree from that country.  Her English was good.

We took them to a hotel in San Salvador that the Padre selected.  A nice one near the better area of town where the nightly rates are $40 dollars.  The plan for the next day was to remain in San Salvador and to visit the tomb of Archbishop Romero.  It is in a large cathedral in the heart of the city.  After that it was time to go to a local chapel and a ghetto that was being helped by the local Catholic Church.

So Padre, Jicela, me and 3 others went.  Unfortunately,  as I said 3 of use got sick late Saturday night and so the trip was not pleasant.  We cut the trips a little short and came home and I went to bed at 3 PM and slept until the following morning.

Monday all were feeling better and it was off to the Colegio.  This group is very interested in education as the Padre is.  So they were very pleased as they came into the walls of the school to be greeted by all of the children at the entrance.  Shortly thereafter it was time for an assembly where each teacher introduced themselves and told them what they do. That was followed by some songs and a Salvadorian dance by several of the students.

The rest of the time was spent visiting each classroom and reviewing the workbooks and teaching methods.  Of course the Padre explained the growth of the school from just 3 grades in 2010 to now kindergarten through 9th grade.  He explained that during this time there have been 4 major building projects to accommodate the now 165 students.  They were 8 new classrooms, a computer room a revised cafeteria, a cemented basketball court.  Finally there is the partially completed Pilgrim house that will expand the kindergarten and provide a place for people like me to stay when we visit to help out. There are two additional rooms for a few young men that are going to college but come from very poor places and really have no place to live while they are starting to attend some advanced training.

The group was very impressed.  In addition to this they reviewed the cooperative bakery that stands by itself at the back of the property which provide jobs for 4 ladies and a place to help to educate some of the older girls on the art of baking.

Beside that there is the carpentry shop.  It also stands alone.  Lots of donated equipment in this building.  The Padre is trying to establish a program to teach the students this skill.  He will admit that he has a ways to go in this area.   I still think this is a big area that people in our own church could help if they have skills that they could give in getting this going better.

The Hope Renewed people were surprised with all of the progress in such a short time but recognized that as in any projects there are opportunities that could be worked on.

After that it was a short one hour trip to the city of Chaletenango.  There the Padre had a medical clinic where he brings specialists in from San Salvador and provides primary care also.  Besides this there is a Dentist, and a medical lab.  The Padre asked the patients to pay $10 dollars for their visits if they are able. The doctors that come charge a lower rate because of their respect for the Padre and because they see the need to help over and above what is usually provided in the free public clinics that are around in the rural countryside.  The group was surprised with its cleanliness and procedures that are provided.  Besides this there is a small pharmacy close by run by the Padre for the needed drugs of the patients.  Again it attempts to sell them at a reduced price to help the poor of the community.

So that was the little trip to El Salvador for this group.  We arrived back in the early evening in San Salvador and had a discussion with them about our trip to their mission and theirs to ours.  That was one of the objectives of this trip for me.  The next step will be to see if we can work together along with all of the help we can get from people in the our church and others to make the Padre's missions the most successful ever.  

Again to do this will take time and effort and a whole bunch of talent from many people. I hope you will want to help.

The next morning, on Tuesday, the Hope Renewed people left and we are on our way to our next project.  That was taking some people to a town of La Libertad to have their eyes checked.  That will be the subject of the next blog.

Post Script

I have been driving around a lot these last two weeks with the Padre.  Of course you see some nice areas  especially in San Salvador, but mostly you see people walking everywhere along the streets.  You see them carrying loads of sticks to take back to their homes, or bottles of water being balances on their heads.  You see people trying to sell just about anything along the road.  It could be a fruit of some kind, a string of fish, some bread, some corn, some craps from the local probably polluted lake, a coconut and even an iguana once in a while dripping with blood.  Besides this you see local huts along the road in the big cities, in the small towns, just about anywhere where people might stop and just might buy something.  This is surely a society of people that just to survive must do these types of things.  I am sure that on most days they are lucky to makes sales of 5 or 10 dollars.  So much sitting and waiting for someone to come by and buy.

Many of the roads also have many children walking to school with their uniforms on.  You see there are no school busses.  If you are lucky and can afford it you might get in the pack of a pickup truck and be driven to school and pay a few coins for the service.  Most people go by bus since most people do not have a car.  Also realize that gas costs as much here as in the States.  So if you make $200 dollars a months, do you think you could afford to pay for the gas?  So you see the busses packed with people with the rear of the busses looking very low.  You see pickup trucks with side rails that are just jammed with people. I wonder how they can breathe.  Of course so many houses in the rural areas just made of tin or adobe.  Built wherever.  There is a lot of public land.  The heat is repressive in the lower elevations and you have to admire the struggle that goes on with these people.  It becomes very sad and overwhelming at times.  Clearly in many ways a broken society.  It however has potential. It could be lush and green it could have good businesses and education for all not just the rich.  We will see.

See you next time.
Jim

The time in Guatemala- Mission Trip 2014

Hello Folks,  It is now Feb 13th 2014 and I now have a little time to catch up on my blog.  When I left off we where planning to go to Guatemala.  There is group that was established over there called Hope-Renewed.  It is run by a man from Chicago.  They have been in operation for 4 years.  They focus on the poor in four areas.  They work in the dump in the middle of the city.  The ghetto at the edge of the city, a women's prison and a girl's orphanage.  We visited all 4 places while there from Wednesday to Saturday of last week.

Guatemala is just north of El Salvador and it takes about 5 hours to drive there from San Salvador.  So Padre, Jicela and I started on the trip and the roads were good the whole way.  It was very warm that day in San Salvador but the Padre said I should take a jacket.  I was surprised.  But then I began to understand more what elevation means especially in the tropical areas of the world.  The capitol city of Guatamala is about 4000 feet about sea level.  So of course as we began our trip we started going up and up.  By the time we reached the city the jacket was needed.  And so I began to understand the beautiful weather that this city has.  They say it is always between 75 and 85 degrees and not humid.  Always very pleasant.  All very lush.  All plants seem to grow like weeds.

The city is a city of contrast, however.  If we go to the rich areas you see skyscrapers and modern buildings and the best McDonalds, I have ever ate at.  The surrounding houses high on the hills are mansions.  You would feel like you are walking around the best area of our large cities.  But just outside this area you begin to see the poverty.  The city dump is a hugh valley almost in the middle of the city.  We saw it from above looking at it from a cemetery, and then the other hillsides are covered with one room block houses attached to one another as far as the eye can see.

So it is a city of contrast.  We have them too but not to the degree this city is.  The rich truly do have it all here.  I am also sure that they control the government to their advantage.  So it is in this environment that this group has started to help the poor.

In so many ways there is not much difference between the two countries.  Of course the language is the same and the poverty is almost the same.  I would say that the rich appear richer in that country and the poor appear poorer.  But, as the Padre has reminded me, I have not seen that in El Salvador,  it truly does exist.

So we arrived and started at this organization's guest house.  A nice place near the edge of the where the poverty zones begin.  Three people from the states were there who were doing a mission trip along with a man about 30 who spoke English.  He is Guatemalan and had come back from the states in the last year.  His story is like so many.  Was working in North Carolina and then one day he makes a U turn and gets caught by the police.  The next thing you know he is one a plane back to his place of birth.  How common this story is.  The rate of people coming illegally from this country is as great as El Salvador.  Just people wanting to find a way to take care of their families.

