Walking With El Salvador

The following letters are not real, but the facts are real.  Names have been changed.  Several young people who have known me since they were little ones call me "Madrina" - it is a term of endearment which means "Godmother." Dear Madrina, Our prayers were answered!  I have work.  I am very excited.  I will start on Monday.  I will care for a cancer patient in her home - two 24 hour shifts per week.  It is a probationary job, but I feel really good about it because I am reminded of the care I gave my mother.  My cousin will babysit for my son and I can pay her too. God bless you! Your Amiga __________ Dear Amiga, Congratulations!  We are so happy for you!  You have a gift for caring for people who are very ill.  May God bless you as your new life begins! Your Madrina __________ Dear Madrina, I lost my job.  I cared for the woman for three days.  She died.  Now the agency won't pay me because I did...

The following letters are not real, but the facts are real.  Names have been changed.  Several young people who have known me since they were little ones call me "Madrina" - it is a term of endearment which means "Godmother" ________________________________________________ Dear Madrina, I am wondering if you showed the doctors up north the photo that you took of my leg.  I am so ashamed of my skin.  I only wear jeans.  Let me know what the doctors say. My big brother dropped out of school.  We need him to work to help support the family.  He is working at a mechanic shop.  Maybe you did not hear that my dad left for the United States.  I am worried about him because we have not heard from him for a long time. My little sister and I continue with our studies.  Did you like the necklace I made for you? Love,  Yenny Dear Yenny, I do love the necklace that you made for me!  I wear it often and people ask me where I g...

The following letter is not real, but the facts are real. Several young people who have known me since they were little ones call me "Madrina" - it is a term of endearment which means "Godmother" Dear Madrina, I hope this letter finds you well, surrounded by your loved ones. My situation in El Salvador has become desperate.  As you know, I still have not found work in my profession, despite the fact that I graduated from the university a year and a half ago.  In fact, no one in my graduating class has found work in our profession.  I am trying to survive, but I cannot afford even the smallest things like a few clothes or a notebook for my son. You asked what kind of work I have been doing to support us.  I buy small things and resell them on the buses that run near the community.  Yes, I know it is dangerous to hop on and off of the buses.  Yes, I know it is dangerous to carry the little quarters I earn on the bus because the gang members also come ...

Children hopping on trains.  Mothers carrying babies through the desert.  Thousands of dollars passing from families to coyotes  (smugglers who guide migrants to or across borders). Stories of the harrowing journey north, stories of abandonment by coyotes,  stories of arrest by immigration police, stories of help received along the way, stories of successful border crossings, stories of appeals for sanctuary, stories of deportation.  These are not stories of the moment, attractive in their drama to mass media.  These are not stories to be twisted for political rants. We see and hear the stories of thousands of Salvadoran children who left their homes or were sent from their homes by their parents.  They leave with a small bundle of clothes.  They carry no phones nor phone numbers so that drug thugs or gang members cannot track down their families and demand ransom.  They depend on the kindness of family and strangers in Guatemala to give ...

Hello Readers... Sorry it has been a little while since my last post.  As a local urban gardening coordinator and new grandma, I have had a few things taking me away from my writing.  Thanks for reading and commenting on some of my old stories during my haiatus! La Molina .  Whether the curved base and rolling stone, or the electric grinding machine, or the even the building which houses the grinding machine, it most often seems to be called  La Molina. If you look in the dictionary or come from another Spanish speaking culture, you probably use  el molino as the translation for "corn grinder."  I wonder about this, why in El Salvador the corn grinder took on the feminine article.  It seems appropriate and respectful of the hands of the women, who for centuries have passed hours rubbing or cutting kernels from the cob and more hours moving stone over stone to grind the kernels into masa  to make tortillas or pupusas. Corn is life, in El...

I volunteer at an urban church which is committed to gardening.  We garden on a re-purposed vacant lot.  We grow trees on a group of city lots that are not suitable for construction.  We garden in aquariums in a 3rd floor classroom.  We garden in a newly constructed greenhouse.  We grow disciples, and we grow food. One of the hats I wear is a woven straw hat that my god-daughter bought for me on a super sunny day in El Salvador.  One of the figurative hats I wear is Urban Greenhouse Project Coordinator.  I did not go to school to be a gardener or a botanist or a horticulturist.  I learned to raise a vegetable garden from my dad.  I started learning about urban gardening strategies from friends in El Salvador. One of the challenges whi ch El Sa lvador faces is high population density and lack of access to affordable, healthy foods in urban and suburban areas. People who live in the countryside with limited economic resources can manage to ...

No one goes into pastoral ministry to make their fortune.  Well, at least in Lutheran world.  In our ELCA congregational budgets personnel costs eat up the biggest slice of the offering pie, and congregations believe it is good and fair to compensate their pastors for all of the Gospel and community work they do.  Of course not every congregation is able to fully provide for a full time pastor, so congregations often find themselves working together, sharing a pastor, applying for grants or asking other churches for support. Those of us in companion relationships with the Salvadoran Lutheran Church have been long aware of the precarious situations in which pastors of the church live.  As a poor church dedicated to serving in poor communities often where no other denominations are present, the Salvadoran Lutheran Church struggles with sustainability.  Pastors work in multi-point parishes and are extremely dedicated to the work they do.  Most of their work ...