We didn't do as much our last week there because we had final projects to work on as well as group interview projects. I was in a group of six that focused on women's issues in El Salvador. We met with a representative from the 700 Club, a woman who works for the FMLN, one of the coordinators for the feminist organization Las Dignas, and with a very progressive theology professor at the UCA.
On Monday afternoon, we visited the chapel where Romero was killed on March 24, 1980, while doing a private mass. It's another of those sacred spaces--on the grounds of the [cancer hospital/hospice center] where Romero lived during the last [9] years of his life. The little house where he lived has been turned into a museum, and there are murals of him on the outer walls.
That evening, Guillermo Cuellar, the author/composer of the Salvadoran Popular Mass, came and gave an informal concert at our house. What the Popular Mass does is take each sung part of the standard Catholic liturgy and interts new songs that relate to the Salvadoran people's context, history, and struggles.
For those of you who don't know, Romero was the Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977- 1980. He was chosen for the position because he was known for being more conservative and it was thought that he'd be able to halt the process of social mobilization that was growing from within the Church through liberation theology. It didn't take long though before he had a change of heart and essentially became an embodiment of what liberation theology was -- the church working on behalf of and with the poor and oppressed, empowering them to organize and change their situation. He was killed for speaking against the repression by the army, against the government. He is honored here as a martyr, but more than that (for the war created many, many martyrs), he is revered almost on par with Jesus. Because what he did was really to put a contemporary human face on the historical person of Jesus and contextualized his teachings to the Salvadoran situation.
With his death, the government had hoped that that would put an end to the Church's radical teachings and to the social mobilization of the people -- the movement that Romero had helped inspire. Instead it had the opposite effect -- people were inspired to act out of anger against the injustices committed against them by the government, and full-fledged war began, lasting 12 years.
I'm so glad they decided to let us stay in El Salvador one day longer than originally planned so that we could attend the march to commemorate Oscar Romero. March 24 is the anniversary of his assassination, but the big hoopla was on Saturday and Sunday. The march was a really neat experience. It started at the Plaza Salvador del Mundo, where there is a statue of Jesus on top of the world and also a bronze one of Romero. Practically everyone was wearing a Romero or FMLN shirt. There was some talking and singing and chanting and vendors selling Romero and FMLN stuff. The march was supposed to start at 5:30, but we didn´t really get started until almost 6:30. It was pretty slow going--made my feet, knees, and back sore! People were carrying candles, posters, and banners and chanting, "Romero vive, la lucha sigue!" (Romero lives, the struggle continues!). It was very special to be able to a part of that, even though we didn't stay until the very end because we needed to eat dinner and pack.
As much as I loved Guatemala and am expecting to love Nicaragua, I think my heart really beongs in El Salvador. Not the capital -- I hate San Salvador, at least what I saw of it -- but the country. I think it's because of all the stories that it holds, that the people carry in their hearts. I like El Salvador for its history. I think the reason I am drawn so to Salvador's history is because of the church's role in the story. It amazes me how the Catholic church was able to change so much that many from the US probably wouldn't even recognize it as Catholic anymore. I am awed at how so many priests dedicated their lives to the cause of educating, organizing, and liberating the poor, instead of sticking with the status quo. Nueva Esperanza, San José las Flores, El Sitio -- communities that took their liberation into their own hands with the help of the church. Sadly, that led to more and more repression from the government, and also made people take up arms. But those communities have rebuilt, and they are still working for justice, because there is still so much discord and injustice, and poverty.
Things appear smooth on the surface -- marred only by the number of homicides and rate of emigration (700 people leaving per day). But underneath this calm exterior, calamity is waiting to happen. You see it in the vicious election campaigning, in the graffiti that criticizes the government, in the protests and unrest surrounding what were probably fraudulent elections, in the huge number of people that marched to honor Romero. Romero is one of my biggest heroes. We need more people like him. Knowing the state of the world today, it probably won't be too long before another great leader emerges. In El Salvador, the spirit runs deep -- it is pulsing with vigor -- it is a cocoon waiting to emerge into a free butterfly, no longer a blind, bumbling caterpillar, but extremely fragile. There has been "peace", but no resolution or reconcilliation. One day, that cocoon will burst open.
During our last week there, one of our speakers, Dean Brackley, told us that our job was to "come here, fall in love, get your heart broken, and go home ruined for life." My hope is that I can return home changed for life, rather than ruined.
But before I can do that, I get to spend 5 more weeks in Nicaragua! That's right--after an 11- hour bus ride from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm, we arrived at the Casa Jaime Mayer (the Center for Global Education house) in Managua, Nicaragua, last Sunday. I'll save my descriptions of Nicaragua for a later date so that this email doesn't get any longer than it is! But just so you know, we're taking a women's history class and one on political science, esp. globalization. And we're living (in pairs) with families. It's going well so far, but we have a lot of work to do!