So the following morning we went with these people to the Dump.  They had plans there to work with the children in a little commuity center they built there.  The Dump, people living on the edge of the refuse.  The "houses" are made of corrugated metal.  The streets are dirt. One water faucet outside every 10 houses.  No bathroom facilities.  The reason they are there is the adults and children too, go through the new trash, dumped there by the truckloads each day to find scraps of metal or paper or bags or anything they can sell for a few coins.  I am told about 3000 people live here.  Of course the place can be dangerous and the local police never show up.  No medical attention is available nearby.

It is in this environment the center was built by the group.  It houses a pre school for the little children from 3 to 5.  So this day it was building a gingerbread house they could eat and some songs and some dancing.  Then came lunch which today was pizza.  A treat they hardly ever get.  Usually a snack is provided by the group during the 4 hours they are there each day.  As usual the kids seems happy, bright and well behaved.  I wondered what they ate at their little houses.  There were several other aspects of this area that I could tell you about but this will have to do for now.  It seems impossible that people could live like this.

From there we went to the Ghetto or in Spanish, La Limonada.  Much larger and all over the hill sides. We were taken to just one area where we were also told is dangerous but not as bad as it was just a year or so ago.  Area still controlled by gangs. Here the group is building a community center for educational reasons and starting a bakery to provide jobs and training for the people that live there.  Also very interesting.

The following day we were off to a women's prison a few miles out of town.  I was told that many women here still had not had a trial and it has been more than 8 years.  Very common.  The place was fairly clean.  What surprised me was that the group was able to work with the prison to build some fencing that allowed the women to be outside some of the time, a basketball court in another area and a silk screen workshop for women to learn a skill that makes a profit and something they can do when they get out.  I was told that this has helped the return rate to prison for these women.  I was just surprised that the prison allowed someone to come in work on projects like this.

That evening we got in the car and drove to the coastal town of Mazatenango.  It took about 5 hours due to the traffic on this two lane road.  Lots of trucks.  Lots of sugar cane fields in this area and processing plants.  We arrived and stayed in a nice motel.   The next day it was off to the girl's orphanage.  This group just took over this private one.  About 30 girls of all ages.  Most from abused homes, the court has sent them there.  Major problem in both countries when it comes to adoption.  They are hardly not allowed in both of them.  This process stopped in 2007.  I do not understand.  So the number of children living in private and public orphanages continues to grow.  A sad situation for them both.  This group has fixed up the buildings on the campus, provided better food, better schooling there, better social services.   The sad thing to realize is that these kids could be there until they are 18.  Better than being in an abusive home but still not much of life.  They are doing the best they can.  I saw the little ones peeking out the window.  Only 3 to 5 years old.  How beautiful they were.  How many people in the US and other places could give them a wonderful home and yet it will probably be impossible unless the laws are changed.  In the meantime at least they are getting proper care.

From there is was time to take the three people organizers from this group and begin the trip to El Salvador.  We started at about 4 PM .  The trip was long and mostly hot.  We had a horrible border experience.  Trucks parked for a mile waiting to be check in by immigration.  We needed to find a way to get pass them or just sit there for hours on end.  The solution was to just drive on the wrong side of road and then finally after having our passports checked finding a young man who stopped by our window who offered to find another way to go around  the trucks that in this place the trucks were stopped on our side and passing on the other direction.  So off we went.  Now we were on the dirt side of the road almost in the ditch being waved on by the guy on his bicycle.  He was stopping trucks, and doing whatever to keep us moving.  Finally we made it pass at least a one-half mile of trucks to the El Salvadorian border.  We stopped the car and paid the guy.  I wanted to give him whatever.  I pulled out a 20  Padre said to just give him 10.  This I did.  I thanked him profusely and took his picture.  It was the best 10 bucks I have ever spent.

And so that is our little trip to that country.  The border issue just made me realize again what a hard place this is for the people to live.  Surely there is a simple solution to this border issue.  Such a waste of time, such a waste of economic progress.  How can we help?  We arrived in San Salvador about 11 PM.  Took our guest to a nice hotel and Padre, Jicela and I went back to the Padre's house.  And then it started.  I guess I ate something in a restaurant in Mazatenango.  Do not know what.  I was in the bathroom most of the night.  Our guest from Guatemala had the same problem.  The first time I have gotten sick.

The Padre's comment to all of this was  'That is the price that you must pay for helping the poor'.  What a profound statement!   He is so right.

More later

First two days of El Salvador trip 2014

It is now Wednesday morning Feb. 5, 2014.  I arrived in El Salvador on Monday afternoon.  I was picked up by Padre Fuentes and we went to his home in San Salvador.  He has lived here for about 10 years.  This is his home base and where he lives with the 5 adopted children that he has.  All of the children are doing great in school.  They all come from very poor circumstances.   By them living with the Padre they are going to a good school and now have the potential to become a productive member of the community.

They of course all love him and call him Popie.  I was able to bring down a few gifts for the children this time.  A puzzle, a Lego truck, a Lite Bright, and that loom that makes the rubber band bracelets.  All gifts were appreciated.   Although the Padre provides a lot for the children, such things as toys and books are really not available to them.  It was fun to see how excited the kids were and how they eagerly played with them.  The rubberband bracelet was a really big hit.  Oh yeh, one more thing, chocolate bars, they are always a hit for kids and adults alike.

The next morning it was time to head to the colegio.  We started at 5:30 AM and this time also picked up an American who is a mason by trade who will be helping build the next building at the colegio.

We arrived and I got to see for the first time all of improvements just since last Jan 2013 when I was there.  Three new classrooms on the second floor of one of the buildings.  New cement picnic tables for the teaches and children.  The addition of a Kindergarten and a 9th grade and a record 165 students attending the school.   To take care of all of the new kids there were 3 more teachers added.  Finally the Padre showed the two of us the newest building that is still in the state of construction.  It is called the Pilgrim House.  It should be done in two months.  It will have on the first floor a dinning room, an infirmary, a small office for staff, a kitchen and 2 bedrooms.  On the second floor will be 3 more bedrooms.

The main reason for the building is to house people that come down for a period of time to help in the school. There is always a need for help in teaching English, helping in curriculum, establishing a library, or helping to build the next building.   So it will be well used.  As all of the buildings are, they are built of cement block and a tin roof.

I spent the rest of day teaching English to the 8th graders for a while and then working with Jicela Gonzales. She is called the Project Manager for the Missions of Padre Fuentes. I have been working with her on a weekly basis for a few months now.  Her English is perfect and she has great organizational skills.  The major topics of the day were starting up the 9 donated used laptop computers I received from Bishop Hartley High School.  We have 8 of them and the challenge now will be to see how we can use them to aid the teachers as well as improving the curriculum of the school.  That is challenge that the colegio can use some expertise in if someone would like to help.  We also spent time on the project that begins next week and that is taking people to have their eyes checked through an organization called Eye Care International.  We are sending 50 people to get eyeglass and 23 people to see if they can get surgery for cataracts or a few other eye problems.  More on that later.

