This past week, seven youth participants from the two departments of Usulután and Morazán participated in a week long seminar on ‘Democracy and Youth.’ The seminar was organized by Voices on the Border and included dialoguing with:

-a representative from the online newspaper, El Faro

-the Magistrate Florentine Melendez

-a representative from the Social Initiative for Democracy

-the mayor of Mejicanos, Blandino Nerio

-a representative from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal

- representative Lourdes Palacio of the Legislative Assembly

Smiling Youth with their Diplomas

Posing for the Camera

Meeting with the Mayor of the Municipality of Mejicanos

Meeting with a Representative from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal

Meeting with the Social Initiative for Democracy

Relaxing at CESTA

Fun in the Sun!

Mural in the Church of Agua Blanca

This January, community members from the municipality of Cacaopera commemorated the 33^rdanniversary of the murder of Octavio Ortiz Luna, a

Traditional Dance

Roman Catholic priest who was assassinated on January 20, 1979. Born to peasant parents, Fr. Ortiz was born on March 22, 1944 in a town called Agua Blanca in the Municipality of Cacaopera, in the northeastern Salvadoran province of Morazán.

Fr. Ortiz took a special interest in young workers, whom he offered spiritual retreats and seminars. Ortiz had been leading such a retreat the night before

Governor Miguel Ventura Philosophizing on Liberation Theology

his assassination. At dawn on January 20, 1979, government troops burst into the retreat center, killed Fr. Ortiz and four youths, and arrested the rest. The government would claim that the retreat center was a guerrilla base.

The murder of Ortiz was characterized by Romero as part of a systematic persecution of the Catholic Church and oppression against efforts to reform a military dictatorship there to guaranty human rights for the poor masses.

Inaugurating the CEDESAN

On January 13th, Segundo Montes inaugurated the Center for Documentation and Technological Exhibition for Food Security (CEDESAN) in the colonia

Workshop on How to Create a Resume

Theater Performance on the Importance of Recycling

of San Luis, municipality of Meanguera. The Center is organized by PRESANCA, who according to their website, strives to reduce food and nutritional insecurity in vulnerable populations in Central America. PRESANCA is financed by the European Union, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, the United Nations Development Fund, and the government of Finland.

The CEDESAN will function as a space for personal, intellectual, and academic formation for youth from the three municipalities of Meanguera, Jocoaitique, and Arambala. Each week the Center holds open workshops on topics such as:

                                                                                                      How to prepare a work resume

                                                                                                    How to prepare and give a workshop to community members

                                                                                                   Identifying Work Opportunities

                                                                                                   Self-esteem and Personal Appearance

Setting up the Tents

On January 15^th, the National Youth Commission (CONJUVE) organized a camping trip for youth in commemoration of the 20 years since the signing of the Peace Accords. Youth participants came from the different departments of Morazán, San Miguel, San Salvador, and Sonsonate. The following day of January 16^th the youth delegation migrated to El Mozote, where the official commemoration of the signing of the Peace Accords took place.

Cultural Event: Los Torogoces Perform

OSCA Youth

CONJUVE Banner

The diagnostic will assess the feasibility of establishing the INCTAUES in terms of its potential to fulfill the guidelines put in place by the UES. The assessment will also calculate the required budget to begin classes, the architectural design, and define the degree choices that will be offered based on local needs and the territorial character.

          Morazán’s Reality of Educational Poverty

The Morazán population lives a reality of educational vulnerability. The only option to continue post-bachelor studies is to displace to the neighboring department of San Miguel or even to San Salvador. The percentage of native Morazán students that study in San Miguel is high. According to a representative of the University of Andres Bello, located in San Miguel, some 20% of their student population comes from Morazán. Such displacement requires extra cost and time.

The INCTAUES may provide a solution to this vulnerability; its structure will take into account the socio-economic vulnerability of its student population. The graduation requirements, for example, are completing 80 hours of module or unit rather than two consecutive years of studies (these two years can be an insuperable financial obstacle). In this form, students will be able to leave their studies for a time to work and save money and then to reinsert themselves.

