Rotary Scholar Matt Kopac - El Salvador

Other Club San Salvador Cuscatlán Activities

2009-11-22T04:55:00.000-08:00

I found my host club to be incredibly active in a variety of ventures which I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in and/or observing. I’ve already mentioned the club’s role in founding a local branch of Gift of Life which does open-heart surgeries for children (see blog titled “Music for Heart”) and its response to the natural disaster (see blog titled “Rotary’s Humanitarian Mission”). And it seems like every member has their own NGOs or side projects. Additionally, Club Cuscatlán has been active in the following ways:

Backpacks
An important annual campaign for the club is to provide backpacks full of supplies to needy children in the area. The backpacks cost $7/each and last year the club raised money for 20,000 backpacks. Some of the money comes from companies and organizations whose logos are then printed on the bags and the rest from philanthropic individuals. Rotarians and children alike light up when the bags are delivered. This year’s campaign has been much more difficult due to the economic crisis, but the club is still shooting for 15,000 backpacks. I facilitated a donation for my sponsor club in Hamden to take part in the campaign.

Advertisement for the backpack campaign - it helps when your President runs a print shop!

President Carlos Pocosangre kicks off event to thank last year's big givers

Presenting an award to one of last year's most generous givers

Award

Honoring Local Heroes

I also had the opportunity to attend a really well produced awards ceremony honoring El Salvadorans who have made a difference in their fields. One of the club members is a producer for one of the country’s main TV stations and he put together professional videos highlighting the efforts of each award winner. It was literally like watching the Oscar’s. Awards were given in the areas of human rights, the environment, the arts, and sports. (Unfortunately I forgot my camera that night.)

Voices de Rotary
Perhaps the event that impressed me most – which actually happened in April before my time – was a “Voices of Rotary” concert. In the early days of Rotary, founder Paul Harris and his friends used to sing as part of their regular meetings, which rotated among the homes of the members (thus spawning the name “Rotary”). Channeling this bit of history, Club Cuscatlán organized an impressive concert at the National Theatre with orchestras, ballet dancers and more. Every song featured a singer and every singer was a Rotarian. Some were famous names, others just average folks with a gift and some courage. Rotary sold 1,200 tickets and raised tens of thousands of dollars for local causes. I bought the DVD (also a fundraiser) and will be happy to show it off when I get home.

Social Events
The members of my host club also have developed wonderful friendships –as is common in Rotary – and they generously welcomed me into their family. On a number of occasions I joined Rotarians for lunch, dinner or drinks. On one particular occasion, I was invited to the going-away party for one of the club’s long-standing members.

National Conference
Finally, my sponsor club organized this year’s National Rotary Conference Nov 13-14. It was largely a social event with the chance for all the clubs in El Salvador to get together, network, celebrate, and do some strategizing. It was held at the Real Intercontinental, the same hotel where I attended the microfinance conference (see blog titled: “Microfinance Conference”).

The event kicked off Friday late afternoon with the Air Force Band playing a range of rousing tunes including the theme song from Star Wars. After the current Governor of Rotary District #4240 (covering El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) officially inaugurated the event, the band played the Costa Rican and El Salvadoran National Anthems.

Air Force Band

Club Cuscatlan kicks off the 2009 National Conference

District #4240 Governor inaugurates the conference

That was followed up by a nice evening of socializing, where I got to visit with members from all of the clubs I had spoken to over the course of my scholarship period.

Saturday was a full day and chock full of great speakers and presentations. A particular moving portion was a video shot by a fellow member of Club Cuscatlán on his visit to the disaster areas. I have posted a copy of it in the blog about Rotary’s humanitarian work post-hurricane. Another highlight was a presentation by Rodrigo Davila, a member of another San Salvador Club and renowned motivational speaker. He has two best-selling books and is a really great orator. I am sometimes skeptical of motivational speakers, but Rodrigo’s enthusiasm and delivery reminded me of why they can be so popular. He had a room full of adults dancing joyfully around like school-children by the end. Quite impressive. Rodrigo also joined us in the trip to deliver provisions to Paraiso.

Rodrigo Davila

Are you feeling motivated?

Next, there was some time set aside for breakout sessions. One of Rotary International’s goals for the year is to promote greater coordination and collaboration among clubs. I joined in with the emergency response committee. One great result was the resulting coordination between the San Salvador clubs to pool their resources and organize three helicopter deliveries last week.

Emergency response team

During dinner I was unexpectedly invited up to the podium and given a nice send-off by the President of Club Cuscatlán Carlos Pocosangre. He also game a warm thank you to the Hamden Club for their donations. I was invited to give a few words and I thanked all of the clubs for their kindness and hospitality, and for working so hard to improve communities in El Salvador and around the world. Of course, I also thanked them for supporting programs like my scholarship. My host club then presented me with their club polo shirt which I wore to last week’s trip to deliver humanitarian aid.

The conference ended with a night of dancing and celebration. I will sincerely miss the Rotarians from El Salvador, particularly the members of Club Cuscatlán.

Rotary Speeches

2009-11-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

One of the requirements – and highlights – of my scholarship has been to visit with and give speeches to area Rotary Clubs. I attended weekly meetings with my host club and gave my first speech in Spanish to them (see “First Rotary Speech”), but also made the rounds to other clubs. Over my 12 weeks, and really just over the past six weeks since I have been comfortable enough to give public addresses in Spanish, I have delivered speeches to five of the six San Salvador Rotary Clubs and one of the two clubs in Santa Ana.

In all of the speeches I gave the audience a history of Hamden and New Haven, CT, an overview of the activities of the Hamden Rotary Club, an introduction to Rotary’s Ambassadorial Scholarship Program, and a lecture on social entrepreneurship and VisionSpring's work in El Salvador. The speeches have ranged between five minutes and forty-five minutes. All have been graciously received by my hosts, many of whom speak pretty decent English but stuck to Spanish for my sake (and for the sake of their members who do not speak English).

Here are some pictures from the visits (unfortunately I did not get pics at all of them):

Speaking to the Santa Ana Heroica Club

Receiving a banner from the President of the Santa Ana Heroica Club

President of the San Salvador South Club

Receiving a banner from the San Salvador Maquilishuat Club

Rotary’s Humanitarian Mission

2009-11-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

n the days leading up to November 9th it started raining. And it didn’t stop. At one point, El Salvador received a month’s worth of rain in just four hours. As a result of Hurricane Ida and a low pressure system in the Pacific, the rains just kept battering El Salvador. As I hunkered down comfortably in my house in San Salvador cranking out my final project for VisionSpring – and to be honest enjoying the sound of the rain hitting my roof – I had no idea that communities were being destroyed as close as ten miles away.

The storms themselves did little damage, but the deluge of rain caused rivers to overflow and hillsides to collapse. Since so many El Salvadorans live along a river or at the base of mountains and volcanoes this spelled disaster. Roads were washed away, bridges collapsed, landslides crushed homes, crops were destroyed, and water infrastructure damaged. As of current count, 189 people died, another 80 are missing, and over 10,000 are homeless and living in shelters. It is the worst disaster in El Salvador since the 2001 earthquakes which killed over 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Here's a video that one of our club members put together about the disaster:

Like many other organizations, the Rotary Clubs of San Salvador have banded together to provide relief to those affected by the storms. I facilitated a donation by my sponsor club, the Rotary Club of Hamden, and then joined in on a humanitarian mission to provide bags of food to affected families. By now, most communities have received at least some assistance, but many families are still in dire straits. Most food rations bring provided last families at most a week and potable water runs out even more quickly. What is more, due to the floods and landslides some communities still cannot be reached by land.

As a result, El Salvador’s Air Force has played a critical role in the rescue and recovery efforts. They were the first to know of the unfolding tragedies – many communities were cut off when electricity and cell phone towers went down, but the Air Force does regular exercises to survey the country and so spotted the trouble – and were the first on the scene pulling people out of rivers and off of rooftops.

Allow me to digress briefly. The rescue and relief efforts are only part of and parcel of the expanded civil role the El Salvadoran military plays today. Something I haven’t had the chance to address yet in my blog is the President’s recent (and controversial) decision to use thousands of army personnel to support the national police in keeping the peace. Gang violence had risen to such unprecedented levels in October that the President chose to put the military back into the streets for the first time since they ransacked the countryside before and during the nation’s civil war (see various blogs including “Chalate” and “Perquin”, with more to follow on Monseignor Romero). Despite the terrible memories, most El Salvadorans were willing to turn a page on their history and tackle the country’s gang problem (see blog post “Las Pandillas”). But the military barely had the chance to get accustomed to their new role as law enforcers when they were called into action to respond to the national emergency.

Since one of the members of my host Rotary Club is married to the colonel in charge of overseeing the Air Force’s transport vehicles, we were able to take part in one of the Air Force’s many supply runs.

Rotaract Clubs assembled the supplies

The rest of us loaded up the truck

Rodrigo, Brando, Carlos and I pose at the Air Force Base

We were met at the Air Force Base by Lt. Colonel Villatoro, the spouse of Rotary Club member Claudia, and Colonel Angulo, the Commander of one of the Air Force’s two divisions.

Lt. Colonel shows us our destination on a map

Both gentlemen were modest but distinguished individuals who impressed me with their knowledge of rescue and recovery operations and genuine passion for humanitarian work. They seemed eager to help, and eager to show the constructive role that the Air Force is playing. Colonel Argulo and I swapped stories about our travels overseas. In particular, I appreciated his stories about his service in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. There he worked alongside servicemen and woman from around the world and the experience impressed upon him the value of speaking other languages. Without English, he and his fellow service members from all over the world would not have been able to communicate. Thus, he appreciated my efforts to learn Spanish.

