Reflections on an invitation to meet the Ambassador for El Salvador in London

On Wednesday the 19^th of October, the July 2011 departure and the January 2012 El Salvador volunteers were invited to the Embassy of El Salvador in London, to meet the Ambassador, Mr Werner Romeo.  For those volunteers who had returned from El Salvador it was a chance to share our experiences, for those yet to depart it was an opportunity to find out more about the country in which they will spend 10 week volunteering. The ambassador shared with us the impact he thought we had had, discussing the importance of international volunteers to El Salvador, a country often written off as too dangerous to travel to by many. This was not the experience we had living, working and volunteering with the people of El Salvador, we found that they were extremely welcoming and this is a fact we will share on our return. Like any country, El Salvador has areas you would avoid travel to, especially at night, but this is the case in London and it serves us well to remember this before casting judgement on other countries.

After 10 living across El Salvador and working with the national NGO IMU (Instituto de investigacion, capacitacion y desarrollo de la mujer)  I developed an understanding of the issues facing El Salvador. Those we encountered were poverty, women’s place in society and a lack of opportunity for young people and this was something I shared with the Ambassador. I was very much aware that I could not escape from viewing these issues from a UK perspective, but what struck me was the global accountability for the issues El Salvador faces. In 2009 a progressive left wing government was elected in El Salvador and they are pushing hard against international and national constraints to make things better in their country. This was evidenced by the way they have embraced international volunteers from the UK, we were welcomed to meet the Minister for Development while in San Salvador. This was something the Ambassador was aware of and spoke to us about, suggesting they were taking our presence seriously.

My time in El Salvador has certainly changed my outlook and perspective on the world. I have a better understanding of the global nature of issues of poverty and women’s rights; both the causes as well as the solutions. It has instilled in me a belief that for a better world, we need to work together; to lift people out of poverty; to give young people a future; and to give 50% of the population a fair representation and place in society. El Salvador is pushing for change at all levels, from the rural women to the NGO worker to the Government official and we should be working with them to ensure it happens. 

Humanitarian Situation in El Salvador: Tropical Rain & Flooding leaves 32 dead and 20,000 in Shelters

On Friday the President of El Salvador declared a national state of emergency, following a week of constant tropical rainfalls causing extensive flooding. Rain has caused a substantial social and environmental disaster, which has resulted in 20,000 people being forced to move into shelters and 32 deaths.

The Government of El Salvador has made available $25 million for the first period of rehabilitation and reconstruction, but the emergency situation at this moment requires humanitarian aid.

I have been in contact with the Executive Director of the NGO we worked with in El Salvador, IMU and Deysi Cheyne has informed me that national NGOs have come together under an umbrella organisation to administer the necessary humanitarian relief. MODES (Movement of Organisations for a Solidarity Development) is maintaining a dialogue with the Government in order to provide and efficient and fast response to the populations needs and to prevent the situation worsening but is in need of additional funds.

The pressing need at this time is the 20,000 people evacuated and living in temporary shelters, there is a need to meet their basic needs, primarily food and medicine.

Desyi has asked for help in raising funds and in response I will be holding a cake sale tomorrow to raise funds to send to IMU to use for the humanitarian relief effort.

News Coverage
In pictures http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15287017

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15331290

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/16/world/americas/central-america-floods/

http://www.elmundo.com.sv/nacionales-/19074-van-32-muertes-y-20-mil-en-albergues.html

http://www.elsalvador.com/mwedh/nota/nota_completa.asp?idCat=47654&idArt=6285395

Reflections on 10 weeks in El Salvador: what I have learnt about what we need to learn - intervention, gender and poverty.

My ten weeks in El Salvador were spent shadowing the work of the Salvadorian NGO IMU or the Instituto de Investigación, Capacitación y Desarrollo de la Mujer.  We took part in two contrasting placements in terms of living arrangements and their focus. The first experience saw us living in a family house in a community, and for the second in a hostel 40 minutes from the community due to security reasons. This meant the first placement gave us a far greater insight into the community and gave us the opportunity to get to know some of the local people, their lives and history. The first placement focused on gender and sexual and reproductive rights, based in the IMU funded women’s health clinic, this saw us taking part in workshops with local youth and painting the clinic. The second placement was based around IMU’s sustainable agriculture project aimed at empowering local women by allowing them to support themselves; we took part in a wide range of activities from helping in the greenhouse, to inspecting chicken coups, to donning our aprons to help in their bakery. What these placements both had in common was that we worked with local women’s associations which were supported by IMU.