          A Diversification of Degree Options

On January 17^th, civil society members, representatives from the local and national government, and representatives from NGOs met in ADEL Morazán to conform four consulting roundtables. The consulting firm, OBRA Latino, facilitated the dialogue with structured questions directed towards the participating parties. The questions were oriented towards reflection on the necessities of the department of Morazán also considering its labor potential. The roundtables discussed the territorial potential of Morazán and how to offer a diversity of degrees rather than replicating the traditional degrees that are already offered in San Miguel and San Salvador (computing and law). The following was discussed:

-The receptivity of local businesses to hire candidates with two-year degrees, also taking into account that there are no                                                 businesses in Morazán.

-How Morazán articulates, or has junction points, with the surrounding departments of La Union and San Miguel. The Port of La                                                Union was identified as a tourist and commercial center.

Workshop Graduates with their Kits

On January 12^th, 27 youth from throughout the department of Morazán (residents from the municipalities of Lolotiquillo, San Francisco de Gotera, Jocoaitique, Meanguera, Osicala, Chilanga, and Cacaopera) celebrated their graduation from an electrician’s seminar. As an effort to prepare youth for insertion into the labor force, the workshops covered both theoretical as well as practical

The 'Table of Honor'

applications of installing electricity in residential areas. The workshop was imparted by the Salvadoran Institute for Professional Formation (INSAFORP) through the Polytechnic University of El Salvador.

The international community was critical in the success of the workshop. The French Embassy invested some $13,000 towards the workshops as well as 27 electricians’ kits that will serve as the base of the graduates working tools.

OSCA Youth receiving his Work Kit

The workshop is one of many that has been organized through the National Commission for Youth (CONJUVE) that works to strengthen and promote leadership processes pertaining to integral health, violence prevention, education, and the environment.

The audience

Youth Receiving his Kit

Mark Meets with the Pastoral Team

Bartholet, Assistant Pastor at St. Peters Church, visited Comunidad Segundo Montes in the hopes of strengthening the sisterhood relationship that St.Peters has held with the Community.

Mark met with the Pastoral Committee and the OSCA youth group. He also visited the massacre site at El Mozote and the Technological Institute in San Luis.

Pastoral Team

Pastoral Team Presents their Strategic Plan

Pastoral Team

At the new Technological Institute

The new Instituto Technologico will offer two-year technical careers in Tourism and Engineering

Mural at El Mozote

Mozote Mural

Historia de Mozote

Patricia Hernandez

Paty Preparing Snacks for the OSCA

Community members of Northern Morazán are mourning over the death of a twenty-two year old university scholarship student as she was on her way to meet her fellow students at an end-of-the-year camping trip. On December 28^th, Patricia Isabel Berrios Hernandez was waiting on the side of the road for public transportation to take her up the mountain, when a truck coming down the mountain lost control and ran over her.

Patricia was in the stages to become a community leader. As a scholarship student, she was in her second year studying nursing at the University of Andres Bello in San Miguel. Patricia was also one of the eight founding members of the youth group ‘Organización Social Casa Abierta’ or OSCA as well as the founder of a youth group in her neighborhood of La Ladrillera, Hatos II.

La OSCA

 This year in an annual commemorative event of the massacre, local community members of El Mozote, government figureheads, and international solidarity workers came together in honor on December 10^th, sharing testimonies, music and theater performances.

Dance Group from Torola

This December 1^st, FSM held a closing ceremony for a food security project that was developed over a three year period in the two communities of El

Cooking Lunch

Progreso and Ojos de Agua, which are both located in the municipality of Torola. Financed by IRISH Aid, executed by the FSM, and coordinated by FSM agronomist, Ismael Gomez, the project covered several areas including agriculture, gender and leadership workshops, and environmental conservation.

The project worked to develop processes of production in both agriculture and micro business. With financing from the Irish organization and training provided by the FSM, the communities established a bakery, a candy-making business, a chicken coop, and community bank. Using organic methods, the 64 participating families planted vegetable gardens, tree nurseries, live barrier fences, and basic grains.

The Closing Ceremony in Torola

           Community Leaders in Training

A critical part of the project was the Building Leadership Skills component. Two community promoters, Reina and Fatima, who are both natives of Torola, gave six workshops of varied themes relating to building leadership skills, self-esteem, community organizing, etc. Each woman gave the workshops to three separate groups: the local community neighborhood boards, a committee of women and a committee of youth.

                    Signs of Local Sustainable Development:

-Improvement of diet and food security

-Self-employment with the bakery, chicken coop

-30% reduction in use of agrochemicals and non-degradable materials

-Improvement of environmental conditions and environmental sustainability

Dance Group

Posing