Day 13

Friday January 16, 2009

Today was a fairly uneventful day. We began by listening to a presentation on the work of organizing the people to be more effective, and the advantages of working cooperatively for the best interests of the community. We then traveled to the Lempa River to see the Levee system that was built to help stop the flooding during the rainy season. Essentially, in El Salvador they have two seasons, the dry season which we are in now, and the rainy season where it rains almost everyday.

Our guides described for us how the levee system was not built properly and after Hurricane Mitch and the deluge of tropical rains from the storm, the levees breached flooding the lower Lempa River Valley which our community of Nueva Esperanza is a part. It was interesting to see where the water level is during the dry season and then to imagine how much the river raises during the rainy season to reach up to where we were standing on the levee. Our guides also described to us how the River Authority tries to maintain the river level through release of water through the dams, which after living along the Mississippi River for a good part of my life, I understand this very well. Unfortunately, the poor people who live along the lower Lempa River don’t have much (read any) say in how much and when the water is released.

We then had the opportunity to visit a “garden” which really appeared to me to be a good sized farm with coconut trees, sugar cane, mangoes, corn and tomatoes.

One thing that I have begun to understand is that these people are 1. Very self sufficient, which is probably because they have to be. and 2. They seem to count on the government or expect the government to solve or do everything. I have listened as person after person has complained because the government privatized the banking system. Apparently, all of the banks used to be run by the government. They are also very angry because the government is seeking to privatize the water company as well.

I am sure that I don’t totally understand all of the ramifications of privatization, but when I simply compare our water system in the United States to theirs here; I have to think that most anything would be better. I mean, let’s face it, you can’t even drink the water here. The main thing is that when something like the water system is privatized, there must be sufficient oversight to assure that it is accountable to the people, and also there is a necessity that the government function in a fair an uncorrupt manner.

I couldn’t imagine if the government ran the banks, water, sewage, electricity and other utilities. From my perspective, the less that the government is involved in day to day life, the better we are. Honestly, I am not sure that I have ever seen much in my lifetime that I would say that the government does well, except spend money. So, for my money, I would have to question this attitude of wanting the government to solve all of life’s problems. (And I am also aware that this is another area that I am in the minority opinion with my traveling colleagues) The people both here in El Salvador and back home are calling for change, but I think that we all need to be careful what we ask for, not all change is for the good.

Ok, I am stopping today’s journal entry here. In reality I have two more pages. In those two pages, I essentially wrote about the political concerns that I have for El Salvador and compare and contrast them to the similar concerns that I have about our country. I talked about socialism and my views as they relate to the situation of the people of El Salvador as well as in our own country. I wrote in depth about the reaction of people to our new President Barrack Obama that I witnessed on our trip, both within our traveling group and the reaction of the people of El Salvador. And, I talked about how unwilling most people seem to be to look outside of their own world view and perspective to try to view the world with new eyes. (Of which I am equally guilty)

As I read through those two pages, and even though I stand personally by every word, nothing good could come from airing those views in this forum, so if you want to know my thoughts, I would be happy to share them with anyone on a one to one, personal basis where I am not as likely to be misunderstood.

I can assure you that at this point of the journey I was pretty much physically and emotionally exhausted, so that may have also jaded my opinions. I could have probably been less confrontational and more charitable in my writing. It looks like only two more entries in my journal after today, almost there!

Blessings