Archive for June, 2010

On a cool damp day in June, thirty youth from communities in the CRIPDES San Vicente region arrived at the CRIPDES/CORDES offices for the mid-year assembly, to check in, to provide feedback on the scholarship program, and share about their work in their communities, organizing youth and working with community councils. Amilcar, a scholarship recipient himself, energetically ran the meeting and encouraged the youth to voice their opinions as they took turns sharing their impressions.

Before the assembly began, Amilcar asked the group to put their chairs in a circle to be able to see one another and participate collectively—the chairs were set up in rows, facing forward, with chairs formally placed behind the “mesa de honor.” It was a great way to start the meeting, with an emphasis on shared, horizontal leadership, with no one above anyone else in a hierarchical vertical structure. The meeting started with introductions and greetings as we went around the circle and took turns announcing who we were, which community or organization we represented, and why we were there. Soon after the introductions, the young adults took turns explaining what the scholarship meant to them. Read More »

As a part of their commitment to community organizing, every two months recipients of a CCR-SHARE high school scholarship attend a youth scholarship meeting. This assembly overlaps with the CCR sistering meeting, allowing students to participate in and benefit from the space of analysis and, when possible, represent their communities in the discussion. When the sistering meeting is adjourned, the students and youth leaders stay to check in.

At first, it’s like pulling teeth. In this group, like many groups of high-school aged youth throughout El Salvador, most of the teenagers are too penoso to participate in the beginning. The topic we began with was, in essence, how are we doing? What is working in our community work, and what isn’t working? What do we like, and what don’t we? When this didn’t get any volunteers, Lucio, a young man himself, coordinator of the youth programs at the CCR, started calling on people and asking them to more specific questions, eventually leading to fruitful reflection. Read More »

The following reflection was written by Suzanne Bottelli, who accompanied her students from The Northwest School in Seattle, WA, on a delegation to El Salvador in March 2010. Northwest students actively support their sister region, UCRES, in youth and women’s organizing projects and are equally active in advocacy and political action in their home city.

In March of this year I was fortunate to accompany a group of students and faculty from The Northwest School to join a SHARE delegation in El Salvador. We traveled for two weeks in order to have a week to learn about and experience the country and a week to participate in the events surrounding the 30-year anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s martyrdom on March 24, 1980. There are so many highlights that I could share, but I will tell you about visiting our sister school (in the community of Huisisilapa) and about our visit with Danny Burridge, who is a friend to the St. Pat’s community. Read More »