Finally we talked about the plans to go Guatemala on Wednesday.  We will be meeting a group that works with the poor in that country and have developed a very well thought out program.   We will learn about them more and then determine if their mission and that of  Padre Fuentes should be linked together somehow to be able to help even more people.  The Padre, Jicela and I will be going. We are all looking forward to the trip. We will be there until Saturday and then that group will come to El Salvador to see what the Padre has been doing for the last 15 years of his life.

So if it is a marriage, then there will be a need for help in establishing it to be the best possible. Stay tuned and we will let you know how to help.

My trip to El Salvador 2014

I take off for el Salvador on Monday.  Padre Fuentes will pick me up at the airport in San Salvador and we will go to his home there.

The time I am there should be interesting.  We are planning a trip to Guatemala to look at another mission group's activities and then they are visiting us in El Salvador to view the missions of Padre Fuentes.

After that we are taking some people that need eye surgeries and eye glasses to a town on the coast.  That town is La Libertad.  The group is called eye care international.   They have a website if interested.  They have been helping the people with these needs for 15 years.  It is an all volunteer group.  I am told that in a 2 week period of time they see between 3000 and 5000 people.  It is hard for me to understand that there is such a need for this type of medical attention.  This should be interesting and it will be great to see that some of the people in the town of Aqua Caliente where the Padre's school is will get a little help for their eye problems.

Our goal is to see if we can get them to come next year to our area so that thousands can be helped.

Finally, several projects at the Padre's school we are working on. The school year in el Salvador began on January 15th until November 15th.  I am bringing some used tablet computers donated from Bishop Hartley High School, to see if we can get them working and figure out a way to work them into the curriculum.

So lots to do and lots of people to see.  The weather will be hot and dry.  This is their summer which lasts until about April.  Then it is winter when it starts to rain.  So all is dry now.  The roads are dusty and crops have been harvested from the mountain sides.

Hope you continue to look at the blog as time goes on.

Jim

Home From My Mission to El Salvador 1 25 2013

I am now home after being in El Salvador for 3 weeks and working with Fr. Fuentes.  It is always great to come back and thankful for all of the greater understanding that I always get when I go there.  With each trip I gain more knowledge that helps me determine what I can do to help this Padre in his mission.

I also miss the great food that we are always served by our hosts and the great fresh Papaya.  I did not even know I liked it.  It was so sweet and juicy.  The Padre says that it does not taste like that in the states.  I am sure he is right.

I thought I would just summarize what I know about this priest and his mission in hopes that it will provide you the understanding of him and inspire you to contribute in any way to the people of El Salvador.

Fr. Rafael Fuentes is a native Salvadorian.  He was raised in a very humble and poor home by his aunt.  She is still alive and is about 85 years old.  He does have at least one brother and one sister.  Both of them are in the states.  I believe his sister is in Cleveland and his brother is in Denver.  He studied to become a priest in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chile.  He is about 55 years old.  He has been a priest for about 30 years.  He knew personally Archbishop Romero.  I even have a picture of him with the Archbishop.  He was not in El Salvador during the 1980's however during the height of the war going on.  I believe he was continuing his studies in Chile at the time.

He was a priest in many small parishes during the beginning of his priesthood.  It was always out in the small poor towns of the country.  As I have said in my blogs he seems to have a real sincere feeling about the poor and there position in life.  He really does see Christ in these people.

Sometime during the 80's he spent 2 years in Cleveland with his sister.  He was also working with the poor in that city all of the time and helping Salvadorians that would come to the states.  It was during this time that he learned to speak English.  His English is still very good and one of the reasons for his success.  During this time I believe he met John and Rita Linehan from the Assumption Parish in Geneva,  Ohio.  They became great friends, starting in about 1995 until about 2010 they supported him and his mission in so many ways, even driving a truck down to El Salvador for him to use.  The Assumption Church  has had a sister parish relationship with him for many years until recently.  Since my mother lives in Geneva I just happened to be there on a January Sunday in 2010 where they were asking if there were people that wanted to go on a one week pilgrimage to El Salvador.  That is how I got started.

After a short time in the states he decided his place was with this people in El Salvador and that is when his mission really stated.  In 2003 I believe he became the pastor of the church in Aqua Caliente.  The name of the church is San Jose.  It, as well as the rectory, were in very bad shape.  I think as a result of the war.  So during the next 7 years he worked with his people and with the contacts in the States was able to raise the money to restore the church and the expand the rectory.  So now the little town of 8,000 have a wonderful beautiful church which has become the social center of the community again all the while they give praise to God.  I remember seeing the Church for the first time in my trip in 2010.  He was so anxious for us to see the church as it had just been completed.  It was so beautiful with its all white paint, new wood roof and beautiful windows.  I will never forget that.

In any case that is one of his very strong points, his ability to raise funds to make things happen.  The church is one of of his great examples.  The rectory because a wonderful place for the pilgrims to stay and eat and communicate.  All of those meals prepared so nicely by some of the people that are always around him.

In 2008 he got the idea to begin a new Catholic Grade School.  None existed in this town.  There are really hardly any in the whole country except in the rich areas of San Salvador.  In any case, he took on the challenge because he felt that the educational needs of the children were not being met by the public school system.  This I completely agree with.  And so the building program began.  When I went down in January 2010 there were three grades started.  They were building another section for grades 4 and 5 on the opposite side of the grounds.  The place looked good and the teachers were enthusiastic.  Since that time he has added grades up to the 8th grade.  He has added another section on top of the 4th and 5th grade section for 6th and 7 and added a computer room and expanded the cafeteria so inexpensive meals can be available to the children.  He also made the center of the school grounds a basketball,soccer court.  It is all cement now.

So the school looks great.  Nice and clean and it looks like a ray of hope for the children that attend the school there.  There are currently about 150 children and 10 teachers which include a gym teacher and an english teacher. I almost forgot there is the relocated bakery at the back of the site where this little cooperative provides a way for about 5 ladies to earn an income and helps to feed the children as well.  There is also a carpentry shop near the bakery.  He wants to expand the woodworking skills of the kids.  This however needs to be developed better.  Just one of the challenges that are still left to do here.

The additional goals for the future are the expansion to the 9th grade and more subjects.  I personally feel that there are many opportunities to expand the quality of the educational system there and to determine what is needed to keep this school on a sound financial footing.

This Padre would like to expand to a high school if possible and/or build a school in the larger town of Chalatenango. In 2011 he became the Director of Education for the Dioceses and so is no longer the pastor of San Jose. So he spends his weekends now being  a priest to the poor and traveling to at least 3 different parishes on weekends to say Mass to the people in very inaccessible places.

As I have said he never stops.  His energy never wanes.  I do not know how he does it.  On a personal level he also supports 5 children that live with him.  All have come to him mostly because of a problem with the parents.  There is Alejandra age 7 the daughter of a prostitute who gave her to the Padre when she was only days old.  There is Rodrigo age 7 who was the son of a lady with no husband or way to support him.  There is his sister Alejandra, yes another one, age 5 who just came to him as the mother's situation has not improved.  There is Andra, a product of an abusive parent.  She is 14 and he has had her for at least 5 years.  She does have some learning disabilities.  Finally there is Katherine age 13 who is the daughter of Alisia who lives at the home in San Salvador and who helps to raise the children and goes to cooking school herself to become a chef.  Finally there is Santa Anita a lady of about 25 who lives there also to help with the children and goes to college as well to become a teacher.