Colonel Argulo's fly bag

After signing our lives away into release forms, we boarded a Huey, one of the iconic helicopters from the Vietnam era and our mode of transportation for the day. (After boarding and feeling the rush of the take-off, I decided that such helicopters should come with a build in CCR soundtrack.) The United States government has loaned El Salvador four helicopters for humanitarian missions, which the Air Force is putting to good use. The Colonel mentioned the Huey-Vietnam connection as well. Flying over the tropical landscape in the helicopter makes him think of “Heart of Darkness” or other Vietnam movies. The flight was exhilarating and the vistas beautiful.

Club President Carlos Pocosangre signing up for duty, Sir!

New Club member Renee and I pose before take-off

One of our Air Force guides looks out over the landscape

Unbelievable views from above Lake Illopango

And finally, here's a video of the first half of our flight:

[coming soon...]

But of course, the helicopter ride was only a means to an end. Our real purpose was to deliver provisions and to assess the situation on the ground in order to plan future missions. Over the course of the day we visited two communities, Paraiso de Osoria and San Rafael. We arrived in Paraiso (“Paradise”) and immediately received a briefing from the town’s mayor.

The Mayor of Paraiso meets us at the helicopter

And we brief each other in his office

We then proceeded to hand out the bags of food (there have been scattered stories of food being horded and distributed to political allies, so we were told we should distribute the food directly to the recipients). Our efforts at this time were directed only at people who had been forced from their homes (27 families in this small community), so the line in Paraiso was relatively short.

Families queue up for assistance

Colonel Argulo, Brando and Carlos get ready to give out bags

Rodrigo hands out a bag

...and I do the same

To be honest, part of me felt a little awkward about all the photographs and media attention by the mayor’s office, the military, and Rotary. For me, the giving and receiving this sort of aid seemed like something very personal. However, the recipients really did not seem to mind at all, or at least they understood that by taking photos groups like ours will be able to better communicate what is happening on the ground and motivate more donors to give. They were extremely appreciative.

As I was leaving the town center to survey damage to the town’s water infrastructure, a woman waiting in line reached for me. She took me by the hand and began to cry. She simply wanted to say thank you. For the first time in a while, I found that I was completely at a loss for Spanish (I actually find when I get emotional, I can only think in my native tongue). I scanned my brain for the right words to respond, but I couldn’t find any. “De nada”, or “it’s nothing” didn’t quite seem to cut it. Finally, after stammering for a few moments, I spit out that we were happy to help, would pray for her and would do our best to send more supplies. She smiled.

Next we visited the town’s water pump, a 15 minute drive down-hill. As we drove, we saw how rain water had torn through the earth, and how landslides had destroyed crops.

A landslide tears through crops outside of Paraiso

When we got to the river, we found that both the pipe that bring water to the pump and that which delivers water up-hill to three communities including Paraiso were broken.

The pipe to nowhere

People fill up from the broken water line to carry water back to their community - 15 min by car and much worse on foot

Making lemonade from lemons

For our next stop, we headed to San Rafael, a neighboring community. Like Paraiso, the relief efforts were well-organized. We visited a shelter where 59 families are being housed. Some of them lost their homes entirely and for others their homes are so precariously situated that they cannot return. Most return to their land to attend to their remaining crops and animals and sleep in the shelter at night. I had a nice conversation with a young woman, Sandra, and two of her four young children. Her home had been badly damaged by flooding and falling debris. We visited with the women who have been working week straight to cook and care for the displaced, and then we provided bags of food to each of the families.

The Mayor of San Rafael briefs us at the homeless shelter

I am going to be collecting money to help with the recovery effort when I return home so please keep your eyes out. Rotary is going to continue to provide food and water, has acquired temporary homes for 300 families and will continue helping people rebuild their homes and lives for the long-term.

The 20th Anniversary

2009-11-16T00:58:00.000-08:00

Last week was the 20th anniversary of the assassination of six Jesuits priests, their housekeeper and the housekeeper’s daughter at the local Jesuit University, the UCA (which I intend to write more about in a future post since it is so critical to the history of El Salvador). As such, the UCA hosted a series of events to commemorate and remember. Last Friday night I attended a moving chorale/orchestral/operatic performance in honor of Rufina Amaya.

El Mazote and Perquin

2009-11-16T00:53:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I visited the historical towns of Perquin and El Mazote. El Mazote in particular is not a trip for the faint of heart, offering El Salvador’s equivalent of the Holocaust Museum with its “Nunca Mas” (“Never Again”) message. While El Salvador is littered with sites where such massacres took place, El Mazote is infamous in El Salvador and across Latin America for the totality of the “cleansing” that took place on December 11, 1981.

On December 10th of that 1981, members of the U.S. trained infantry battalion “Atacatl” came to the town as part of "Operation Rescue", whose mission (from Wikipedia) was to “eliminate the rebel presence in a small region of northern Morazán where the FMLN had a camp and a training center.” Community members were ordered to stay in their homes until the next day, when they were rounded up and brought to the village’s small town square. Men were separated from the women, and children from their parents; all were taken to the church, the convent, or to various homes. The women and girls were raped, the men tortured, and the children either run through with bayonets or shot. Every person in the community (save for a few who escaped) was executed – over 750 people in total (estimates vary), over 400 of them children. Then all the buildings and bodies were burned.

The principal memorial is located in the town square. Behind a sculpture of a family, the names of those killed in El Mazote (in addition to names of other martyrs during the civil war) adorn a wall of simple adobe-colored panels. Like the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, the main focus is the names of those that perished.

El Mazote Memorial

The rebuilt church takes a similar approach, but with much more color. Above the names of the children killed and their ages, the walls are brightly decorated to represent childhoods never completed. Next to the church, a garden has been planted on the site where bones of over 100 children were found in the months after the massacre. The stones in the garden are still stained with blood and ashes.

Children's Memorial Garden

Children's Memorial

Children's Names and Ages

Names and Ages

Incredibly, a few individuals survived. One woman, Rufina Amaya, lived to tell the tale to two American journalists who visited the Morazán region soon after the massacre. She had managed to sneak away and hide in a tree nearby where she witnessed many of the atrocities, including the murder of her own children. She stole away to the hills and was found days later, dazed, traumatized and guilt-ridden. Although her account of the events in El Mazote were disputed aggressively by the Reagan Administration and by the El Salvadoran government, a 1992 investigation by the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador confirmed her account of the events. Today, Rufina is buried in the town square next to the main memorial.

Rufina's Grave

Here’s an interesting article from the Washington Post in 2007 with an interview of a soldier in the El Mazote massacre who has since renounced the government’s actions and is now mayor of the town of San Miguel.

Perquin is home to a museum on the history of the civil war. It is privately owned and considers itself apolitical, though sometimes folks on both sides disagree. One of its main attractions is Lt. Colonel Monterrosa’s destroyed helicopter, shot down by the FMLN. Monterrosa was the author of the El Mozote massacre.

Monterrosa's Helicopter

We also did some hiking in the area, including a quick jaunt up to the top of Mount Perquin, which included bomb crater and trench sitings, left over from the civil war. Perquin was the stronghold of the FMLN and the hidden location of the famous Radio Vencerremos ("We will be victorious").

And took in some spectacular views...

And finally we visited the Rio Sapo:

British traveler Gavin and me

Chalate

2009-11-16T00:18:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back I took a weekend trip to the department of Chalatenango. In addition to passing through Guarjila, the town where my good friend Dave did volunteer work while a student at Notre Dame, the highlight was spending time in and around the small town of Arcatao.

Arcatao

I arrived in Arcatao on a Saturday afternoon hoping to locate a Jesuit priest I had read about in my Lonely Planet guide. The town has no official accommodations, so the only way to spend the night was to ask for a room in the church compound. I was a little nervous after the last bus out of town departed and night started to fall, but Padre Miguel finally returned.

I expected Saturday to be an early night, but I ended up getting more than I bargained for. Padre Miguel invited me, along with a group of young Jesuit seminarians, to attend the graduation party for Guadalupe, a young man who had just finished her studies at the UCA, the Jesuit University in San Salvador. Guadalupe had received a scholarship through the church’s foundation on the condition that she returned to serve her community. We enjoyed a terrific meal, dancing, and great conversation.

Ladies Night

All right, there are a couple guys getting into it...

Jesuit Semanarians (plus a host) enjoying dinner

We rose early on Sunday to attend mass: three masses to be exact.

One thing that really struck me during the services was the iconography in the churches. Pictures of Monseignor Romero (former arch-bishop who was assassinated by the government – more on him in a future post) and Jon Cortina (a Jesuit priest who was dedicated to finding children missing during the civil war) were up on or next to the altar along with Jesus on the cross. On both sides of the altar were pictures of all the people who “disappeared” during the civil war. Along the walls next to the pews, the Stations of the Cross were interspersed with imagines of the martyred Jesuit priests and people suffering from government’s brutal crackdown in the 1970s and 80s. Padre Miguel’s sermons spoke to the importance of average citizens organizing themselves, working together to help their communities and to fight oppression.

Monseignor Romero is seated at the right hand of Jesus

Pictures of the disappeared on both sides of the altar

Modified Stations of the Cross: Massacre

Modified Stations of the Cross: Martyred Priests

What is more, the priest handed out a political newsletter – fiercely critical of the right-wing party, ARENA – after every sermon. It seemed empowering in a way, but at the same time it made my stomach twist a little. In contrast to the United States, in El Salvador the church has traditionally been a political instrument for the left, while right wing conservatives have criticized them for mixing religion and politics (though religious conservatives do advocate against abortion and gay relationships here as well). I tend to believe there needs to be an appropriate line between church and state, and religious leaders who use the pulpit to support a candidate or further a political objective cross that line (this also violates their tax exemptions). While El Salvador may not have the same church/state history as the U.S., the same debate exists. Thinking about the role of the Catholic Church during the civil war (and still today) made me reflect on the critical role the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) played in fighting against oppression and for equality for blacks in America. While the SCLC was a political organization, the majority of its original members were ministers. For SCLC members, there was a natural connection between their faith and their cause. The two could not be separated. The organization’s approach was indeed controversial, but effective. I guess how you perceive the involvement of the church is politics can depend to a good degree on which side of an issue you’re on.