Perhaps the principal realisation I came to during the experience was the relationship between gender and conflict. El Salvador had had decades of rule by an oppressive military dictatorship before civil war broke out in 1980. The concept of women’s rights was non-existent in El Salvador before the war, but the important and pivotal role of women as part of the guerrilla’s fight against the government gave women a voice. As a result IMU, and other women’s organisations, were formed to fight to establish a place for women and for women’s rights. Working alongside IMU gave us an insight into the unresolved problems facing El Salvador since the peace accords were signed in 1992, after 12 years of Civil War. This was a Civil War which saw over 30,000 civilians murdered, disappeared or tortured. It saw an Archbishop who spoke out against poverty and social injustice, Monsenor Oscar Romero, murdered as he celebrated mass by a member of the National Guard who has only recently been arrested for his crime. (www.diariocolatino.com) The government was only able to continue the fight against the rebels thanks to $1.5 million dollars of aid pouring in from the US every day and only stopped their support when the UN was brought in in 1990 to begin peace talks. The conclusion of the peace talks in 1992 with the Peace Accords signed on January 16^th, did not resolve the underlying tensions in the country; stemming from poverty and social and gender injustice. A lack of a robust restorative justice process has done nothing to help resolve these lingering and central issues.

It was in El Salvador that I first saw and had no choice but to acknowledge the damaging effects of neoliberal policies. El Salvador is rated by the World Bank as a middle income country, so I did not expect to see the level or amount of poverty which we did and I was shocked to find that 37.81% of the population live below the poverty line. A figure which has dropped by 1% since 2000, indicating the country is struggling to make progress towards Millenium Development Goal 1 (to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty).  During our time in El Salvador we saw first-hand a mother struggling to feed her ill baby, when we accompanied local health visitors. We saw a 3 generations of a family living in a small mud hut with a barely waterproof tin roof, kindly donated by the government. We saw extreme, shocking poverty and it would have been difficult to avoid.  The way out of this poverty is immigration to the US, where a third of El Salvador’s population (3 million) now reside illegally. However, this is an opportunity few women are able to take up because of the dangers and because they are often left behind as mothers by men who feel no responsibility towards their children. We heard first hand of these dangers from men who had returned from the US and if you are in any doubt I would recommend watching the film Sin Nombre, which was recommended to us by a Salvadorian. (data.un.org)  (web.worldbank.org)

The lack of opportunity for young people in El Salvador was perhaps the biggest problem facing the country and one which has links to gender and the Civil War. During the war many Salvadorians escaped to the US, it was here that faced by the ruthlessness of US Gangs: Salvadorians banded together to form their own gangs, MS 13 and 18^th Street, with a savage reputation far our stripping their rivals. After all Salvadorians had seen and experienced death in the Civil War, killing was nothing new or shocking to them. Inevitably the US government deported MS 13 and 18^th Street gang members back to El Salvador and the gangs established themselves in the home country and continued as the greatest of rivals. Today for young people in El Salvador if you cannot afford to be smuggled into the US (the cost we were told is upwards of $4,000) your other option and perhaps only option, is to join a gang. If your parents themselves have immigrated to the US to support you then joining a gang and finding somewhere you belong is even more likely.

The sad irony of the cyclical process of the US’s involvement in intervening and escalating El Salvador’s problems doesn’t end today. The US prolonged a Civil War which led to many Salvadorians immigrating to the US to escape the slaughter; where faced by US gangs they formed their own tougher gangs; which inevitably were deported back to El Salvador after the Civil War. Then neoliberal policies stemming from the US were implemented in El Salvador, this left young Salvadorians facing the prospect of a dangerous and expensive immigration to the US or to join a gang. The latest instalment in this saga came this week with Obama placing El Salvador on the US drug’s black list, blaming street gangs.  (www.bbc.co.uk) This explanation clashes with the reality of life for the gangs, if gangs are forming drug cartels why are they living in such poverty? In 10 weeks in El Salvador I saw rare signs of exuberant wealth which would surely be associated with such a reality and this misconception is something addressed in Ross Kemp’s 2009 documentary where he lives alongside gangs in El Salvador. (Ross Kemp on Gangs: El Salvador) The conclusion must be that Salvadorian government corruption must be complicit in this surge in drug smuggling. Such corruption seems inevitable given the limited restorative justice put in place after 1992. Perhaps the US needs to invest more in its aid programme to El Salvador and to review the effectiveness of its “Democracy and Governance” Programme. elsalvador.usaid.gov

The determination of the rural women we met to change their situation, despite the considerable odds stacked against them, and to see the progress they have made has instilled in me a belief that a better, fairer and more honest world is possible. I have been shocked at the depth and consequences of all levels of US intervention in El Salvador over the last three decades. Perhaps most poignantly I did not expect to find, two decades after the peace accords were signed, a country which has come no further in resolving the poverty and social injustice issues for which the guerrilla’s fought for in the Civil War. As part of the International Citizen Service Scheme, which I went to El Salvador with, we are committed to organising a UK action project, but beyond this I need to establish how I can best invest my efforts into changing our world and telling people my story from El Salvador.

