January 9, 2009
Today is both an exciting and sad day. It is exciting because we are going to the small country village of Suchitoto and sad because we are leaving the friendly confines of our home away from home, Los Pinos and the city of San Salvador. One of the members of our group is a little under the weather, so we hope that she is back up and feeling well soon.
The drive to Suchitoto was about an hour long. We began by driving up the Pan American Highway and after turning off that fairly large freeway, we began to take ever smaller and smaller roads, made from asphalt then brick until we ended up on cobblestone streets similar to what we saw in the movie “Innocent Voices.” After we arrived we were very excited to see that our accommodations were much more wonderful than we could have imagined. Each room had air-conditioning, a TV that actually picked up English speaking channels (I doubt that we watch much), a large bathroom with hot water (our last one was so small and of course no hot water) beautiful decorations, and the best part of all, as you step out onto the back patio, you have one of the most beautiful views that I have ever seen.
One of our first tasks was to meet with Sister Peggy a wonderful Nun who has been living in El Salvador since the early to mid 80’s. After a wonderful meal, and a tour of the facility and school, we came back to our rooms and I decided to go sit in the pool and cool off for a little while. It was a bit gross with pine needle type things floating in it, but I found that if I sat on the side with the water jets, it forced them all over to the other side. We then washed up and walked into town to explore the markets and shops.
While I was there, I had my first experience with a Cyber Café, I was able to spend a little time on the computer and get a can of Pepsi all for around 50 cents, not a bad deal. There was a man who was obviously handicapped following me after I left the Cyber Café and it took me a little while to figure out what he wanted, actually it was Kate that figured it out, he wanted some of my Pepsi, ( am man after my own heart) so I poured some into the cup that he had and that seemed to make him happy, but he still followed us around.
We then went and had a very interesting session with Sister Peggy. She told us many stories about her work and experiences in El Salvador, but the ones that I found most fascinating were the ones that took place during the war years. She described her feelings when she first came to El Salvador, not knowing if she was going to stay or leave, but that all changed one night, she and two other women, one of which had a very small baby, had found themselves in the position of being chased by soldiers on a dark country road, and very much fearing for their lives. All of a sudden the pick-up truck they were riding in went over an embankment and they were stranded. Feeling that they were probably about as safe remaining with the truck, they decided to stay there for the night. Sometime in the middle of the night the baby got hungry and needed it’s diaper changed so as the mother beagn to take care of these duties, the other woman opened her purse and pulled out two tortillas and offered them to the mother telling her that she need to eat to keep up her strength for the baby. The mother looked at her and then at Sister Peggy took the tortillas and divided them between the other two women and said, “Tonight we all eat together, and tomorrow we all hunger together.” Sister Peggy was so moved by the graciousness, hospitality, and compassion of these women, that her words were, and I quote, “Shit, I’m staying here!” (Not exactly what I expected from a Nun, but I think that pretty well summed up her feelings)
Another story that she told really impacted me. During the conflict when someone died, the family and friends always came to the church and asked if the church would help them to claim the body. It wasn’t safe for the family to do this because once they showed up to claim the body, inevitably one or more would be detained and sometimes tortured by the soldiers. The church, however, could do it and the army wasn’t as likely to do anything about it. She described one morning that someone came to the church and said that there was a head in the town square. Sister Peggy went immediately and saw that it belonged to a young man that she knew, as well as knowing the boy’s mother. She recovered the head and went to inform his mother.
She then stopped the story there and went on talking about other things. A little while later she began talking about a picture that she had been given which showed Elizabeth (John the Baptists Mother) comforting Mary after the crucifixion of Jesus. She described how when she showed this picture to the woman who lost her son, she began to sob, “This woman knows my pain, this woman knows how I feel” She kept repeating over and over again louder and louder that Elizabeth knew what she was going through. (John the Baptist was also beheaded) The pain that these people have experienced goes far beyond what I can even begin to imagine, and I thank God for people like Sister Peggy who are on the front lines sharing the gospel story in words, images and deeds, sharing the light of Christ in a very dark world. Sister Peggy is a remarkable person doing a difficult job.
For dinner that night we had cauliflower rolled in eggs and fried with a half an avocado. Thank goodness for the bread and rice or I might have gone to bed hungry. We also found out that we were originally supposed to stay in a different location than the beautiful hacienda that we are staying in. It wouldn’t have had air-conditioning or hot water, but they were full and couldn’t accommodate us. How sad for us that we are forced to stay in such luxury :)
Tomorrow we are going on a boat ride across the lake to visit the site of yet another massacre of innocent people. However, as Sister Peggy said, both sides did things that were regrettable, both sides forced people to fight including children. But, one side felt that they had no other choice but to defend their homes and families.