El Salvador’s history does make me reflect on the role of the church in politics, but I cannot say I understand the founding principles of the country well enough to draw a comparison to the United States. I cannot say its founders were as committed to the separation of church and state for which Madison, Jefferson and others so passionately advocated. The society here also just tends to be more religious in nature that the U.S. – heck the country’s name means “The Savior”. One thing is clear is that this debate won’t be resolved any easier than it will be in the States. We will both continue to try and keep the appropriate distinction between the two, while recognizing that faith influences our perspectives and decisions no matter how hard we may try and keep it separate from our politics.

"Savior of the World", one of San Salvador's main landmarks

Padre Miguel was intensely involved in the struggle for rights for the poor during El Salvador’s civil war, and those rights were central to his ministry. He told me stories about the war, about the disappearance of his friends and parishioners, of fellow priests being killed by the government. He spoke highly of Jim McDermott, a congressman from Washington State who fought to end the American government’s support for the El Salvadoran government. He spoke less highly of other members of Congress who supported the Reagan Administration’s approach.

(On a side note, I learned that Madison, WI is the sister city of Arcatao! During the civil war, representatives from Madison snuck behind guerilla lines to better understand the reality on the ground.)

After attending the third mass and grabbing a quick lunch of rice, beans and tortillas at the home of a parishioner, we hit the road heading towards Nueva Concepcion for the town’s annual corn festival. We were accompanied by the young Jesuit seminarians and a collection of parishioners. The event was small town festival at its finest: families out celebrating with their young children, entrepreneurs selling food and drink, people strolling in the streets, and local bands strutting their stuff.

Are you ready to shuck?

And I have to admit: I was impressed by the clown. Clowns are everywhere in El Salvador – usually doing routines and asking for money on the buses. I tend to think clowns are more creepy than funny, but this guy had the crowd absolutely roaring.

We got back to Arcatao late in the evening and the next morning Padre Miguel drove me back to San Salvador.

Vietnam

2009-10-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Joey, Jose and I show our El Salvador pride

No not the country. It’s a section in the Cuscatlán Stadium, home of La Selecta, El Salvador’s national soccer team where last week I attended a game. I had been looking forward to the game for weeks. Although El Salvador had been eliminated from World Cup qualifying the week before, there was still excitement in the air. The game was a sold out. It was a game for pride against Honduras.

When I went to buy a ticket I had a choice to make: Vietnam, or not Vietnam. I had friends who insisted Vietnam was the real experience and I had to buy the $5 ticket that would get me into the “people’s section”, a sometimes explosive mass of passion, sweat and testosterone. My host family and some other friends counseled against it. They had always been too afraid to go into Vietnam. Stories of assaults and general anarchy abounded.

Of course, the choice was obvious. Vietnam it was.

So a fellow classmate, Joey, and a new El Salvadoran friend, Jose, and I set out for the stadium and the 6:00p.m. game. I had a disposable camera in my pocket, so as to not risk losing my digital camera (hence the pics aren’t very good). The afternoon started off well. As we waited for the bus, a pick-up truck full of young Selecta fans stopped and offered us a ride.

Party in the truck...

Getting ready for the big game

Outside the stadium

We arrived at the stadium, grabbed a couple beers and then made our way into the madness.

Inside Vietnam, police on ready

As we entered, fans were doing something very familiar: rowing. Everyone in Vietnam was sitting down, holding onto the shoulders of the person in front of them, and rowing front and back. It’s one of the activities of the UW-Madison student section during home football games. Good start. I then looked around, and noticed the fences keeping the Vietnam section cordoned off, particularly from the section of 10,000 rowdy Honduran fans. Maybe not so great a sign… Nonetheless, I felt a rush of energy as we made our way to our seats (unassigned, of course).

In other ways the scene also reminded me of UW football games. There was immense pride, plenty of vulgarity, a joyous belligerence. Plus many spectators had a pretty good buzz going. But there were definitely also departures from the UW parallel, and these departures are what most define Vietnam.

As we walked to our seats, we got noticed. As the attention of hundreds of fans turned our way, chants of “Gringo, culero!” began. Gringo is a somewhat derogatory (but not really) name for white people, and culero is an offensive epithet for homosexuals. Hands reach out to pull at our hair, and Joey felt drops of spit raining down. I should say that, while offensive, the insults did come with a smile. People weren’t angry; they were reveling in the culture of Vietnam.

In response, I did what came naturally: I looked up, smiled and waved. Horrified, Jose grabbed my hand, pulled it down to my side, and hurried me along to our seats, like a mother scolding her mischievous child. I guess I wasn’t supposed to respond that way. But nothing else came of it and we made it to our seats where we were not bothered for the rest of the game.

Sitting in the first row of the second section, we had front row seats of the action: the treatment of other passers-by, not to mention a great view of the game. The surprising number of women who were brave enough to sit in the Vietnam section endured a variety of slurs and chants. Hondurans also endured a salute to their national anthem:

One or two finger salute, depending on your style

I think what was my favorite tradition had to do with the dress code. All my friends told me the number one rule of Vietnam was to wear an El Salvadoran jersey, or at least something of a shiny royal blue. I soon learned why. Whenever someone walked by with an unacceptable shirt, the spectators would shout in unison “camisa, camisa!” or “shirt, shirt!” It was expected that the offender would take off his shirt. In most cases they did. When they didn’t, the spectators would take it off for them.

Person getting draped with flag before his shirt was stripped off

As well as trash talking, there was trash throwing. At Madison football games, people throw cups and trash and snowballs at opposing fans brave enough to sit in the UW student section; in Vietnam people would randomly throw bags of urine (luckily we did not get hit). Plenty of trash was also flung onto the field at opposing players and the refs. I hear that overall Vietnam used to be a whole lot worse when alcohol was served. I can only imagine.

How I can most easily sum up the experience? It was the epitome of Latin machismo, an over-wrought, testosterone-infused maleness that exists in Latin America and has equivalents elsewhere. The term is a way of being generally critical of male behavior, but unfortunately is also used by men and women alike as a way of justifying male actions.

In the end, I felt badly for women, gay people, and for the fans who tolerated the environment simply because they couldn’t afford better tickets. I sat next to Oscar and his three boys, who just wanted to enjoy the game.

Oscar, sporting an Italia jersey

Look, I love sports. I understand the value of sports as a channel for our emotions, and I definitely get the passion that comes from rooting for your home team. Spectator sports offer an opportunity for men to be boys (and sometimes women to be girls, though they seem to save themselves the embarrassment), to show their love for their team, and to let out their frustrations from other aspects of life. If the Packers lose, I am despondent for days. I wish that weren’t the case, but it’s true. There is something tribal in all of us and sports are a means to express it. However, in my opinion, Vietnam would do well to make itself over. Not going to happen anytime soon, but I am sure most El Salvadorans would appreciate it.

While El Salvador played hard and outplayed the visitors, La Selecta unfortunately lost the game, 1-0. On the upside, the Honduran squad qualified for the World Cup for the first time in over twenty years. Since El Salvador had already been eliminated, so the mood wasn’t terribly sour. Fans left smiling for the most part, freed of a little bit of stress after a rowdy night. Despite my cultural commentaries, I did have a lot of fun. I was glad to have experienced Vietnam and cheered on La Selecta.

And the evening ended as it had begun. The kind souls who brought us to the stadium waited for us after so they could drive us home. To me, these people represent the Salvadoran society I have experienced.

Las Pandillas – “The Gangs”

2009-10-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

One of the first words I learned in my first language class in El Salvador was “pandillas”, or gangs.

I knew vaguely of the pandillas in El Salvador, having lived for three years in Washington, DC. MS-13 was reported to be proliferating in the region and often made the news. I knew that some of the gang members had roots in El Salvadoran. El Salvador was exporting gang activity to the U.S. That was my basic understanding.

Of course, like with most issues, the reality is actually more complicated. To speak in economic terms, what if I told you that the U.S. has actually been a net-exporter of gang activity rather than the contrary? But that would be too simple as well.

How the Pandillas Came to El Salvador
During El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s, a flood of immigrants fled the violence to the United States. Many came to Los Angeles, arrived without a community or any economic opportunities, and found themselves sequestered in that city’s ghettos. Threatened themselves by violence, some children of the immigrants organized themselves into groups and made their way into the gangs.

The 18th Street gang (called “dieciocho” or “18”) is considered the largest in Los Angeles. In a perverse manifestation of an otherwise positive phenomenon, it was the first gang to break the racial barrier in the U.S., with members from all racial backgrounds. It is, however, a primarily Latin gang, and after initial battles the El Salvadorans made their way in alongside the Mexicans and members of other Central American heritages. 18 has upwards of 20,000 members in Los Angeles County alone. MS-13 (the 13th Street gang), which is the gang I recall was spreading in DC, is believed to be a splinter group of 18 and a bitter rival. Gang members can often be spotted by their tattoos.

Real subtle, dude

After the El Salvadoran Peace Accords in 1992, the U.S. government began deporting gang members of El Salvadoran origin back to their home country, and in 1996 passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which increased the rate of deportations. Over 30,000 alleged gang members were deported to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras between1998-2005. These individuals took their craft with them back to El Salvador, along with their rivalries. They had grown up in Los Angeles, in many cases spoke only halting Spanish, and often had no family but each other.

