Hola amigos! I hope this post finds you healthy and well.  These past few weeks has been both personally devastating and surprising uplifting - an emotional roller coaster that I’m still recovering from.  First of all, my Mom was here and she couldn’t have come at a better time.  I needed her emotional support and her positive enthusiasm this week.  Last Thursday night I was informed by Juana that there was a nasty rumor about me involving one of the muchachos at the green houses.  Fortunately for me, I didn’t know most of the words she told me, but I understood ‘prostituta’ and ‘cinco dolares.’  Apparently, I’m desperately hard up for money.  I was of course upset that such vile things were being spread around town, but I was also upset that I couldn’t work in the green houses anymore, which I really enjoyed.  

But God always blesses me with more than I deserve and this experience proved no exception. A few days prior I had met another American, Brenda, who runs an organization outside of Santa Marta that fights violence against women.  Brenda is incredibly warm and funny and once I called her and explained the situation, she immediately agreed to my working with her and her employees.  From what I can gather, I will be transcribing the personal notebooks of females in the local prison - females that are members of the Fifteenth Street gang, one of the most violent gangs in El Salvador.  Eventually these notebooks will be turned into a book that will be more than just another book about abused women, but will be an inspiration for social justice and change in the country as well as from within gangs themselves. At least, that is the hope.  

Brenda!

Tortilla Making with Juana

I am so thrilled to be working in this field of social justice that I’m actually glad the rumor happened.  But don’t tell anyone that in Santa Marta!  This is a new chapter that will hopefully open many doors for my still uncertain future.  

My first Salvadorian birthday party!

This week I said goodbye to my Mom, and hello to my longtime friend Mark Menjivar, who is here photographing the people of Valle Nuevo.  It’s been a blast walking around town with him -  of course with his fun and enthusiastic personality, everyone in town knows him!  We even went in to San Salvador so he could photograph some of the youth in the universities and interview them about community and returning to that community.

Saturday is the anniversary of Oscar Romero’s death, and I will be traveling to San Salvador again for the city-wide commemoration.  More pics to follow!