World AIDS Day

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS day. CSM has not ignored this! In the Unidad de Salud, which is the government run doctors office in San Luis, there is a slide show presentation about AIDS awareness and prevention. A nurse comes and gives a presentation to those waiting in the waiting room about use of preservatives, what are causes of AIDS, what are NOT causes of AIDS, and what are the treatments and consequences.

Also at the parking lot in the center of San Luis there is an activity and music of Grupo Morazan is playing right now. Grupo Morazan has devoted a lot of their music to AIDS awareness.

OSCA BLOG!

http://casaabiertasegundomontes.blogspot.com/

here is the website to the blog of OSCA!

Colomoncagua trip

On December 5th, the Pastoral Team will host an excursion to go to Colomoncagua, Honduras to visit the grounds where the refugee camps used to be and visit the cemetery and hold a prayer service. Tickets cost $3 and a lot of the community is excited to go because it is the 20th anniversary since the return.

Campaign for the health of Meymi

Meymi Guevara Serpas, 32 years old, is the star singer of the local group in CSM,Tiempos de Cambio. She has studied music at the Music School in San Luis and was a singer before for Grupo Morazan. She teaches music classes in the private school in Perquin, has her pwn msuic classes that are held in the ManCo building, and is a singer for Tiempos de Cambio that play at local fairs, community parties and are a big uniting presence in CSM.

Last night CSM started a campaign for her health. She has a bad heart and has a pacemaker, marcapasos, that needs to be replaced. The Radio is calling for the community to donate money for her heart operation and Juan Lucus has been driving around the RSM truck this morning with a microphone asking for support of the community for Meymis operation.

Another tragedy hit Tiempos de Cambio last week as well. Gustavo, the lead guitar player, singer of the group was in a bicycle accident and was hit and was brought to the hospital in San Miguel. Gustavo gave the guitar lessons in Copinolar at Yulmas house where I give flute lessons.

Please keep both Gustavo and Meymi in your thoughts and prayers.

Board visits CSM

A few members of the Board came down to visit partner communities in El Salvador last week. We went to the Bajo Lempa, San Salvador and Comunidad Segundo Montes.

Voices team met with various NGOs and partner organizations in CSM such as the Pastoral Team, OSCA and ALGES. They also saw the Steven Cagan pictures that are newly framed and preserved in the SILEM museum, which is in the process of reorganizing and presenting the photography exhibition. Board also visited the Revolutionary Museum in Perquin, visited with friends, swam in Rio Sapo and visited the womens cooperative, ADIM, in Quebrachos. We also met with Juan Lucus, the president of the Fundacion Segundo Montes, ARPAS and the Radio Segundo Montes and Mia, who is in charge of the Music School in San Luis. We also made a trip to Colomoncagua, Honduras to visit the grounds where the refugee camps were with various members of the community and the Pastoral Team!

In the Bajo Lempa we visited with ACUDESBAL, ADIBAL, went on a tour of the Nancuchiname Forest Preserve and had a meeting in the office of ACUDESBAL with Voices intern, Nicolle.

It was a great trip and more blog posts to come about the meetings we had! I want to say thank you to the Board that came down to visit in the last few weeks that I will be here volunteering in CSM! The community also has repeatedly asked me to say thank you for the solidarity with Voices on the Border and that they are excited to meet the new volunteer, Maria Hoisington, who will be volunteering in CSM.

Human Development in favor of people wounded by the Armed Conflict in El Salvador

ALGES has started a project on a national level. It is funded by the organization called Peace wtih Dignity. The project is attached in this entry!

Steve Cagan Photography Project

In 2007, Steve Cagan donated 71 black and white photos to the SILEM (Systema Local de Educacion de Meanguera) located in San Luis, Comunidad Segundo Montes. The pictures were taken in refugee camps in Colomoncagua, Honduras and their return of the refugees to repatriate and form Comunidad Segundo Montes.

In October, Voices on the Border and SILEM started a project with the photography. It is being mounted and framed to be better preserved by a professional photography in the Community, Augusto Vazquez. Youth from OSCA and I have interviewed various people in the community to put names and explanations with each photo.

The exhibit at the SILEM museum will be ready for the fairs celebrating the return from Colmoncagua.

Special thanks for the support from Voices on the Border and members of the Comunidad Segundo Montes in assisting with this project!!!

Spanish Volunteers work with OSCA

In September two volunteers from Spain came to CSM to replace Teresa who had been working with OSCA. This Spanish NGO program is run through the Fundacion Segundo Montes. Maria and Pilar aare both university graduates who studied horticulture.

The girls work mainly with the FSM but have been collaborating and supporting OSCA as well! Yesterday at the temple, Pilar gave a presentation about organic farming and its benefits to youth of OSCA. Behind the temple there is a plot of land where the Pastoral eam planted pineapples in April (with help from the USF students delegation). There is some more space and the OSCA youth are getting organized to learn about hortilculture and start planting.

They decided yesterday to plant cilantro, tomatos and cucumber and will start cleaning up the land on Tuesday at 4pm with the help of Pilar.

Pastoral Team raffle

Last Saturday I went shopping in San Salvador in Centro with Celina from the Pastoral Team , and her daugther! We bought prizes for the raffle to raise money for the roof. Celina and I bought the prizes to the meeting on Wednesday and later that day I typed up posters to advertise the event and sign up lists.

The Pastoral Team is mobilizing to sell raffle tickets and the drawing of the winners is for the Vigil on November 14th at the Temple in San Luis. Tickets go for $1 each.

Prizes are:
brand new, three burner kitchen camper stove with system
iron with protector
vegetable cutter
bread toaster

The team is excited to be raising funds for the temple!

SILEM Nursery in Guatajiagua

SILEM opened a nursery in Guatajiagua, Morazan a few months ago.am pretty sure that your internship is over and that you will be coming home soon. I am sure that we will chat more about this on the call on the 4th. The reas The nursery is currently located at the Casa Comunal and will be moving in about a week to SILEM´s own building. I want to note that in Guatajiagua live indigenous that speak Nahuat and Spanish.

Today a group of about 13 went to Guatajiagua and painted the building red and white! The inside walls are white with red childrens handprints in a line along the wall. The outside is red and white.

Leli Ventura and other members of her family, Marvin (who works at SILEM), Balmoris and two other youth from OSCA, Teresa (a girl from Spain who has been visiting the community CSM for three months) and myself spent the entire day painting! We left SILEM (in San Luis) at 8am and returned at 6pm.

It was a long day and the nursery only needs a new floor and a few more finishing touches!

red handprints

delirious after many hours of painting