Today, the pandillas are a powerful and destructive force in El Salvador, with some 25,000 members in a country of about 6 million. They are largely responsible for the approximately 10 murders that occur in El Salvador per day. To put this in perspective, the same murder rate in the U.S. would translate into over 200,000 murders per year, compared to the 16,000 we currently suffer. The gangs have evolved and now re-export members to the States. They have moved from petty crime to sophisticated drug trafficking operations and mass extortion.

For example, the gangs extort money from bus drivers across El Salvador. Since those who refused to pay at first were killed, it is believed that the vast majority of drivers are now paying off the gangs. Also, if a retail business is seen to be doing really well for itself but has no customer base El Salvadorans tend to believe it is just a front for money laundering. In the malls, for instance, there are scores of expensive electronics outlets that you’ll rarely if ever see a customer step foot it. It does seem odd.

I have not personally experienced or witnessed any gang activity during my ten weeks in San Salvador, but this is not to say that their presence is not felt everywhere. Three of my classmates have been on buses where gang members have mounted and taken up a “voluntary” collection to pay for the funeral of one of their fallen brothers (though interestingly they, the foreigners, were not asked to give). In a country where most commercial transactions are done in quarters, people pulled out dollars.

Most of the activity is localized in neighborhoods of San Salvador such as Apopa and Soyapango, but the gangs’ reach stretches throughout the country.

So why don’t the government and the police do something?
As you know, I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but this is where the situation gets even more complicated. During over fifteen years of one-party rule which extended from the Peace Accords in 1992 until earlier this year, the government adopted theoretically popular but ineffective set of policies to curb gang violence including “Mano Dura” and “Super Mana Dura” (Super Iron Fist). Unfortunately, the policies were often used to crack down on civil liberties and opposition voices rather than to reign in the gangs. And the gangs were seen as useful agents for the government when opposition figures caused trouble.

Super Duper Mano Duro?

There is a widespread belief – and some would say fact – of connections between the gangs, the police, and high levels of government. Most people of means are protected by private security forces and therefore don’t have the political will to compel the government and police to change. And those security firms are owned by both the country’s most powerful political figures and individuals who give a lot of money to political campaigns. The firms make a lot of money when there is insecurity, and so political figures benefit from the insecurity.

This may be why there are more private security personnel than police in the country (some people have told me the ratio is 3:1, but from some brief online research the figures I found said 22,000 private security personnel compared to 16,000 policemen and women). Everywhere you walk in San Salvador there are security contractors guarding homes and business, in uniform with large guns strapped over their shoulders. It’s an interesting question. Are there so many private security forces because of the violence, or is the violence perpetuated as a result of a reliance on private security? I imagine there is a symbiosis between the two.

You talking to me? I need a license for this gun?

That the now-opposition Arena party is now railing against the new FMLN government’s inability to stop gang violence is simply a sign of the continuing political potency of the gang issue. There are few issues, if any, that concern El Salvadorans more.

Who is a gang member?
For some it is clear – tattoos. It is illegal to be a gang member, yet gang members often sport tattoos announcing their allegiance. Thus, the Arena government used to arrest and detain individuals on the basis of their tattoos. However, most were eventually released without charge due to lack of evidence of any actual wrongdoing.

For others, there are no clear physical signs of membership. What is clear is that there are so many gang members that have imbedded themselves into the fabric of the society that extracting them is a Sisyphean task. How a community fights this phenomenon without tearing itself apart, I don’t know.

To add to the violence and confusion, there are other people who actually pretend to be gang members to benefit from the culture of fear. A person extorting you for money sounds a like scarier when they say they are a member of “18”. Would you ask for ID?

NRA’s Dream World
Charleston Heston would have loved El Salvador. Guns are really easy to get, as are licenses. Don’t have a license? No problem! Of the private security firms I mentioned above, one-third have unlicensed weapons. The U.N. has estimated there are over 450,000 firearms in El Salvador, 60% of them illegal. Security firms, gang members, and average citizens all have pretty easy access to weapons, I am told. The new government is trying to crack down, but I don’t have any sense of how successful they have been thus far.

La Vida Loca

About a month into my stay in El Salvador, the country was gripped by the news of the assassination of famed French documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda. Here is his obituary in the UK Guardian.

Poveda had spent years living among and researching the 18 Gang and its heavily tattooed members. His goal was to try and help viewers understand "… why a child of 12 or 13 joins a gang, and gives his life for it." The week before the release of his film in France and days before his death, Poveda expressed concern to his friends and family that some gang members and the police weren’t happy with the film, pirated copies of which were already floating around the country. He was shot in the head by a gang member on September 2nd. Said a Salvadoran photographer, quoted in the obituary above, “Christian is just one of the 10 who will die today... If you look long enough down the throat of the lion, he will eat you."

I highly encourage everyone to Netflix La Vida Loca. It is raw, and while violent is not overly graphic. It is a sobering window into the gang culture of El Salvador, and leaves the viewer with a sense of - conspiracy theories aside - just how terribly difficult this issue will be to overcome.

El Salvador’s Currency

2009-10-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, the U.S. Dollar.

El Salvador is one of three countries in Latin American that uses the U.S. Dollar – the others being Ecuador and Panama (four other independent nations also use the dollar: East Timor, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau). The country made the controversial move in 2001, when the government unexpectedly announced one day in November that the country would be phasing out the colón (named after Christopher Columbus) and phasing in the dollar.

The government at the time argued certain benefits would come from dollarization. First, they felt that the dollar would help keep inflation in check (since dollarized countries tend to be more restricted in the amount of currency then can print, hyperinflation is a rarity). Second, the move was also meant to boost investors’ confidence in the economy, reduce interest rates and increase foreign direct investment, and spur economic growth. Indeed, foreign direct investment has climbed from $1.97 billion in 2000 to $2.6 billion in 2004. Next, it was seen as a way to force the country to diversify its economy by financing public debt through ways other than printing money. What is more, so much money is already sent in remittances from the U.S. in dollars – totaling more than one-third of the El Salvadoran economy – that simply having the dollar as a currency simplifies matters.

However, the move was deeply unpopular at the time and remains so among most El Salvadorans I have interacted with (though in full disclosure I don’t know many people from the upper class who might feel differently) for a number of reasons:

• Prices spiked for every day goods during the turnover. This is similar to what European countries have experienced with the changeover to the Euro;
• The 8.75 colón to $1.00 exchange rate was tough to calculate while both currencies were still in circulation. I’ve heard some stories about people struggling to figure out the conversion, leading to lots of wasted time and a run on calculators. All through the streets, people could be seen punching in numbers - to such a degree that I imagine that among the greatest beneficiaries of dollarization were calculator manufacturers;
• For people who were illiterate, the new money was incomprehensible, at least for a time (they had relied on the colors of the previous currency as evidence of a bill’s denomination);
• El Salvadoran exports became more expensive than products from non-dollar countries, hurting local manufacturers;
• All of a sudden (and still) people had images on their money that meant absolutely nothing to them. Can you imagine if the U.S. all of a sudden adopted another country’s currency? It would be quite strange. I have always been proud to look at our money and see great leaders like Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington staring back. Sure, the cryptic symbolism on the reverse side might be a little confusing at times, but I like that our currency speaks to our history. Of course, the primary objective of a currency is not to serve as an expression of national pride, but it is an added bonus;
• Many people seem to see the changeover as simply another example of a corrupt, out-of-touch government making policy to benefit the wealthy (it’s hard to overstate the extent to which class comes into play in El Salvador, with its history of authoritarianism and incredible inequality). I’m told there was a limit on the amount of colóns that could be exchanged into dollars in a day, which made both money laundering and getting your money out of the country quickly in case of political instability more difficult.
• Many El Salvadorans are wary of giving the U.S. more control over decision-making in their country (of which we already has plenty). They see dollarization as a loss of soverienty, for El Salvadoran monetary policy is now essentially made in Washington, DC.
• Finally, there’s no evidence that the change has measurably affected the lives of the poor, except to make consumer goods more expensive for them.

I think the economic growth decision must have been the linchpin for the ruling party at the time (if not the corruption – I’m not in a position to say), for El Salvador had pretty stable inflation at the time and was not anywhere near a crisis. While it could still turn out for the best, this quote from Latin American Politics and Society seems to echo most of the articles and reports that I found:

“GDP growth has averaged 1.9% over the past five years -- the most sluggish of any Central American country... Although this predicted growth may indeed take place in the future, the data collected thus far demonstrate that El Salvador did not need such a drastic measure and that the policy is not generating the expected economic growth.”

So the decision is still up for debate, though few talk seriously of going back to the colón. The dollar is here to stay.

First Rotary Speech (and in Spanish!)

2009-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

I gave my first Rotary speech today to my host club, Club Cuscatlán, my first ever public speech done entirely in Spanish. Unfortunately I neglected to ask anyone to take pictures during my speech and PowerPoint presentation, but I can report that it went well. The approximately 40 minutes of speaking and questions went smoothly and won praise from the (albeit unconditionally supportive) audience of about 20 members. I focused my speech on four topics: a brief history of Connecticut, Hamden and New Haven; an introduction to the Hamden Rotary Club and their projects in Hamden, CT and around the world; an overview of the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship Program, accompanied by a strong pitch for the Cuscatlán Club to sponsor local students; and finally an overview of social entrepreneurship and the impact organizations like VisionSpring are having in El Salvador and around the world.

There were some times when I found myself reading my notes a bit – something I try hard to avoid when public speaking – but overall I was pleased with the performance. I am already working on revisions and improvements before my second speech next week. I have already scheduled five more speeches to other Rotary clubs in San Salvador and Santa Ana, and am in the process of scheduling speeches at local universities in order to promote the Rotary Scholarship Programs.