He would probably take in more children if he could afford it.  He knows that the orphanages in this country are poor.  He also knows that it is very difficult for Americans to adopt children from this country for some reason.

Two websites that you might be interested in are : http://colegiocatolicoaquacaliente.net.  This one in Spanish is a website for the school itself.  The other is www.kentnewmancenterparish.org.  This is the website for the Newman Center at Kent State University.  Look under the Ministry link.

So there it is folks.  My little story about this priest and his mission.  I hope you have enjoyed it and just maybe inspired you to see if you want to get involved in helping these people and this Padre.
Thanks for your interest.

Jim Nugent

Monday, January 21 and Beyond...

Well folks the others are all back home in the cold and I am still down here in the very enjoyable sunny, breezy and about 85 degree weather of El Salvador. The weather has been great this past week. I leave on Thursday so I am happy it has stayed so nice.

Monday was the start of a new school year at the Colegio as well as the public schools. It is always an exciting day. In this case there was Mass for all of the kids in the large building. The Bishop of Chalatenango said the Mass with the Padre , the former bishop and two other local priests. Kids looked great in their new uniforms and the homily was about working hard this year and doing your best. A new schedule of classes had been set and it was the beginning of having an eighth grade this year. The Padre's goal will be to get to a total of nine grades. Regular classes start at 7:30 and go until 3:15 with one hour out for lunch. Very different than the public school.

After class it was decided we would go back to San Salvador to prepare for our trip to a little school in Perquin El Salvador. It is in Morazon Department and about a 4 hour drive from San Salvador. We decided to take two teachers with us to see if there was anything we could learn from that non-profit school that the Padre was interested in and possibly use in the Colegio.

On Tuesday we left the Padre's house at 5:00 AM and headed out. We had really good roads for the whole way and the traffic was not bad. Made a stop for breakfast and that is it. The town is way up in the mountains and so it got cooler as we went up. Along the way we had great views of the mountains all around us. We also saw more signs of the war that was fought there in the 1980. This area was on of the hardest hit by the military against the rebels. We were told later that the entire area around the town of Perquin was deserted during the war and the buildings all destroyed by the military. The people were either killed or fled to other countries like Honduras or Beliz.

We arrived in Perquin and went to a great lodge that was built by Ron Breneman. It has a great dining room and cabins to rent as well. Ron is an American who came to El Salvador in 1986. During that time he has built this lodge and also started a very unique school for the poor which he began in 2008. It is called Anun Shea which means little seedling.

We had a nice lunch and Ron told us about himself and his school. The school is private and does not have a religious affiliation. It is mainly for the poor. He believes in a very unstructured type of learning with few workbooks. Thinks the kids should be project oriented. There are about 100 students in the school. This is a new concept to the parents. He feels strongly that the kids should be free thinkers and get involved to trying to make change in their community. In any case we had a nice visit and then we visited the school which is close by. The campus is not good. Buildings seem too small and are not planned out well. It is a very young school and of course funding is always a problem so he is doing what he can. We stayed until about 4:00 PM and then headed home having a flat tire along the way but luckily a gas station was close by. I guess someone still keeps watching over this little Padre at all times.

Wednesday we came to the Colegio again. One thing I did today was to read a story to the 4th grade class. I had some books which had both English and Spanish in them. My goal was not to each them English at this point but to introduce them to the excitement of reading. I think this is lacking on a very large scale in this country. I really do not know the reason. Maybe it is cultural, maybe it is a part of being poor. In any case I thought I held the interest of the kids for the one-half hour I read to this class. This school as well as others I have seen do not have a library. They mainly work out of workbooks. Maybe we can work on developing a library in this school and educating the kids about the importance of books and all of the great things that a person can get out of doing this.

In my previous blogs I mentioned that I went to the public grade school in this town. Now I wanted to go to the high school. So today, along with a nice young lady who graduated from there and who speaks English, took me there. It was interesting. In this case the school has 200 full time students that go to school from 7:30 until 3:00 with a lunch break. I might add that there is another 200 students that attend this school on Sunday for a full day. You might wonder why the kids are going on Sunday. What is wrong with the kids anyway? Why don't they just get on the bus like the rest of the kids and come during the week? Of course the answer is , One there is no buses for anyone. The kids that come on Sunday come because they have to work at some job the rest of the week just helping their families put food on the table. How is it that one-half of the kids in this area are in such a situation. These kinds of things just hit me like a ton of bricks. There is no real way to understand the poverty here unless you have to live it. We really have no idea. In any case the school is small. We met with the Principal who has been there a long time and I am told is a good man. He says the kids have to pay for their books. The school is for grades 10 11 12. There about 2 class rooms for each of them. They stay in that room all day. The rooms were full. each has about 35 kids in them. The place was clean but the principal says that there is no money for much improvement. He says the state does not pay for the building or keeping it up. In any case there is no cafeteria, nor any type of labs for science, art, and other subjects. They do have a computer room. The computers seem ok. I was told that classes are conducted in them. They just started a library but not much in it. No way to get books. Again no way to teach the kids the importance of books. Of course there is no music program, no theatre, and and even the sports facilities are very bad. Only one very poor and unkept small soccer field. The principal would love to improve it but there is no money for this. He wanted to know if I wanted to help him with his projects. I did not get into curriculum but it appears very limited to me. One thing I do not understand is the issue of getting a degree during the last year in Accounting or being a Secretary. These are the two choices in this school. I asked my host about what if a person did not want either of these. I really did not get an answer I could understand. If is funny that these were the two degrees in a town which has very little industry that could use these skills. Maybe I can find out more in the future.

In any case it was interesting. It just shows me the crying need for a much better educational system in this country. That is why the Padre works so hard to make the educational experience the best possible. He understands its deficiencies. I will have to assume that the state does not have the money to educate its people or all of the money goes to corruption or the military. I really do not know. There must be some way to break this cycle.

So every time I come here I learn some more about these people and their needs and wants. By the way I met a man today at the colegio. I guess he is registering his daughter for school here. Guess what, he is married. He has 3 children. He has a wife. His wife and children live here and guess what he works in Washington DC in a parking garage. He has been doing this for 22 years. He works 9 months a year there and comes here to see his family for 3 months. He says he wishes he could be here always because he misses his family. Now is that any way to live? As I have said so many times before we are all human and have the same needs and wants. Family is so important to all of us. How can we help?

So ends my little trip. I leave on Thursday afternoon for my family. I miss them but I have been gone only 3 weeks. As I am writing this the Padre is outside the door at the Colegio. He is having a meeting with the teachers. It will be a long one. He is always thinking always trying to inspire, always trying to see how he can make this education experience better. Tonight at 6:00 he has a meeting with some men in this community that are on his School Board. They are making plans to expand the school. It will be another long meeting. As I said he has given his life for his people and the kids. He never slows down. He never thinks of himself. I hope we can continue to help him in his mission.

Thanks for reading this blog. I will provide a little more background information when I return from this trip.

Hasta Luego!!!!

