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!!!!
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