Sarah’s Visit and Sightseeing

2009-10-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to get a visit from Sarah this past week. In addition to fitting in Spanish classes (to which Sarah accompanied me, building on her already solid Spanish), we paid visits to El Tuncon, the surfer beach I referenced in an earlier post; Lago Coatepeque, a beautiful crater lake in the west of the country; and El Pital, El Salvador’s highest point. Gotta love small, accessible countries.

We started the week by relaxing on the Playa del Tuncon, or "Pig Beach":

El Tuncon, a quiet surfing hamlet

On the way to the beach...

Once again, Sarah proved herself to be the quick one, pointing out that the rock actually does look like a pig - a pig on its back

Sarah's "Baywatch" moment

Whoa Bro!

Sarah and me

At Lago Coatepeque, we hiked to the summit of the Santa Ana Volcano (an active volcano whose last eruption was in 2005) and took in fantastic views of the volcano’s crater:

View of Cerro Verde and Izalco Volcano on the hike to the Santa Ana Volcano

Me trying to keep up with Sarah, with view of Lake Coatepeque in the background

Sarah peers into the crater

Sarah and me above the Santa Ana crater

Great view of Lake Coatepeque

Storm brewing at dusk in front of our hotel

We also did a little canoeing around the lake and did some swimming:

In San Salvador, we celebrated Sarah’s 30th birthday with my host parents Rosa and Angel, our good friends Rafa, and my Japanese host step-brother Také.

Here’s us singing rousing renditions of “Feliz Cumpleaños” and “Queremos Pastel” (“Happy Birthday” and “We Want Cake”):

Také, Rafa, Angel, Rosa and Sarah

Next, Sarah and I hiked to the top of the San Salvador Volcano, this one long since dormant.

San Salvador Volcano

Then, this past weekend we hiked to El Salvador’s highest point. To be honest, it was a little anti-climatic, what with the cloud obscured views and the barbed wire fence running over the marker at the summit, but we did enjoy a nice hike.

To El Pital or to The Clouds? A false choice.

At El Salvador's highest point (2730m)

Sarah reaches the top. Whew!

Seriously, this is the only view from the summit

Can you say, LOST? You could almost hear Rousseau's message playing... "Il est dehors..."

Sarah takes a ride on the zip line

A nicer view from near the summit

Finally, we toured around the famous city of La Palma. La Palma is an eclectic art enthusiast's dream, and is where Fernando Llort, El Salvadoran painter of world fame, founded what is called “Naïve Art” and formed local cooperatives to learn the style and make a living from it. From the Lonely Planet: “These bright, primitive images of mountain villages, campesinos [villagers] or Christ images are painted on anything from seeds to church walls.” Incredibly, 75% of the town makes a living through this art form. Here’s a selection of sights from La Palma.

Seriously, almost everything becomes art in this town:

Garage Door

Brick wall

Telephone post

Decorative park wall

Sidewalk

Park bench

Building in town

Restaurant wall

And yes, municipal garbage truck (see top of truck bed)

More on my project, production in China, and VS as a market competitor

2009-09-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, VisionSpring’s principle product in El Salvador – and in fact worldwide – are its ready-made reader glasses. The organization contracts out eye testing and production of glasses for more serious conditions to another local organization. What VisionSpring has asked me to do is to study their business, study the landscape, and then work side by side with the country director, Heidy, to develop a business plan for VisionSpring’s own full-service optical service shop. I have been doing a lot of research this past week and laying out the framework of the plan.

One of the reasons VisionSpring is able to sell at prices below their competitors is that their ready-made reader glasses are made in China. See the following link to get a description of the factories VisionSpring purchases its glasses from in China: VisionSpring production in China.

However, people with more serious eye conditions often need custom made glasses. With production to delivery times often exceeding two months, it is obviously not feasible to custom make glasses in China. That is why VisionSpring’s partner organization (mostly) custom makes its glasses in San Salvador. I say mostly because I learned that most of the companies that make glasses in El Salvador still purchase their frames in China (or sometimes Italy, of all places).

To get a better idea of the production and distribution of glasses in El Salvador, I visited Oscar in San Salvador, who in addition to being a licensed optometrist who works with VisionSpring on the side also runs a family laboratory making eye glasses. Oscar informed me that no frames have been made in El Salvador since the mid-70s when all production moved to China (and a couple of other countries). In fact, Oscar lost his job making frames in El Salvadora in 1973 when his factory moved to China. With some assistance, he went back to school to become an optometrist, studying in Guatemala (there was no technical licensing program in optometry in El Salvador until this year).

Don Oscar in his lab working on a pair of glasses

Oscar works intently, trying not to be distracted by my presence

Oscar's son Paulito poses with some machinery

Years later, in the early 90s, Oscar had a friend who made glasses who was unhappy with his supplier in San Salvador. Oscar told him: “give me six months and I will meet all of your orders going forward.” He invested in the necessary equipment and has run his business ever since, assisted by his wife, son, daughter, and other family members. Today he sells glasses to the non-profit partner of VisionSpring for just above cost – cheaper than he sells to other clients – because he knows how much good VisionSpring is doing for people in his country.

So how is VisionSpring able to sell at a price so much lower than many of its competitors? It’s in part because they make their ready-readers entirely in China and ship them over in bulk. Due to standardization and bulk buying, VisionSpring is able to keep its costs down. Moreover, as a non-profit I assume VisionSpring’s overhead costs are lower than some competitors, not to mention the fact that VisionSpring, while it aims to be self-sufficient, is not pressured to maximize profits through its sales. (As a double-bottom line business VisionSpring does a balancing act between making an impact and trying to bring in revenue, but priority is placed squarely and firmly on making a difference in the lives of low-income individuals.) Finally, VisionSpring is able to keep its prices low due to the support of charitable contributions.

Finally, what may also account for the price differences is that the market in El Salvador is dominated by an oligopoly which produces the majority of the country's glasses and sells them through their own high-priced outlets. Thus, there is also a potential opportunity for VisionSpring to sell to individuals with higher incomes, thus growing the business and making it possible to serve more low-income people.

In addition to working on a business plan for the optical shop, I am in regular contact with the country director to help analyze other aspects of the business, basically offering general strategy consulting services. I may also help train up some new Vision Entrepreneurs next month.

VisionSpring El Salvador

2009-09-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

VisionSpring launched its first ever Vision Entrepreneur program in 2002 – in El Salvador. While in most countries VisionSpring works through franchise partners, El Salvador is one of the exceptions where the organization manages operations directly through its own Vision Entrepreneurs (VEs). And whereas VisionSpring works almost exclusively in rural areas in other countries, in El Salvador VisionSpring works in both rural and urban areas. The program is small compared with operations in India, for example, but as a result of VisionSpring ownership over the program and thanks to an experienced, talented team on the ground, El Salvador is a great place to test the model and innovate.

In El Salvador, VisionSpring reaches out through its VEs to potential clients through vision health campaigns, principally in and around the city of Santa Ana (about a hour from San Salvador where I live). The VEs are basically franchisees of the larger non-profit organization. They are given extensive training in eye assessment and business, and then are given a “business in a bag”: all the tools necessary to carry out campaigns, including the glasses to sell. The VEs then go out and manage their own franchise, and after making money from sales they pay a consignment fee to VisionSpring. Instead of microfinance, this is micro-consignment. That is to say that not only is VisionSpring providing low-cost eye glasses to the people who need them most; it is also creating good jobs in the communities in which it works.

The VEs contact schools, churches, mayors’ offices, friends and neighbors, and other groups and individuals to attract people to the campaigns, where attendees receive free eye exams. From the get-go, VisionSpring sets itself apart, as all traditional retailers in El Salvador charge for eye exams, some for just $1.00 but the vast majority for upwards of $25. What is more, most of these exams do not test for one’s overall eye health; rather, they just tell people what prescription they need.

VisionSpring glasses range from $5 to $15 for basic corrective lenses.

VEs Don Renee and Don Nicolas pose with glasses in the VisionSpring office

And they also sell a variety of models of sunglasses, including sweet aviator glasses, for just $5! Here's me sporting a pair:

No wait, that's not me

Okay, there I am with Don Renee and Don Nicolas. I guess I'm more of a Goose than a Maverick anyways.

This is compared to anywhere from $40 to $100 at competitors, many of whom are none too pleased that VisionSpring is able to undersell them. BJ Optical in particular must be thrilled that VisionSpring set up shop across the street.

Across the street

At VisionSpring campaigns, attendees take a basic eye exam. If all they need are basic corrective lenses for presbyopia, VisionSpring has them on site for sale. In addition, VisionSpring tests for a variety of other more serious eye conditions, including myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia, and cataracts. But more on this in a second.

My first weekend in Santa Ana I attended a campaign with Heidy, the country director, and her husband Nelson, a VE. It was held at a local religious school. VisionSpring had done a campaign previously for children, and this weekend the parents were invited to get checked out. Approximately 30 people attended, about 20 of whom purchased glasses on the spot.

There's a lot going on in this pic: in the foreground, patients waiting for eye exams; behind them, Nelson gives an eye exam; in the background, Heidy is helping a patient try out a pair of glasses.

Nelson and Heidy work their magic

Of the remaining patients, five were invited to a bi-weekly clinic where they could see a licensed optometrist (as is required by El Salvador law for more serious eye conditions); the rest either did not need glasses or decided to wait on purchasing them.

I attended the clinic the next day, where Oscar, an optometrist from San Salvador was checking out once again about 30 attendees who had accumulated from the previous two weeks’ campaigns. After checking each person out, he either wrote them a prescription for custom-made glasses or made referrals for serious conditions such as cataracts. The glasses cost in a range of $25 to $50, whereas most competitors charge between $70 and $300.

Of the attendees, I cannot generalize, only relay how different each person and their needs were. Examples include young Michelle, who was told she needed surgery for $800 to correct her vision, or at best had to buy glasses for $100. VisionSpring’s partner organization was able to address her problems with a pair of $30 glasses.