Today is both an exciting and sad day. It is exciting because we are going to the small country village of Suchitoto and sad because we are leaving the friendly confines of our home away from home, Los Pinos and the city of San Salvador. One of the members of our group is a little under the weather, so we hope that she is back up and feeling well soon.
The drive to Suchitoto was about an hour long. We began by driving up the Pan American Highway and after turning off that fairly large freeway, we began to take ever smaller and smaller roads, made from asphalt then brick until we ended up on cobblestone streets similar to what we saw in the movie “Innocent Voices.” After we arrived we were very excited to see that our accommodations were much more wonderful than we could have imagined. Each room had air-conditioning, a TV that actually picked up English speaking channels (I doubt that we watch much), a large bathroom with hot water (our last one was so small and of course no hot water) beautiful decorations, and the best part of all, as you step out onto the back patio, you have one of the most beautiful views that I have ever seen.
One of our first tasks was to meet with Sister Peggy a wonderful Nun who has been living in El Salvador since the early to mid 80’s. After a wonderful meal, and a tour of the facility and school, we came back to our rooms and I decided to go sit in the pool and cool off for a little while. It was a bit gross with pine needle type things floating in it, but I found that if I sat on the side with the water jets, it forced them all over to the other side. We then washed up and walked into town to explore the markets and shops.
While I was there, I had my first experience with a Cyber Café, I was able to spend a little time on the computer and get a can of Pepsi all for around 50 cents, not a bad deal. There was a man who was obviously handicapped following me after I left the Cyber Café and it took me a little while to figure out what he wanted, actually it was Kate that figured it out, he wanted some of my Pepsi, ( am man after my own heart) so I poured some into the cup that he had and that seemed to make him happy, but he still followed us around.
We then went and had a very interesting session with Sister Peggy. She told us many stories about her work and experiences in El Salvador, but the ones that I found most fascinating were the ones that took place during the war years. She described her feelings when she first came to El Salvador, not knowing if she was going to stay or leave, but that all changed one night, she and two other women, one of which had a very small baby, had found themselves in the position of being chased by soldiers on a dark country road, and very much fearing for their lives. All of a sudden the pick-up truck they were riding in went over an embankment and they were stranded. Feeling that they were probably about as safe remaining with the truck, they decided to stay there for the night. Sometime in the middle of the night the baby got hungry and needed it’s diaper changed so as the mother beagn to take care of these duties, the other woman opened her purse and pulled out two tortillas and offered them to the mother telling her that she need to eat to keep up her strength for the baby. The mother looked at her and then at Sister Peggy took the tortillas and divided them between the other two women and said, “Tonight we all eat together, and tomorrow we all hunger together.” Sister Peggy was so moved by the graciousness, hospitality, and compassion of these women, that her words were, and I quote, “Shit, I’m staying here!” (Not exactly what I expected from a Nun, but I think that pretty well summed up her feelings)
Another story that she told really impacted me. During the conflict when someone died, the family and friends always came to the church and asked if the church would help them to claim the body. It wasn’t safe for the family to do this because once they showed up to claim the body, inevitably one or more would be detained and sometimes tortured by the soldiers. The church, however, could do it and the army wasn’t as likely to do anything about it. She described one morning that someone came to the church and said that there was a head in the town square. Sister Peggy went immediately and saw that it belonged to a young man that she knew, as well as knowing the boy’s mother. She recovered the head and went to inform his mother.
She then stopped the story there and went on talking about other things. A little while later she began talking about a picture that she had been given which showed Elizabeth (John the Baptists Mother) comforting Mary after the crucifixion of Jesus. She described how when she showed this picture to the woman who lost her son, she began to sob, “This woman knows my pain, this woman knows how I feel” She kept repeating over and over again louder and louder that Elizabeth knew what she was going through. (John the Baptist was also beheaded) The pain that these people have experienced goes far beyond what I can even begin to imagine, and I thank God for people like Sister Peggy who are on the front lines sharing the gospel story in words, images and deeds, sharing the light of Christ in a very dark world. Sister Peggy is a remarkable person doing a difficult job.
For dinner that night we had cauliflower rolled in eggs and fried with a half an avocado. Thank goodness for the bread and rice or I might have gone to bed hungry. We also found out that we were originally supposed to stay in a different location than the beautiful hacienda that we are staying in. It wouldn’t have had air-conditioning or hot water, but they were full and couldn’t accommodate us. How sad for us that we are forced to stay in such luxury :)
Tomorrow we are going on a boat ride across the lake to visit the site of yet another massacre of innocent people. However, as Sister Peggy said, both sides did things that were regrettable, both sides forced people to fight including children. But, one side felt that they had no other choice but to defend their homes and families.
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