general

We've been here in El Salvador for 2 months now and about one month has been spent with our host family in Chambala. Up to this point it has been a mixture of challenges and rewards, but I think we both finally feel at home here and very accustomed to the country. The better experiences we've had truly vary from visiting the San Salvador Volcano and coffee co-operative to being able to work with our host family as they plant their onion crops. In every aspect of our lives here we have really enjoyed the natural beauty of the country. Having the opportunity to take in a different culture for such a lengthy period of time has been a blessing. I definitely know I will never be able to look at the United States or the world with the same eyes. We've also enjoyed watching how our host community works together on important issues like poverty and community building. There is something truly remarkable in watching communities come together for the first time in an effort to provide for the most needy among them.
As for the difficulties, I think being a married couple offers particular challenges when it comes to private space and time. We went from being married in February and having our own apartment in Washington, DC (where we lived a completely autonomous lifestyle) to living in a small room with a host family who have 8 children having most of our days planned out for us in some sense. This has presented the greatest challenge as both my wife and I have been adjusting to this loss of autonomy and seclusion. Obviously there have been other difficulties such as the language barrier, illness, cultural differences, and the like but none of these seem to be a constant source of irritation like the feeling of having lost our ¨personal¨ lives.
There are several main projects ongoing in our community but those we spend the most time on are: the construction of an onion storage facility and store, general aid to our family in their daily agricultural duties, repair and improvements to the rural roads, and the creation of a inter-community network. In respect to the first three projects, our duties are essentially manual labor. We've enjoyed this change from the more sedentary type of work we do in the US. The latter project is more interesting from an intellectual standpoint. The group OIKOS, a local non-profit, has been working with our community for several years, they are in fact the ones sponsoring the onion project as well. Currently, they are in the process of facilitating the meeting of community leaders from around the area in order to make them more independent from government aid as well as establishing networks for the future for other area wide projects. This is an extremely interesting process as none of the communities have ever worked together before. We've been allowed to sit in on meetings and watch the difficulties and successes of linking communities together and having them make important decisions on a more macro scale. At times our work in the community seems to be without a truly important purpose and that can be discouraging but I believe we have both come to a small understanding of the role we play. It is not for us to play the part of savior or even leader to our community, but to observe and learn what we can and take that back with us to our families and friends. If in some small way our presence encourages those we work with and live with to know that they are not alone and that people outside of their community do care then I believe we would feel some satisfaction in our work. Often when crossing the boundary between fear and courage, it is the knowledge that you are not alone in your fight that carries you through.