Michelle poses in her new glasses

Don Santos had glasses from an optical center in town which he paid $60 for. VisionSpring’s partner organization was able to provide him an updated prescription for just $35.

Patient Don Santos with optometrist Don Oscar

Oscar with another patient

Oscar and patient close up

Other examples include a 10 year old girl who’s had vision problems for 10 months. Nothing too major, but a pair of permanent glasses will help her with short and long-range vision; a 20 year old woman who has had headaches for five years, and just needed a pair of permanent glasses for long-range vision; a 38 year old woman who works as a secretary and has had vision problems in one of her eyes for over a year – she was prescribed a pair of permanent glasses; a 45 year old man who got a pair of glasses to help him with reading (his prescription was outside the range of what VisionSpring’s glasses cover); and a 70 year old who unfortunately needs cataract surgery and who was referred to a surgeon.

What’s important to note about this clinic is that VisionSpring currently contracts out this service to another organization in El Salvador. While we have a good relationship with this organization, VisionSpring is looking to study whether it would be feasible to take over this aspect of the business themselves, and then improve it and scale it to help even more people access affordable eyewear.

This is where I come in (more in the next post).

VisionSpring Introduction

2009-09-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

I have been deeply immersed over the past three weeks in my work as a Volunteer Strategy Consultant with VisionSpring. This weekend is the third weekend in a row that I am in Santa Ana working with local representatives of VisionSpring in their headquarters and in the field. It has been a terrific experience thus far, and I have been incredibly impressed by the commitment and quality of the field staff. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of a learning experience, and as I continue to deepen my knowledge about VisionSpring and the local environment, I have started to dig into my project.

Country Director Heidy, her daugher Esmeralda, and me

But first a bit more about VisionSpring, a non-profit organization whose mission is “to reduce poverty and generate opportunity in the developing world through the sale of affordable eyeglasses”. While working on medical missions, VisionSpring’s founder, practicing optometrist Dr. Jordan Kassalow, became aware of how difficult it is for low-income people in the developing world to access affordable corrective eyewear. He regularly encountered people who if they could only see better could be happier and more productive for years longer. VisionSpring has estimated that an “investment in one pair of glasses can generate a greater than 27X return to the wearer”.

Thus, Dr. Kassalow co-launched VisionSpring in 2001 under the name Scojo Foundation with Scott Berrie. The model they developed is to sell low-cost “ready-made reader” glasses for people suffering from presbyopia, an age-related condition where people find it progressively harder to focus on close-range objects. This condition affects the majority of adults over the age of 40, so the need across the world is substantial. In fact, many of you reading this probably know exactly what I am talking about because you wear glasses for just this condition. Whether you are sewing, reading, or using a computer, presbyopia can make otherwise simple tasks extremely difficult. When one’s livelihood depends on being able to see clearly, such as for a seamstress, the ability to perform those simple tasks can be critical.

The glasses are sold through two principle channels: the first is through franchise partners who deploy the VisionSpring model through their own networks; the second is through a direct Vision Entrepreneur channel, which I will describe in more detail below because it is the model used in El Salvador.The idea quickly took off both in terms of growth and accolades.

Today VisionSpring is serving India, Bangladesh, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ghana, Ethopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia, with pilot programs and/or designs for a slew of other countries. Among a long list of awards, VisionSpring recently won the 2009 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, one the most prestigious awards in social entrepreneurship.

Here’s a cool article that was in Ode Magazine back in March.

Despite the impressive results, one thing I really appreciate about the organization is how humble and honest the headquarters staff is about their business model and its limitations, which I think makes them more likely to learn from challenges, and overall makes them a better investment. This is probably an important reason why VisionSpring has been able to raise a sizable equity fund to continue to grow the business.

Music for Heart

2009-09-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

One of the many incredible projects that Rotarians make possible is the provision of life-saving open-heart surgery for children with congenital heart defects. Like its famous polio campaign which practically eradicated polio worldwide (Polio Plus has recently been launched to tackle the disease in the few countries where it has lingered and recently resurged, such as Nigeria), Rotary is helping provide surgeries worldwide. I originally learned about this effort from Lynda Hammond, a member of my sponsor club (Hi Lynda!), who sits on the board of Gift for Life International and who is a passionate advocate for children’s health across the world. In El Salvador, I was able to witness this effort on the ground.

As I learned from the heartfelt presentations made by Brenda Small, President of Music for the Heart Foundation, and Rob Raylman, Executive Director of Gift of Life International (both Rotarians), the statistics of this problem are daunting: in El Salvador alone more than 1,200 children are currently on the waiting list for surgery. To be honest, I had no idea that so many children suffered from life-threatening congenital heart defects. What I could have told you is that most developing countries are not equipped to handle serious health issues; to no one's surprise, open heart surgeries are no exception. Thus, Gift of Life and Music for Heart were in El Salvador all this week. They saved 57 young lives.

Historically, Gift of Life’s approach was to execute the surgeries with their own international staff, but they now have a push to train local health professionals and build local capacity so that countries can provide the surgeries themselves. Gift for Life is currently amidst a campaign to train up health professionals in Uganda (and as Brenda stated in her remarks, nurses are especially crucial), and now Brenda and Music for Heart are going to be focusing their time on building capacity in El Salvador. Currently, the country is not equipped to perform any such surgeries without outside assistance, lacking qualified professionals and equipment.

Rotary International Foundation’s role has been to generously finance most of the operations of Music for Heart Foundation, Gift of Life International, and other partner organizations, while the local clubs – in this case my host club, the Cuscatlán Club of San Salvador – contribute their own resources and handle many of the logistics on the ground. Rotary is also looking at ways to assist the children and their families after they have had surgery, as some unfortunately return to impoverished conditions once their procedures are complete.

Last night the Cuscatlán Club had a special club meeting where we heard from Brenda and Rob, met visiting Rotary volunteers from the States, and had a special visitor named Jordan. Jordan has been in need of heart surgery since birth, and he has been on the waiting list now for four years. Thanks to special fundraising done by Brenda’s daughter’s Irish dancing squad, Jordan’s family will be able to afford the surgery. The girls also sent along their championship trophy from a recent competition as a gift to Jordan. He was accompanied by his parents and two brothers.

Jordan receives a trophy and a special message from Brenda

Jordan receives a trophy and a special message from Brenda

Club Member Victor receives the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Award for his work on the Music for Heart campaign

Newly elected District Governor Mario Andino addresses the club

Brenda and Rob pose with Victor and other club members who helped lead the effort

Today, I was able to catch the end of the week-long campaign and visit some of the recipients of life-saving surgeries at San Salvador's Bloom Hospital. Rotarian Guillermo and I were escorted around the hospital by an incredibly helpful young woman, Gloria, who works with a local organization that coordinates the medical logistics of the operation. I was able to meet four girls, aged between a few months and 15 years old, who were being released from the hospital after successful surgeries. One young girl of about seven years, Jennifer, showed me the bandages on her chest that were covering up the sutures from her surgery. It was incredibly moving to visit with these healthy, vibrant girls who until just a few days were lethargic, sick, and incredibly vulnerable.

I pose with Jennifer and her parents, along with one of Rotary's gift bags

Guillermo with Camille and her mother

Guillermo with young recipient and her father

Guillermo with volunteer Gloria, young recipient and her mother

If you'd like to make a donation, please visit: www.giftoflifeinternational.org/pages/index.php

First Rotary Meeting

2009-09-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

Last week Tuesday I attended the first of what will be many Rotary meetings in El Salvador. I was warmly welcomed by the Cuscatlan Club, my host club, which meets weekly at the Sheraton “El Presidente” Hotel in the upscale Santa Rosa neighborhood of San Salvador. It was a little strange but nice to go from my environment of public buses and busy streets to the quiet valet-parking world of the Sheraton.

Welcome from the Club President

The meeting kicked off at 7:15am, as approximately 30 club members gathered around the room. I arrived early, and was able to make the acquaintance of most of the attendees before the meeting started. The group began with an invocation, a Rotary pledge, and then the El Salvadoran national anthem. As we enjoyed our breakfast, members went around the room and introduced themselves. I learned that most of the members are involved professionally in construction or run local businesses. And the group was ethnically diverse with members of Latin American, European, Asian, and Middle Eastern decent (apparently there is a sizable Christian Palestinian population in El Salvador).

Through conversations and announcements, I learned that the club focuses their charitable largely on medical missions, such as open heart surgery and cleft-lip surgery, and I am going to be volunteering by sitting with families while they wait for their loved ones to finish on the operating table.

I also learned there is national Rotary conference in November which I will be excited to attend.

The meeting featured a speaker, Julio Hernandez, a well-known and (depending who you talk to) controversial political figure in El Salvador. What what my host family tells me, his political party, the FDR, used to be the political wing of the FMLN guerillas during the civil war during the 70s and 80s. However, at some point after the signing of the peace accords in 1992 – the exact point in time I am not sure – the FDR and the FMLN had a falling out. In the most recent presidential election, the FDR spoke out against Mauricio Funes, the candidate of the center-left, preferring instead to ally itself with the right-wing Arena party.

Julio Hernandez

On the topic of speaking, I made tentative plans to address the club in three weeks when their schedule opens up. I hope to then go and speak to the other San Salvador clubs as well in the weeks that follow.

The meeting was a cursory introduction to the Cuscatlan Club, and I look forward to learning more at this next Thursday’s meeting (meetings are typically Tuesday mornings, but the 15th is El Salvador’s Independence Day).

Members of the Cuscatlan Club listen to the guest speaker

Rotary's Four Way Test (in Spanish)

I have also started work on my project with VisionSpring, which I will write more about this next week!