Week of January 14 - 19

Nothing really earth shaking went on during this last week of classes. We had put together an agenda for the entire week on Saturday, so the actual planning during the week went a little smoother. Linda from Minnesota was now with us to help but mostly to listen to what we had been doing for the last week. We had more break out sessions than before where we concentrated on specific aspects of English for the given grade level. Every day we started with a prayer in front of the whole group. We also continued to go over the Hail Mary in English and the Sign of the Cross. In the breakout groups we spent time on verbs, what your day was like and played word bingo and UNO. This process was repeated during the first 4 days of the week. On the final day it was decided to have a mini festival. We did not have to organize this one as it was left up to the kids and the teachers. In the meantime our evenings after dinner was spent playing cards and one time have a long talk with the Padre who of course always has big ideas on how to improve the school.

In the evening we played cards, we decided to play the game of Hearts. I had not played for some time but the rules came roaring back. We invited Marta and Fidel to play. Fidel is the interpreter for us and has good English skills. In any case they enjoyed the game but had not played Hearts before. In fact they had not really played cards before. For some reason it appears that they do very little of this in this country. I do not know why since it takes up time and is inexpensive. In any case I liked the game because I won!!!

Friday was fiesta time. The plan was to have songs, games and then pizza for about 2 hours. All of the kids like doing this. So the teachers sang and the kids sang to us. We did the prayers for the Padre and then the music and games started. All of the teachers had to participate. One game was sitting on a balloon until it breaks. Another was the limbo and the rest was just dancing with a very loud speaker going on and on. All of the group of the US chipped in and bought pizza for everyone and we then called it a day by packing up the materials in suitcases to be used again by another group in the future.

So ends the little workshop for the kids. I think they learned some more English and learned a little about working together and having some fun. It was a good time.

The Weekend of January 19th and 20th

Before I backtrack and talk about the last week I thought I would comment on the last weekend while it is still fresh in my mind.

Saturday Jan 19 was D day for the rest of the group to go home. So on Friday night we all drove from Aqua Caliente to San Salvador to stay at the Padre's home. We had a nice meal and also met with a couple who come every Friday night to the Padre's house. From there on the week-end they spend time in the Clinic that the Padre runs in Chalatenango. The man is a cardiologist and sees people that need this specialty in the area. The charge is small but the Padre feels that this is a necessary benefit that he wants to give to the poor people in the area. Chalatenango is the capital of the state where Aqua Caliente is. It is one of the poorest in the country and saw a lot of fighting during the war between 1980 and 1994. In any case we also had another birthday cake as it was the birthday of the wife of the cardiologist.

The next morning we had a few hours to kill so the Padre suggested that we go to the Jesuit College in the city. There is also a museum there about the war. It is also the place where 6 Jesuit priest almost all from Spain where killed in 1989 by the military. Of course their only crime was trying to provide support for the poor. Along with them a cook and her daughter were also killed. There were 6 priests that were taken out into the back yard and tied up and all shot in the head. There are pictures of the horror if interested. There is also the real clothing on statues they were wearing that night that shows the bullet holes and blood stains. The museum also has the story of the 6 nuns that were killed in 1980. I guess the husband of the cook decided to plant a rose garden where the priests were taken out in the yard and killed. So now it is very beautiful and peaceful. You get the feeling that it is a very sacred place. I had been there once before but it is still emotional and inspiring to go again. The others had never been. It helps me to understand why I try and come here to help in a very little way.

So the afternoon came and the others were off. I was left behind to stay until Thursday Jan 24. So that afternoon it was time to leave the Padre's house and go with him to is first Mass that he says on Saturday. It is close to La Reina but still up in the mountains. Of course the road is rough and it takes one hour from La Reina when it should take 15 minutes. We get there to a small humble church. Mass is at 4 PM, Before Mass I met a man about 27 who was attending. He spoke English so of course I assumed he had been in the states. He had been in Virginia working in Construction for 7 years. He wanted to come back to stay because he missed him family and wanted to help his father on his farm. His father has about 10 milking cows. He says he will not go back to the US. You see a lot of Salvadorians really like their country. So in many ways we have to find a way that will allow them to be successful here so they can stay here and at the same time reduce our illegal immigration problem.

In any case the Padre said Mass made the people laugh as usual and provided some inspiring words on how they all have to work together to make their lives better. After Mass there was a lady selling papusas. The money raised was to help the church. I also was introduced to a older lady who was so happy to see me that she gave me 5 eggs. I have a picture of them. These people have nothing but still they want to give you what they can. I might also add that during Mass a basket of corn and beans was brought up to the altar. This was a gift of food to the poorest of the poor given to those people by the poor of the community. The Padre says they do it monthly. I thought it was a nice thought and it gave me some further understanding of how these people feel about each other. Finally as we were about to leave bags of corn were being loaded in our pickup truck. The Padre explained that this was their way of saying thank you to the Church in La Reina. It is done once a year after the harvest. So away we went back to La Reina for the Padre to say Mass at 7:00PM in that church. I decided not to go to that Mass and so I watched a basketball game that was being played in the town center. This town of 8,000 has just recently built a very nice lighted area for playing such games. Lots of people come to the center of town to watch. It is one of the highlights of the week-end,

The next morning Sunday we got up and had breakfast at the parish house. Oh yea I woke up at 5:15. This is because to alert people that there is an early Mass at 6:00AM suddenly there are religious musing playing. Then at 5:30 there is the first clang of bells and this is followed by a second clang of bells at 5:45 all the while the music keeps playing and then finally at 5 minutes before Mass the final clang of bells. So you can see since I was sleeping in the Parish house there was no chance to continue to sleep.

The Padre said Mass again in La Reina at 10. I decided to walk around town. Sunday is a time when people come to the town center for social events church meeting and to buy stuff. There are many vendors that set up their booths around the square where they sell everyone thing from pizza, shoes, clothing, backpacks and vegetables. So after Mass it was time for lunch and then a little while it was time to go to another town way up in the mountains for the Padre to have the final Mass of the day at 4:00 PM. This town is even poorer and the church smaller. Frankly sometimes I think that these churches are better. It is the community of people worshiping God in a very humble and pure way. Of course the Padre is his old self again. I am beginning to realize that this seems to me to be the time when he is the happiest. He has such a strong believe that we must help the poor and that it is his mission on the earth. He seems to enjoy every minute. After this Mass he decided to have a little meeting with some of the people of the parish. He called it the Social Concerns Meeting. in this case the main problem was because one of the people there, during the windstorm last week had the roof of his house blown off. He needed $125.00 to buy the tiles to fix it. So how to do it. Of course I could have paid but the Padre wanted them to work together as a community to try and figure out a way to do it. So it was decided to sell papusas next week with donated corn from someone in the group along with some sort of raffle. The Padre kicked in $30 bucks to get things started. I would have too but he did not signal me to do so. He wanted to encourage them to work together for the common problem of one of the village people and this is what they have decided.

The road to this town is very bad. I cannot imagine what it is like when the rainy season comes. Of course on the way up and down the Padre stopped and allowed people to ride in the back of the truck. It has very high hills and yet he says that some people walk all of the way to La Reina to sell things. I am sure it would take at least 2 hours to walk one way or longer. I really do not know how they could do it it. There is a school in this little town. It only goes to the 4th grade. If the people want further education they must go to LaReina each day. So there is a cost of some truck driver to do it or they must walk. I cannot imagine many doing so. So the poverty continues.

