Uncle Noel!

My uncle Noel is currently in El Salvador working with the foundation Shelter Box International, which sets up temporary houses by people displaced by natural disaster. He is here working in San Vicente and La Libertad with people affected by the Hurricane Ida. I am incredibly impressed with the good work he has been doing, what a great thing for someone to do when they retire! I was even more impressed, however, when he called me yesterday while on the bus, half way to my town, He managed to arrive in my site, without any problem without speaking Spanish or directions from me! The route is particularly complex now too because the flooding has washed out several bridges on the way so their are lots of detours. If you know anything about the bus system in El Salvador (there are no signs or posted routes), this is a feat very few people I know could do, and I can't believe Noel pulled it off! He was a great guest in my house too. He came in and within the first hour was fixing the toilet that has been broken and hanging the curtains I've had sitting in my room for the past 3 months. My host mom was overjoyed and very sorry to see him leave this afternoon.
Above are some pictures from his visit. We went out for Noel´s first pupusa and we also went on a boat ride to go see the ruined bridge.

graduation

yesterday were the graduations from kindergarten and 9th grade from the school that I work at. It was very sweet, I was asked to be the "madrina" or godmother of the 9th grade class and the school honored me by giving a special diploma to acknowledge the work I do there (diplomas are big deal here). 9th grade graduation is a big deal because it is very uncommon for kids from the community to reach 9th grade and even less common to continue their schooling after that point. The teachers were very happy because this year 8 students finished 9th grade, double last year's number.

I finally got back to my community yesterday. I went with the mayor to distribute food and clothing that was donated by the government to the fishing community who was affected by the flooding. Many of them lost their nets and boats, which are their livelihoods. Hopefully, PLAN international will help them get more nets and I am working on a project that was already in the works to get the fishing cooperative some boats. I work very closely with this community and was very worried about the people there, but I was heartened to see the work that the mayor is doing and I think they will be OK.

The other pictures are of the bridge that used to be between my community and the neighboring town. It was completely swept away in the flooding, I could not believe it.

For people interested in helping those in El Salvador, I recommend making a donation to Aid El Salvador, at the website aidelsalvador.org. Here is the message from my boss at Peace Corps:

"Last night, Aid El Salvador held an emergency Board of Directors meeting to discuss how to set up a disaster relief fund so that interested parties could make direct, quick donations to the families of Verapaz and Guadalupe. Donations can be received via Pay Pal from a link on the website aidelsalvador.org. In the message section, please note 'disaster relief'.”

Thank you all for your support.

floods

Hey everyone,

I wanted to thank all of you who wrote me concerned about the flooding in El Salvador. I am safe and in the capital now, but many have lost much in this country. Yesterday we had a meeting in the office and I heard from other Peace Corps volunteers who had some pretty traumatic experiences. One of the most affected communities, Verapaz, was a Peace Corps training site so I had many friends that lived there during the two months of training. One of the host families that my friends lived with during this period were killed by the mudslides. Another friend of mine (Jimbo, some of you know him) lives on the volcano that was the source of the mudslide and was woken by his room being filled with mud. He fled his house at 3am and waited out the rain in a neighbors, while he listened to the earth move (it sounded like ice cracking he said), not knowing if he would be next. In the daylight, he decided to leave and walked three hours down the mountain to get to safety. It was incredibly frightening.

I was lucky because I was in the capital with my mother, whose flight was yesterday morning. My community was relatively lucky since we had no deaths. However, the fishing community where I do most of my work was badly affected. Many of the fishermen lost their boats and nets, which is their livelihoods. Several lost their homes, which were carried away in high river water. They are in need of clothes and food. I am anxious to get back today to see what I can do and show my support, so I will end my blog post here for now. I will try and update you guys later this week with what has happened.

Here is a link to the bbc picture of the flooding in el salvador - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8349698.stm

Best, Elian

15 de septiembre

Tuesday was El Salvador's independence day! It is always a huge deal here and the celebrations, which include a parade, are so fun. Note the picture of my friend Thelma playing the trumpet in the marching band. She is the first female EVER in this town to play the trumpet, it caused quite the scandal. I am very proud of her! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

excursion!

On Wednesday, I went with 18 of the school kids, 5 parents, and one teacher from the rural school I work with to the capital to visit the David J. Guzman Museum of Anthropology and the Botanical Gardens. I received the funding for the trip from Peace Corps, and it turned out to be really wonderful. For the students, it was their first ever field trip and none of them had ever been to a museum before. In fact, I was really worried that many of them would not be able to come since their parents were so worried about letting their kids leave the community without them and especially about going all the way to the capital! In the end, every single one of the 7, 8 and 9th graders came and they all had a great time. They behaved themselves so well and I think they really got a lot out of the experience.

birthday pics

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who called or emailed or facebooked me on my birthday this year. I had a really nice, very campo birthday celebration. My wonderful friend Candas came down to visit and my friend Stephanie also came in for the morning. In the morning we went on a boat ride on the Rio Lempa (one of my favorite activities here) and then in the afternoon I taught English in the school. In the evening we went to a friend of mine's house and we made pan con pollo, the traditional birthday meal. It was laid back and nice. That being said, it seems so strange that I am actually 25 now. 25 seems like a very grown up number and I am not sure I merit it. Especially when my dad tells me things like he was 25 when my brother was born. As a kid, I remember being certain that I would be married by the time I was 25. Nonetheless, I am very happy with where I am in life. I am proud of the things I have managed to finish and am very much looking forward to all that lies ahead. I am so blessed to have had the opportunities I have had to travel and grow and challenge myself and most of all, I am grateful for all the love in my life. The many friendships that have survived and strengthened over the years and my family and my boyfriend. So in sum, I guess I feel pretty good about being 25.