Central American Microfinance Conference

2009-09-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

I had the great fortune to be in San Salvador at the same time as the Encuentro Centroamericano de Microfinanzas 2009, or the 2009 Meeting of Central American Microfinance Institutions. I have my friend Scott in New Haven to thank for tipping me off.

The conference was sponsored by ACCION International (www.accion.org) and the Citi Foundation (www.citi.com/citi/microfinance), and attended by non-profit microfinance organizations, for-profit microfinance institutions, government representatives, rating agencies and other interested parties. The conference ran a day and a half and was chock full of experiences from the field and lots of new Spanish vocabulary words.

Panel topics included responding to the regional economic crisis; funding microfinance organizations in Central America; learning from previous economic crises; reviewing and managing risk; and consumer protection.

Many of the topics were familiar as a result of my work in microfinance and my academic studies under Tony Sheldon at SOM, but the Latin American perspective was a new one for me. It was also different simply to hear everything in Spanish, which I understood with varying levels of success depending on how tired my mind was over the course of the conference. There were headphones available that broadcast real-time translations, but I was committed to fighting through with just Spanish. My mind had to bend at times, as practically each speaker represented a different country with a slightly different accent.

Perhaps the most interesting discussions had to do with the impact of a country’s political environment on microfinance organizations, particularly in more socialist environments such as Nicaragua and Venezuela. Apparently, in Nicaragua, it is not uncommon for populist groups to run “don’t pay back your loan” campaigns. As some of you may know, my original placement for the Rotary scholarship was in Venezuela. While Venezuela is a beautiful country with incredibly warm people across the political spectrum (I spent two weeks there in 2008 so got a good taste of the country and people), I decided to go to El Salvador instead because I felt my prospects for finding volunteer opportunities in microfinance and social enterprise would be severely limited there. From what I learned at this conference, my perceptions of the limitations were correct. I also enjoyed hearing the perspective of organizations at varying points along the microfinance commercialization spectrum, from small non-profits to large, for-profit microfinance institutions.

We also had a swanky reception at the San Salvador Art Museum:

San Salvador Art Museum

The highlight of the conference was meeting dedicated professionals from across the region, like Walter from Bancovelo in Honduras.

Matt and Walter at the San Salvador Art Museum

Pig Beach

2009-09-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

On a whim, about a week ago I took off to the beach for an afternoon with three new friends: Ramiro and Omar from El Salvador and Louisa from France. We had met on the way to Nejapa for Los Bolas de Fuego, and they were kind enough to invite me along with them to Playa El Tuncon, El Salvador. So at about 4:00 in the afternoon I jumped into the back of a pickup truck for the 45 minute drive to the beach. Know as “El Tuncon “, or "The Pig" because the big rock in the water supposedly looks like a pig (I don't see it), Playa El Tuncon is one of the world’s best surfing destinations. The water was warm and unbelievable relaxing; the weather was perfect; the beer was cold and the fish was fresh; the company was even better. And it was fun to stretch my brain by talking in French and Spanish in the same conversation. It was a great afternoon and evening.

Dam Conference

2009-09-13T23:24:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of the new and vibrant politics in El Salvador, a few students from my language school attended a half-day conference on the El Chapparal dam, which is being built on the Torola river in northern El Salvador. This is a controversial project which in many ways encapsulates the political upheaval that is underway. It is a complicated issue, covering the application of eminent domain versus human rights, concern over the country’s energy deficit, and arguments about environmental protection. And it is a fount for the populist outrage that accumulated under corrupt and uninterrupted 20 year one-party rule, as the deal was negotiated by the previous government.

Attendees listen to a speaker

Many participants traveled from afar to attend the event in San Salvador

The blog at Voices on the Border provides a description of the project:
Despite controversy over environmental destruction of surrounding communities, the Comisión Ejecutiva del Río Lempa (CEL) in El Salvador has began constructing a new hydroelectric dam in the Río Torola located in the northern part of the department of San Miguel in an area known as El Chaparral.

Proponents of the project say that the dam is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol and has the potential to provide electricity to two hundred thousand families in El Salvador. Other touted benefits would include new economic opportunities in agriculture, fishing, and tourism.

However, there is great contention about the benefits of this project due to the resulting flooding of current communities. Contractors and government officials assure that those individuals who lose their land will be compensated and provided a place to live, but according to parish priest, José Antonio Confesor, of the community of San Antonio del Mosco, the majority of the local population does not agree with the construction. Others living in the affected areas say that they were deceived by CEL concerning the purchase of lands.

The project is being financed by a loan from the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica (BCIE) for 163 million dollars and by the government that has contributed 56 million dollars.

From the reports I have received and from what I heard at the conference, people in the affected region were intimidated by the government to sell their lands and were not fairly compensated. It seems there was a lack of transparency, which coupled with the intimidation left people feeling pretty helpless. The new government made the dossier on the dam public, which sparked further outrage as the general public has gotten a better sense of the terms of the project and how it will affect the surrounding areas, and how much energy it will actually generate. The issue is made more complicated for the following reasons:

The previous government signed a contract, which if violated would lead to a penalty greater than the full cost of the dam.
The father of the head of the CEL is one of President Funes’ most important supporters.

The dam’s construction has been blocked for the moment by vigorous protests in the affected villages, along with support from prominent intellectuals and advocates. This was the purpose of the conference we attended – to allow the aggrieved to air their complaints and to show a unified front against the project.

It is hard for me to get a good grasp on the complexity of the issue, just having arrived, but it is an interesting case study in economic development and seems to be reflective of the way the country was governed over the last 20 years - without consideration of the opinions and needed of the vast majority of El Salvadorans. It actually reminds me a lot of a case study we read at SOM on the privatization of Cochabamba, Bolivia's water supply, which really did have a terrible impact on low-income Bolivians. It will be interesting to see if average El Salvadorans will be able to flex the same muscle as the Bolivians did, who were successful in getting the Bechtel contract canceled.

A man who lost his land speaks to the media

Great Balls of Fire

2009-09-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Goodness gracious.

On Monday night, a group of us traveled to the town of Nejapa, about 45 minutes from San Salvador, for the annual August 31st “Los Bolas de Fuego” (Balls of Fire) event. The only thing I can think to compare it to is dodge ball, but where the balls are on fire. Perhaps it resembles the annual running of the bulls in Pampalona, Spain (which I have not experienced), in that it is state-sanctioned street chaos which often results in injuries.

Casey, Antonietta, Oscar and I pose with the city's commemorative statue

The tradition is more than 100 years old; it recalls the eruption of the volcano El Playon in November 1658, which forced the town to move to its current location. During the eruption the volcano threw balls of fire into the air which then led to the current celebration. Seems like kind of a traumatic experience to celebrate, but it is an important part of history here. The bombs and lava flow from the volcano forced Spaniards and indigenous people to leave their belongings and run to a safe area. The day is also used to celebrate the town’s patron saint, San Jerónimo. The main event is preceded by a festival-like atmosphere, with food, drinks, live music and a parade.

Miss Nejapa 2009

Pre-fire balls concert

The main event began around 9:00. The participants, mostly men but some women, dress in black, paint their faces, and soak themselves in water.

Antonietta with participants

Another participant prepares himself well

The balls are made of rags and tied up with wire and sunk into kerosene for a month. Once lit, they do not go out easily. And when thrown, they spew spurts of burning kerosene into the air.

Los Bolas de Fuego

Participant with a fire ball

The event began innocently enough, with two opposing sides facing off on the main drag with perhaps 15 people to a side. The city, which sponsors the event, shot off fireworks to mark the start of the celebration, as we gathered up a series of steps in front of the town’s main church. My first sense of the nature of the event came as men wearing saddles with lit fireworks on their heads began to run through the street and then through the crowd. People scattered as the “bulls” ran through.

Then the balls of fire began to rain down from the sky.

The two sides faced off as if in a street fight, but the weapons of choice were only balls of fire. They blasted each other from long range and shorter range, alternately chasing each other down the street one way or the other. As the participants were struck, the balls caused minor explosions as the kerosene sprayed. I especially liked when the participants rolled the balls along the ground, which left a trail of fire reminiscent of tracks left by the time traveling DeLorean in Back to the Future.

Then errant balls began to fly into the crowd.

We had been instructed to wear fire-retardant clothing, but I’m not sure everyone thought so far ahead. Plus, hair is flammable too. Luckily, I brought a hat.There were rules it seemed, including when participants put down their fire balls if the got within too close range of each other. Also, there were time-outs at somewhat regular intervals, when people could come down and take close-up pictures, or hold the fireballs.

Matt getting into the action

Emboldened, a few of us went down to the street level for a closer view. It was an absolute adrenaline rush to be amidst the flaming balls of fire overhead and underfoot.

While there were some close calls, we rationalized that it was safer to be on the street level because you could bob and weave away from the balls, whereas in the crowd people were pinned in as an increasingly greater number of balls flew into the crowd.

Balls were thrown up into trees where kids were sitting on branches to watch, and balls hit buildings, one of which was set alight. However, it was put out quickly. Firetrucks and rescue personnel were stationed along the street to help get balls of out the crowds, put out fires, and treat people who got burned.

If you play with fire, you're bound to get burned

While none of us ended up like this guy, it doesn't mean we didn't get into the action:

Here are some more videos and pics so you can get a better sense of the experience. Words don’t do it justice:

But as the night when on the rules started to relax, so we we decided to take our leave. Truth be told, it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve had in some time. But it was also a case study in how playing with fire, however fun, can have serious consequences.

Sopa de Pata

2009-09-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Rafa invited me last Sunday to join him and his cousin Rafael at the birthday party of one of his good friends, Sampoña, in San Marcos, a town bordering San Salvador. It was a raucous, musical and joyful occasion.