One other thing we did at 12 noon on this day was to go back the the church we were at on Saturday. This date the doctors from the clinic in Chalatanengo were going to be there and give check ups to people in the small town and sell medicine to them if they could afford it. It is just another outreach that the Padre has gotten started. I guess there have never had such a group of doctors before. While we were there we had a simple meal of beans, rice and tortilla. That was it. It was good and simple. The Padre says this is considered a special Sunday meal for many in the area. We all ate it because we were hungry. You see the true value of food is to nourish our bodies. I think we forget that in our culture when we have so many foods and we say we do not like this or that. At least I know my grandchildren are this way. Finally as we were leaving the same women that was there the day before and give me the eggs came again and this time she gave me a live chicken. I have a picture of it and the lady. If was heartwarming.

So we went back to LaReina on that terrible road along with about 5 people in the truck who we dropped off along the way. It was decided to go back to Aqua Caliente on Sunday night. So we did. But we had a new passenger this time. She was going to Aqua Caliente and so a free ride was arranged. This person what not just any person. This was a lady of about 40 years old. To my surprise the Padre said that this was the mother of one of the children he adopted. The girl's name is Alejandra and she is now seven. The Padre got her when she was only days old. You see this lady is a prostitute she has had nine children over the years She has sold or given away all of the children. She lives on the streets of Aqua Caliente. But the Padre has no ill feelings toward her. He says she is one of God's children and he must help her where possible. He is far more caring and loving than I could ever be.

So you see how full the week is for the priest. His mission is the school but so much more. It is his life to help his people in so many ways.

So we returned to Mart's house had a little dinner played with Marta's daughter a little and went to bed. The next day Monday 21 is the first day of school for the Colegio. The school year runs until November 1 with a few breaks during the year.

Saturday, January 13

The plan for Saturday was changed.  The Padre had another meeting somewhere and so it was decided to stay in Aqua Caliente on Saturday and go to La Reina on Sunday morning.

So a lot of Saturday was spent on planning for the next week and getting materials together.  This process has proven to be a major task since the outline really was not there as we started this journey.  There has been a question about the classes in general.  I would consider it like a summer camp.  The goal was the review of English but it was also a time to teach the kids new games and introduce them to new songs in English. There were about 100 kids there and they did not have to pay anything.  The days have been spent  learning many things including the Lords Prayer, the Hail Mary and the sign of the Cross.   Besides this we learned in English the song  We Are The World.  and one or two others.  We also had break out sessions where we concentrated on a specific English words or processes.  I picked learning the Pronouns and then the verb ToBe.  and then adding on the ing to the action words.  Something like that. I also did parts of the body in another session.  We also played a game with the whole group called Wordo.  In this game the kids pick out 30 English words and we make a list.  Then they fill in their Wordo card with 16 words at random. Then we called the words just like bingo.  The winner of the game that is getting  5 in a row got a small prize.  It is amazing how the kids really like playing these types of games. I have noticed an absence of this type of play in this country.  It appears that card games, checkers, even bingo are not done very often  I really do not know why.  Another day was spent discussing a poem from Archbishop Romero.  It was about what Peace Is and What Peace is not.  We did this as a group and then we did break out sessions.  Of course the kids in the higher grades would express themselves a lot more.  I think I did say that the group of 100 was made up of kids from the 3 to the 7th grade.  I was surprised by the discussion in my group which were 5th graders about the gangs that they see or hear about.  Also they do not think that the police help them much.  They also want peace to be no violence, and they want love, and friendship. My experience in the country does not show me that I should have any fear. I feel completely safe here.  So I was surprised by the comments from the kids about what peace is not.  On another day we took a few letters that I had brought down with me from kids in the 2nd grade and the 5 grade from the CREED program at the Resurrection Church.  It was a good exercise in telling them that people in the US wanted to get to know them.  It was a good way to have them compose a letter to the kids that sent the letters.  We had them write mostly in Spanish in this one but we also asked them to translate their own letters as much as possible into English.  There were various degrees of success on this one.  But at least it got them thinking about other kids in the US.  I even suggested that if they have an email to put it down and maybe some of the kids will send them an email back.  Maybe we can develop a Pen-Pal relationship.  In this case it not only helps the kids there but also our kids who need to know and understand the other peoples of the world.  So more later.  In the meantime back to Saturday, after planning for most of the afternoon, I decided to walk down to the Public School in the the town of Aqua Caliente.  It is only about a quarter of one mile from our Colegio.  The colors of all schools in this country are Blue and White.  So the wall in front of the school is painted as such.  School was not in session and since there is a wall there I really could not walk around.  However something happened.  And this is just another example of my little journey that I really cannot explain why.  I walked by the school and noticed a door on the wall was opened.  I also noticed that there was a guard there with a gun at the entrance.  Since my Spanish is not good I was reluctant to go up to him and see if I could look around.  Just my luck at that very same moment a teacher, Eva who works at the colegio was walking the other direction with a friend.  When I noticed her I asked her if she would ask the guard if I could look around.  So she did it.  I then thought, what are the odds of the guard standing at the door instead of just being the the school yard with the door shut and me just happening to meet the lady I knew.  It was strange to me.  So the guard said ok and then I introduced myself to him in my limited Spanish.  He was nice even though the gun was slung over his shoulder.  So I went in.  Remember this is one week and two days before school was to start.  I have pictures which I will try and put on my blog in the future but it is not a very nice place.  The whole place had debris, chairs scattered and no painting of freshening up at all.  I could not get into the classroom themselves but I could look through the open windows with bars on them and it all looked shabby.  The basketball outside field looked in disrepair as well as the soccer field.  The area where the kids would eat and maybe have group meeting which is all outside looked like it had not been used for over a year.  So when will they be cleaning up this place for the new year I thought?  When will this place look like somewhere you would want to go and be inspired to be the best you could possibly be?  What would the attitude of the teachers be like if they have to teach in these conditions?  So I took the pictures.  I am not sure that I was supposed to but I did when I did not see the guard.  Maybe this was not smart on my part.  One thing I will say about this is the Padre says that people are really happy that we have come to their little town where few foreigners come.  They want us to come back and so because they know we are connected with the Padre and they see we are helping their children, this seems to give us all of the protection we need.  As I said I really did not feel any fear.  Nor have I in the three times I have been here.  

In any case I learned that the school is from the 1-9th.  That there are about 1000 students attending.  That there are two sessions a day.  7:30 until 12 and then 1:30 until 5 I think.  So you can imagine the problem that there could be with the afternoon group especially when it is very hot here.  Of course there is no air conditioning.  I told the Padre about my visit. He says that the roof leaks as well and so there are buckets all around when it rains.  This I cannot confirm on my own accord of course.  So the School area looks bad.  What I do not know about is their teaching curriculum, testing, computer knowledge, other activities and on and on. I also do not know about the quality of the teachers or administrators or their salaries and benefits.  I do not know how many kids go through all 9 grades and what the drop out rates are.  In any case that was my little side trip on Saturday.  I just reminded me of the feeling of fresh air and light and cleanness when I go into the colegio and see all of the smiling kids and nice teachers there.  It is not perfect but I see improvement every time I come.  I wanted to see if there was a contrast between the Colegio and the Public School and I saw it at least at the physical level on the Saturday evening.  

After that I went back to Mart's house and we had our meal and talked and sang for a while.  Believe it or not I am really tired by 9:00 PM while down here and Pat from Kent and I went back to our little house and I went to bed.

