saying goodbye before the journey north

I am just coming from saying goodbye to one of my best friends in my community, Orbe. Most of you who have come to visit me have met her. She is beautiful and elegant, one of those people who always looks so well put together despite the hot weather and the dust. With her wide, tan face and trim figure, she is often mistaken for her daughter´s sister though she is about 40 years old and has three kids.
Orbe stood out from the beginning by reaching out to me and because of her desire to improve her neighborhood. She was one of the first people I met who was like, "you're here to work? great! let's get started!" She is an obvious leader in her community. She organizes things like trash clean ups and petitions, things that no one does here. I immediately liked her and would go over to her house to cook things together. She taught me how to make beef stew, I taught her how to make fried rice.
Until last year, Orbe ran her own clothing store in the center of town. Her brother, who worked in the U.S., would buy stuff at discount stores like Ross, where his wife worked, and ship them down here. Orbe would then sell these "American" clothes (often made in China or Vietnam) at a mark up here in town. I think she liked the responsibility of running her own small business. Nonetheless, when her brother's wife came back from the U.S. (after 12 years), Orbe had to yield control of the store to her, since it was technically her brother's business.
Orbe seemed restless and frustrated after losing her business. Luckily, she was offered a position on the incoming mayor´s city council, something that kept her busy during election season. She did well in her job. She has great ideas for the town within the first couple months in office she organized the Christmas display in the park and convinced the mayor to get street lamps for several streets in the town. She's definitely the most outspoken female on the city council and is a good example to the girls here.
But the work with the city council hardly pays, and Orbe has become increasingly worried about her kids futures. Their father is in the U.S., though sends money rather irregularly and has found another girl there. For a long time, she thought about opening up a restaurant (or comedor) here in town and I tried to support the idea. I even brought her to a small business workshop with other Peace Corps volunteers in hopes that it would help realize this dream.
In the end, however, Orbe's ambitions for herself and her children cannot truly be achieved here. Today, I went over to her house to say goodbye to her and her daughters before she leaves early tomorrow morning to meet the coyote who will take her across the border to the U.S.
I am so sad to see her go. First, the decision affects me very personally since I know I will miss her presence here a lot. But also, more generally, it makes me so sad that the situation of this country is such that the brightest, most motivated people, the people that want to make something of their lives, have to leave. As much as I didn't want Orbe to go, I knew she could not be persuaded to stay.
Just now, as I was saying goodbye to her, she told me that her experience at the small business workshop had changed her life. Seeing all the Peace Corps volunteers, who were all so motivated, worked so hard, and had traveled so far had made such an impression on her. She said she saw me as a role model, if i could come here, across the world, she knew she too could make something of herself in a foreign land. Hearing that was so bittersweet. The last thing we want to encourage here is emigration, but when that is your only opportunity to really make something of yourself, what is the alternative?
Anyways, it was a very emotional and sad experience to say goodbye. I will be thinking of her all this week as she makes the dangerous journey and I pray she makes it safely and securely. One day, I hope to see her again in El Norte.

madrina!

Yesterday I had the honor of becoming the madrina (i.e. godmother) to a beautiful little girl, Etna Soledad. Her mother, who is only 16, is a friend of mine, and her grandfather, Don Edilberto, is the president of the fishing cooperative with which I often work. Cristina, the mother, asked me to be the madrina a while back, but I thought I would not be able to since I am not, in fact, Catholic. She discovered that the priest in our town doesn't actually bother to ask if one is Catholic or not, as long as one is not "living in sin" and is over the age of 15, you're good to go. So on Sunday, we all sat through the four hour (!) service, and at the end I held little Sole as we baptized her. It was very sweet and I was very honored. Being a madrina here is a pretty big deal. Every child knows who their madrina is, and they call them "madrina" and not their first name. Cristina now will call me "comadre" (co-mother). My technical responsibilities are to be in charge of the spiritual development of the child and to take care of her in the case that her parents die. Sole an incredibly sweet girl, and I love her very much. I am looking forward to the role I will play in her life!

ima's visit - only two weeks late :)

My mom wanted to know why I hadn't posted anything on my blog about her visit, so I am now doing it a little late. The problem was that the day before she left was the day of the flooding so I was busy posting about that problem. Anyways, my mom came to visit me here in El Salvador for 10 days and it was truly amazing trip. I was a little nervous before she came about what we could do together in the community since she doesn't speak Spanish. Also, despite her promises that she would be a low-maintenance guest, I was unsure she could really handle taking bucket baths and the other realities of life here. Suffice it to say, I was extremely impressed with her. She was an amazing guest and was very interested in the culture and history of the country. She fell in love with my friends in the community and was so impressed with their genorisity. Despite not speaking Spanish, she learned enough to say "muy rico!" after she ate all the variety of food that was placed in front of her at the various houses. Also, I put her to work with me on a world map project I was doing at the school. She was a huge help and support (including a sponser!), and in the end the result was quite beautiful (see the pics). It was a great trip in all.

boat project!

Here are some pictures from the inauguration of the boat project that I have been working on with the fishing community that was affected by the flooding. With this project, the fishing cooperative (run by Don Edilberto, the man in the cowboy hat) will be given 4 boats, 3 canoes, and 4 motors. 25% of the money for the project came from the community itself. I am very excited about this project because I have been working on it with the community for the past year and a half and it's so wonderful to see it come to fruition. The idea for the project came from the community itself. They approached me and asked if I could help obtain boats for the cooperative. Of the 20 members of the cooperative, only 3 currently have boats. This severely limits the economic productivity of the members without boats, as they can only go fishing on days when they can find someone to lend them a boat. This project allows all members more regular access to boats. The cooperative will charge $3 to rent a boat and motor (or $1.50 for just a boat). The money will be saved by the cooperative to help repair boats in case of damage and hopefully buy more boats in the future.

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.