Soon after arriving we were served sopa de pata, or “foot soup”. Sopa de pata was like a cousin of the pilgrims’ “stone soup”, where pretty much everything gets thrown in to the mix: yucca (a tuber), plantains, potatoes, veggies and lots of spices. Of course, the principal ingredient is “la pata”, or the foot of a cow, (I looked up the recipe online and the first ingredient was “two whole feet”) with a healthy dosage of tripe as well. Throw in a little hot pepper and some lime and it was delicious. The soup was accompanied by plenty of Pilsener beer.

Rafael, Sampoña and Rafa

Sampoña and me

Sampoña’s real name is Francisco, but his nickname is the name of an Andean pan flute. He earned this moniker because of his work with indigenous peoples, and because of his many musical talents, including playing the sampoña. In fact, his entire family seemed to be musically inclined, and live music permeated the air of the party for hours on end. People swapped guitars, flutes and other instruments, and joined in with full-throated choruses. The family even had what I would call the El El Salvadoran equivalent of Tony Bennett – a cousin of Sampoña and a real crooner. The music varied from traditional El Salvadoran music, to American rock to protest songs of the El Salvadoran revolution.

The rule in the house seemed to be that everyone should share their talents, so when I told Sampoña that I sing he insisted that I join in. We tried to find some songs that everyone had in common – a couple of Beatles songs, Hotel California, and a couple others, but we couldn’t find one that everyone knew the words to. But eventually Rafa, Rafael, Sampoña and I did a set of Pearl Jam songs. It was pretty much lost on the older generation, but the younger crowd really appreciated the renditions of “Alive”, “Jeremy”, and “Daughter”.

Later, when the rain forced the party inside, the festival of music continued:

When Rafa, Rafael and I finally took our leave, the guys took me up to a hot spot on a ridge overlooking San Marcos and San Salvador. There were bars, restaurants, and shops with knick-knacks for sale. We settled down into a bar and had a round of pupusas, which are one of God’s greatest culinary gifts to man.

Humble looking, but ooh so good

I had had pupusas before in Washington, DC – easy to find on many a street corner due to DC’s substantial Salvadoran population – but nothing like this. Like the ones my host mother makes these tortillas stuffed with beans, cheese, veggies and other possible ingredients just ooze with flavor. Add a little salsa and some spicy veggie garnish, and they are hard to beat. Oh, not to mention that they cost just $0.25.

We talked politics and economics – to my great appreciation perhaps the most popular topic of conversation in El Salvador – while overlooking the city. Of note, the mountain we were looking out over was the base of the FMLN’s final attack on San Salvador, which led to the peace accords in 1992. The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) is the former leftist resistance group which fought against the El Salvadoran government from the late ‘70s to early ‘90s. It became an opposition political party in 1992 after peace accords, and is one of the world’s most successful examples of an armed opposition group turned political party. They laid down their arms and have used politics to advocate for their constituencies for the past 17 years. Reaching outside of their party to select a candidate, the FMLN now has their first favorable candidate in Mauricio Funes, who seems to pretty popular across the board with over 70% approval ratings (though he just took office in June). As I mentioned, politics is a huge topic of conversation here. At the same time, it is like an onion with a lot of layers to peel off. More on politics in future posts.

Arrival and First Week

2009-08-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

I arrived at San Salvador airport late Sunday night and was picked up by a friend, Rafa. Rafa gifted me a Spanish book as he drove me to my host family (with a quick stop over for a Pilsner beer at his friend’s home). The drive was humid, quiet and pleasant – down tree-lined streets through mostly middle and upper-class neighborhoods. It reminded me of my night-time arrival in Caracas, Venezuela, with homes lighting up the hills that surround the city.

I could tell just from the drive that this would be a new experience for me. Typically, when arriving in the developing world I flee cities as fast as I can, preferring the tranquility, culture and sense of adventure that come from the open road and small towns and villages. During this trip, I will be centered in the metropolis of San Salvador, population 1.8 million, the largest city I have ever lived in, surpassing both Milwaukee and Washington, DC.

After getting a little lost, Rafa and I arrived at my host family’s home in the Miralvalle neighborhood, a quasi-gated community (there’s a guard but no gate) in north-central Sal San Salvador. Don Angel and Dona Rosa, a couple in their sixties/seventies welcomed me warmly at around 10pm. Already I can tell that they embody the reputation El Salvadorenas have of being kind and welcoming to foreigners. After chatting briefly, I headed off to bed.

Monday morning Rosa escorted me to my language school like a mother accompanying her child to his first day of elementary school. She rode the bus (a colorful converted school bus, like the chicken buses in Guatemala -- cost = $0.20) with me and walked me to the school’s front door. As we rode and walked, Rosa offered her advice:

Keep your back-pack in front of you on the bus
Don’t carry too much cash
Have change for the bus in hand so no one sees you going through your wallet

Most of the advice I seem to be getting from Rosa and others seems to be security-related. At school the admonitions were the same: be aware of thieves; don’t be out alone at night; don’t go into certain neighborhoods because of the gangs (“MS-13” and “18”). To be honest, while I was listening, I found myself discounting the warnings. Having traveled enough at this point in my life, I tend to either underestimate or more accurately estimate risks in developing countries, whichever way you want to look at it. Most of the other students and travelers I have met so far are in the developing world for the first time, so I think the advice is sage – better to be a little safer to begin with. But I also tried to remind myself that urban living in the developing world is a new experience for me.

Whether there is fear or not, there is a palpable sense of insecurity in the city. I live in and go to school in a world of high walls, iron gates, and sometimes armed guards and barbed wire – and this is the nice part of town. I haven’t been here long enough to fully grasp the origin of this insecurity, but principally it seems that residents of San Salvador have reason to fear street crime and gangs. It makes me think of Baltimore, where you see bars on the windows in most areas of the city but generally feel pretty safe.

I have my language classes with a student from Taiwan named Paihsin, and a community organizer from New York, Antonietta. We have a good rapport and a great teacher in Maribel. At the end of the first day I realized I had made a list of over 100 new verbs and other vocab words, and the list burgeoned further over the week. I can tell this will be a steep learning curve, and with a sustained effort I have high hopes that my level will be superior by the time I complete my 12 weeks here.

For a bit of drama, on my way home from my first day of classes I tried to force too many errands into the afternoon and found the sun setting as I tried to navigate my new neighborhood. Darkness began to envelope me as a realized I had taken a wrong turn. Attempting a short-cut home made matters worse as I wandered into a fringe area of my neighborhood. Just as I realized the route was a dead-end, I learned a security lesson that had nothing to do with crime or gangs: before I knew it, a vicious dog had descended on me. It is the first time I have been attacked by a dog and one of the more heart-stopping experiences of my life. I don’t know if I started yelling out of fear or to give it a taste of its own medicine, but when my decibel level eclipsed that of the dog, it finally backed off. I made my way out of the area quickly and found my way home.

It´s now Friday, at the end of my first week, and everything is coming along really well. I am meeting today with my counterpart from VisionSpring to launch my internship; I am figuring out the bus system so I can make my way around the city (there are no obvious bus stops, you just have to know where they stop); I have been trying to get in touch with my local Rotary host and will hopefully reach her soon. What is more, I have had some really fascinating experiences visiting museums, chatting with a former child soldier of the revolution and a young man living on the street, and talking politics with classmates, teachers and my host family. It has been a whirlwind of a week and I look forward to giving more updates soon. I will also start taking pictures and video to spice things up.

Welcome to My Blog

2009-08-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

As I embark on my first blog, I ask myself “what kind of blog would be interesting to follow?” Should it be stream-of-consciousness, so readers can know my thoughts and reactions to random events? Or should I take the “Julie and Julia” tack and have emotional break-downs on a regular basis? That would probably be pretty interesting. What I have decided to do is to try and focus my blog entries on themes and ideas that I happen upon, with some intermingling of “what I did today” details, particularly at the beginning.

Please keep in mind that I could barely have known less about El Salvador before arriving, so I am learning as I write. Hopefully we can discover some interesting nuggets about life in El Salvador, its history, and its development together. I welcome your comments as I go.

Almost eight years ago I began sending hand-written letters to my mom from Benin during my Peace Corps service, which she would then type up and email out (thanks again, Mom!) This should be a little bit easier :).

Introduction

2009-08-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Object of Rotary is to “encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise.” Since 1910, the Rotary Motto has been “Service Above Self.”

As a Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar, I am fortunate to be both a recipient and an agent of the Rotary mission of service. To begin, I have this tremendous opportunity thanks to the generosity and support of the Hamden Rotary Club, District 7980, and the Rotary Foundation. The Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship is one of the many scholarship programs that Rotarians across the U.S. and the world fund, providing support for students doing everything from a three-month scholarship like myself, to multi-academic year programs overseas.

The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholar is to "promote international understanding and goodwill through study in another country" in order to "further The Rotary Foundation’s mission of improving health, supporting education, and alleviating poverty". More specifically, as a Cultural Scholar, my charge is three-fold:

Study Spanish intensively to the point of fluency
Act as an ambassador in El Salvador by reaching out to local Rotary clubs and the community more broadly. I will visit, give public speeches, share U.S. culture and learn about the El Salvadoran culture, and forge connections between Rotarians in the U.S. and abroad
Volunteer

In terms of the third objective, I will be interning with VisionSpring, an internationally-reknown non-profit organization whose mission it is "to reduce poverty and generate opportunity in the developing world through the sale of affordable eyeglasses". They have an innovative business model where they empower local entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses selling the eyeglasses in their communities.

I will arrive in San Salvador on August 23rd and spend the next three months fulfilling the mission of Rotary.

To learn more about the Hamden Rotary Club and the service its members are providing locally and globally, go to www.hamdenctrotary.org.

To learn more about VisionSpring, go to www.visionspring.org.