The next morning bright and early we were picked up by the Padre at Marta's.  The plan was to go to La Reina which means queen.  We all piled into the van and off we went up the mountain.  This trip was not so long nor was the road so rough although still just dirt.  Since it was Sunday morning we saw people waking toward Aqua Caliente, mostly families.  They were all dressed nice.  The Padre said they were walking to church.  Some up  to a mile away.  Of course you ask why do they not drive their car?  Of course you know the answer.  I thought how dusty they maybe be when they arrive and then I thought how hard it must be during the rainy season when their shoes and clothes might become all muddy or wet.  Of course the Padre would always yell something out to them and just being his old friendly self.

We arrived in La Reina in about one hour and their we met a new Pilgrim.  This lady came from Minnesota and was a friend of Janet Stabilus.  She would be staying with us for a week and helping us to teach.  Her name is Pat.  

The church in this town about the size of Aqua Caliente which is about 9,000 has a pastor but the Padre just helps out on weekend.  He says a Mass on Saturdays and one on Sunday.  It is a fairly large church and we all sat at the front pews as always.  The Padre was his old usual self being very friendly to the parishioners and giving them his homily of about God as well as self respect for themselves.  After Mass it was time to meet the priest of the parish and have a nice lunch.  This time chicken, rice, pan, broccoli and fruit.  After dinner we heading home to Marta's and did a little more planning for Monday and playing the Mart's child of 2 years old as well as 3 of the Padre's children and of course then supper and to bed by 9.

dreaming about the what the last week in Aqua Caliente will bring.

Friday Jan 11,2012

Sorry it has been a little time since my last blog.  The internet and phones went down on Monday and this is the first day back.  So it is Friday afternoon and I am at the colegio sitting outside the principal's office since it is cooler here.  It is so nice to have internet service again.  In this case even wireless.

On Monday we got up and all went to the home of Marta.  She lives close by and is also the Principal of the school.  John and Cathy Tucker are staying there.  The rest of us in two different houses.

Marta's little nome is cement block but new.  She is only renting it.  She is 28 years old and does have a 2 year old child.  The house is clean but open.  The lighting however is very dim. Just one bulb in the large living room where we all ate.  She does not have a washing machine or internet. Just a TV.  Marta makes about $400.00 per month for 11 months at the Colegio.  Not really enough, even for her

To begin with there were the 7 of us and what the Padre does is bring other women and girls that are usually living in the same house with him going to school along with some of the children.

Because of all of this help the meals are always good and on time.  Breakfast at 7 then lunch at 1 and then supper at 6.  He has always made sure we were always well fed.  This time it is no exception.

The plan was to have two classes a day for 2 hours.  8-10 and then 10:30 to 12:30.  The early class was for those in the 3,4,5 and the rest were for the 6 7 8th.

This first day all of the children came.  There were about 100 in total.  The Padre kicked off the meeting and said a prayer.  I already forgot what we did that first day.  But it included songs, and playing some games.

After class and lunch the Padre, he left to be with the Pilgrims from Youngstown.  His plan was to be gone through Wednesday night.    We then made the plans for the next day.

The general idea was to have prayer, some group activity some outside exercise ant then a break out session where we concentrated on a special area for each class in a review of their English skills.

Remember they do have a full time English teacher.  Her name is Fatima.  She lives in Aqua Caliente and besides teaching works in the small dry goods store in the front of her home with her father and sister.  She is 25 years old and is a product of the scholarship program that was set up by the people of Kent and I believe those of Geneva ohio.  In any case her English is good.  So this is the first year that the kids have had a full time English teacher.  She has very good English workbooks for the kids and I hope this will really help getting these kids efficiency up.

The classes on Tuesday through Friday consisted of learning the Lords Prayer, the Hail Mary and a very hard one  We Are The World.  The plan for this song is to sing it to the Padre on the last day.  Other ideas that were used were to have the kids do a Bio of them selves and read it to the class.  We also played a game called Word-O and then play an animal bingo game. So there were a lot of activities. My break class so far has focused on reviewing with them the present tense with the pronouns and then the verb ToBe and adding ING onto the active nouns.  Do not know if the 3rd graders going into fourth will be able to understand this but I am giving it a shot.  We also in all of the classes focus on pronunciation.  This is always necessary. Oh yeah, the recess time was occupied by doing exercises and playing the Hokey-Pokey and some other games of throwing a ball between their legs.  All the kids seemed to enjoy these games a lot.  These games were conducted by Bob Stabilus.  He is a retired professor from Kent State.


And so the week has come and gone.  In the meantime, Janet Stabilus started getting some type of infection in her jaw.  It got worse on Wednesday and finally she went to San Salvador on Thursday to see a Specialist.  It was decided that she and her husband Bob would go home on Saturday.  This is the best for her health.  Also on Wednesday it was the birthday of Marta.  The person whos house we eat at. She was 28 and so we surprised her with a big cake we bought in town and of course a few bottles of beer and a little cash.  She was very happy.  She said that she has not celebrated very many birthdays in her life. She said the only other one was when she was 21 years old.  That got me thinking of the all of the birthdays of my own grandchildren.  Although I am happy for them I wonder if all of the time and expense of having these lavish birthdays is really the thing to do.  When you are in this place it just changes one perspective as to what is important in life.

Because of the illness of Janet the Padre was always driving back and forth from other places and finally made it happen that Janet should go home.  He was here on Thursday night however.  That night we had some guests. The man was about 40 and was visiting here from Nantucket.  He is Salvadorian and has been in the US for 19 years.  He came illegally but has had a Green Card for many years.  His girlfriend lives here.  He really does not know if he will even be a citizen of the US but still keeps hoping.  It makes you wonder when we will ever get our migration policy figured out in our country.  It is really a complete mess.  Again a very nice, hardworking person.  He works on the maintenance crew at the Boston airport.  Seems very happy with this job and even owns a little house.  Of course he could be shipped back to El Salvador at any time.  He says that God only knows what will happen and he will accept what ever happens.

As I said we bought a cake for Marta at a local bakery.  Of course when we went in there were two people we spoke to.  One worked for the local government.  He says that he is ambulance driver for the town.  He takes people to the nearest hospital which is at least 45 minutes away.  Of course he was in the US for 2 or 3 years and had to come back.  Another man there was in his 60's and has lived in the US for about 25 years.  He has houses there and here and of course family.  Not a citizen but has a Green Card.

One other thing was that is was Cathy Tucker's birthday today.  This is always a big deal here.  Maurico who will be the assistant principal this year plays a guitar and all of the teachers came in during the break and sang Happy Birthday.  It was not just our old familiar tune.  I had never heard it before.  It was called La Manunita.  Spelling is not right but it was something that is sung all of the time at birthdays.  It has beautiful words of a nice morning and of god.  I have the words and will try to learn it soon.

Saturday we will meet in the morning and plan the class for Monday.  Then it is time to meet with the Padre for a trip at 2:00 PM to the town of Reyna..  This is another town that the Padre serves as Priest.  We all will stay over night there.  I am told it is high in the mountains and it is cool.  That will feel good.  The only question will be will I be ridding the the back of the truck and will the road be curvey and full of holes.  More than likely it will be, but that is ok.  This is El Salvador, the people are beautiful  and friendly but the circumstances of where they live make it difficult to take care of one's family just like every one in this world tries to do.

Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope you find it inspiring.

Saturday Jan 5 and Jan 6.

Well we got settled in our new digs and then started the day in Aqua Caliente.  As usual it was about 90 degrees during the day but there is a nice breeze and it is not humid.

The six of us all eat at the home is Marta.  She is the school principal and two of us are sleeping there.  In this case it is John and Cathy Tucker.   Food it great that is all prepared by Marta and two other women that came to this town just to take care of our food needs.  I guess is one of the many great things about the Padre, in that he always has a plan and it always works.

The plan for Saturday was to go to the school and plan on what we were going to do for the big first day of teaching English on Monday.  Since this was the first time the group from Kent has tried to teach grades 3 through 7 at one time it was challenge.  Eventually we decided on a curriculum and completed the necessary flash cards and songs for the big day.

After that I decided to find an internet cafe and check my email and write my blog.  This in one not far from the colegio and the cost is a whole one dollar a hour to use it.

After using it I started back to the house and was stopped first by a man who wanted to talk about the US. He was  in the US for 19 years and had a great business in Boston area.  I think it was in landscaping and had a lot of employees.  He said the taxes were too high and came back to his home. Now he has a new baby but said that finding a job is very hard and if there is work they do not pay much.

After talking to him I was stopped by another man.  He as a barber shop in town.  He is about 25 years old. And guess what.  He has been to the US 4 times and deported every time.  He worked in Boston in the building trades making about $30.00 per hour.  Now is cuts hair in this little town of 10,000 for $1.50 per cut.  He says he is going to try again to go to the US.  The problem is the cost is $9,000 to get  there.  So again he says that jobs are tight and the jobs they have pay very little.  So I guess if you make $20.00 per day, everything is expensive even a beer at $1.00 per bottle.He also has two children one here and one in the US.

So it goes as the struggles of the people to take care of their families.  They all seem very hard working to me.  But to find opportunities is difficult. In this last man's case he spoke English very well, but does not have an education. He said he did not go to school because his father did not permit it.  Very confusing to me.

Also on Saturday another man any myself went to a local furniture store to try and buy a mattress for one of the other teachers.  They where staying in a nice house but the bed had just a thatched mat on it. So it was hard.  We got there 5 minutes before closing time and we could not make the deal that soon to closing time.  Maybe we will try on Monday.

Sunday,

Went to the 10:00 Mass at the church in the middle of the town. The name of the church is San Jose. This is the church that was restored by Padre Fuentes in 2006.  It truly is beautiful and a plaque is displayed on the wall that shows the appreciation of the people to his work to make this the center of activity in this town.  In any case, the Mass at ten was full with all types of people.  A very nice touch at the end of Mass was a little girl siting on a chair at the front of the church while holding baby Jesus.  I would say that at least one-half of the people cam up to her an kissed the statue and put a few coins in a basket.  I thought it was very nice.  Of course during the offering of Peace there were so many people that wanted to shake our hands.  After Mass the same thing.  They are so warm and appreciative of us being there.  It is very heart warming.  I might add that most people come to church in their Sunday finest.  Suits, nice dresses and high heels.  I guess to them Mass is a very special time and they want to show there love for God in this way.

After Mass Pat DiMauro and I walked to a building that was built in 2005.  It was built as a hotel but never used as such since there is no business  demand so the owner says for it.  He says he spent $400,000 to build it. He lives there.  He is also from the US and lived there for 23 years.  He wants to sell it.  It would need a lot of work but I think it has some potential to be a high school for the Padre's future plans.  So we will see.  I need to talk to the Padre about his.

After that it was time at 2:00 to go to Mass with the Padre way up in the mountains near Aqua Caliente.  We we all piled into two pickup trucks and away we went.  I unfortunately had to ride in the bed of one of the trucks along with some kids that went along with us.  As usual the road is winding and just dirt and full of holes.  The good part of this is that was we continued up and up it got cooler and cooler that was a nice change from our town.  We reached the church in the middle of a field. It has just been built.  It was very nice.  Again the church was built by the local people but the funds came from the Salvadoran people that live in the Boston area.  The Padre serves as the weekend priest there and he goes in some others as well.  We arrived and the whole church was already full.  We also met up with the other Pilgrims that are visiting from Youngstown.  When the people found out that the Padre had arrived they all stood up applauded.  That is how happy they were to see him.  We all marched in as a group and took a place of honor next to the altar.

As usual the Mass was full of praise for God and the Padre talking to the people about how proud he was that they had built this church and how by working together so many things can happen.  He is always inspiring and you can see the interest on the faces of the people that they listened to his every word.  Again during the peace offering so many people came up to us to thank us for coming.  It is so hard to understand how they can feel this way toward us.  After Mass we had to stand at the entrance to the church and all of the people walked by to say thank you again for coming.  Then the best part.  Suddenly there was a whole spread of great food to eat. All prepared by the local people at their expense.  We had chickens, beans, broccoli , soup and tortillas.  All very good and very much appreciated.  As I said we are always fed well.

About 8:00 it was time to get back into the truck and head down the road again.  I of course was in the back again with the kids.  I used the time to practice my very poor Spanish with kids that were in the First grade and the Sixth Grade.  Also fun.

And so ends our first weekend in El Salvador.  Monday will be the the challenge of teaching to about 100 of the kids from the colegio.

Thanks for reading about my little adventure and I hope it will give you some understanding as we go on the mission of this Padre who I have grown to admire on so many levels.

First Day in El Salvador

I arrived in San Salvador and met up with John and Cathy Tucker from the Resurrection Church.  We also met with the 5 people that are from the Newman Center in Kent Ohio. This church has had a long standing association with the Padre and his mission.

We were met by some people that help the Padre and were taken to his home in San Salvador.  From there the plans were changed and we drove right away to Aqua Caliente arriving at about 8:00 Pm.

The trip takes about 3 hours and the road is ok until you get to about 10 miles from the town.  Then it is mostly dirt and full of holes.  He Padre himself drove this last stretch since he said he know where all of the holes are.

We arrived at the colegio and were greeted by 7 other people that that had come down from the Youngstown area.  They are staying for a week.  Had dinner there and viewed the school.  Even in the last year since I was there last there has been major changes. The most being the addition of a cafeteria and the new computer room that will be air conditioned. It looks great and will be ready for the first day of classes on 1 21 2013.  I will post some pictures soon.

The padre had a meeting with us telling us about the what is planned at the school and how it compares to the public school in this area.  Lots of problems there with absent students and even absent teachers.

The sleeping arrangements for the night was decided to have the 7 of us stay at 3 different houses.  This
was done with some confusion but at 11:00PM I as dead tired.  So I went to sleep with the roosters crowing and the dogs barking.  One has to get used to this while here.

Tomorrow we will meet at the school and staring the planning for  the 2 weeks of English lessons that  is the objective of this trip.  The others have done this before so for me this will be a learning experience in this area.  The plan is to have 100 of the 150 students from the school come for these classes to further there knowledge of of English.  It should be interesting.  Stay tuned.  

Departing for El Salvador

I leave for El Salvador on Friday, January 4 and will be working with Padre Fuentes for approximately three weeks. Please check back shortly as I will update this blog regularly following my arrival in Agua Caliente.