Useful Links

www.imuelsalvador.org.sv

www.progressio.org.uk

www.dfid.gov.uk/ICS

www.romerotrust.org.uk/

elsalvador.usaid.gov

El Salvador's teenage beauty queens live and die by gang law, The Guardian (2002)

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/10/sandrajordan.theobserver

Ross Kemp on Gangs: El Salvador
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ross+kemp+on+gangs+el+salvador&aq=0&oq=ross+kemp+on+gangs+EL

A Meeting with the Mayor and grand tour of the Gender Unit (cupboard) at Chalchuapa Council

The focus of our volunteering experience in El Salvador has been gender and we have been working closely with the Salvadorian NGO IMU (Institute for Women - Investigation and Empowerment of Women's Rights), a national women’s organisation which serves to facilitate the establishment of local women’s groups across the country with the aim of empowering women with the knowledge that they should be treated as equal citizens and have a right to a life free of violence.

We are entering the last 5 weeks of our time in El Salvador and have just started our second placement in Chalchupa, in the western part of El Salvador. IMU have been brilliant to work with and have pushed for us to get the most out of our placement and in return give the most we can.

Today, we were invited to visit the Mayor of Chalchaupa, Professor Mario Ramos Sandoval, we asked him questions about the representation of women in the council and what he is doing to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular number 3 promoting gender equality. As a member of the socialist FMLN party he was keen to emphasise his party’s commitment to including women and told us that 35% of their representatives in Chalchuapa were women. Aside from this, Mario was keen to emphasise that although he supports the MDGs his council lacks support and fund from the national level to implement their vision and that the “1^st world,” as he referred to the UK, should be doing far more to support their realisation. In terms of gender, he said he would prefer the Council’s Gender Unit to answer our more specific question.

As a result we were introduced to Norma who runs the Gender Unit and shown to its office. All 7 of us had fitted quite comfortably in the Mayor’s office, however, for our tour of the Gender Office some of us had to wait in the corridor! It was quite literally a room the size of a cupboard, no more than 2 metres squared, situated at the back of the council building. Norma told us about the difficulties the Gender Unit has faced, for instance only recently has it been allocated its own budget and prior to this it had to make do with resources surplus to the requirements of other projects. The women have certainly faced an uphill struggle with members of the Council putting every obstacle in their way to ensure the Gender Unit fails. It is a testament to the local women’s organisations determination that the Gender Unit has the prospect of moving to new larger offices later this year.

Norma accompanied us in the afternoon to meet the leaders of the two local women’s organisations: ADCMAIG and ASMUCHEG. These organisations were set up with the help of IMU and continue to receive funding, support and advice from IMU. This was a fascinating meeting which gave us a real insight into the specific issues facing women in El Salvador. From the opposition faced to the suggestion of enforcing sexual education in schools, to the problem of men emigrating to the US to find new families, living their pregnant wives behind to raise their children alone without financial support. Perhaps the most shocking story we heard was that of a local Doctor who had been carrying out health check on women in a local community to check for cancer. A husband had heard that this man had examined his wife and seen her in the flesh and took it upon himself to attempt to kill the Doctor with a machete. If this the sort of obstacle a woman here faces to protect her health, it shows the huge distance this country needs to travel to overcome the gender divide and protect all its citizens equally. Another initiative the women’s organisations had initiated was to teach local women a skill to empower them financially; however, this resulted in Norma having stones thrown at her by the husband’s as she was chased from the area. It came to light that the President of the Community had spread a rumour that Norma was teaching women how to poison their husbands.

The fact that these women’s organisations exist and that the Gender Unit still exists shows some progress has been made. However, the struggles they face to enforce even the most basic of rights show that there is a long way to go. This is why IMU is so important to supporting women in this country by helping them to organise themselves and showing them that they have rights which their government should be protecting. Prior to coming to El Salvador it was beyond my comprehension that women could still be facing such an uphill struggle, in a country which is of medium income. We still have a long way to go!

Links

IMU - http://imuelsalvador.org/

FMLN - http://www.fmln.org.sv/

MDGs - http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Women in El Salvador

Today in El Salvador, the same number of people will be killed as during the height of the Civil War. Yet, even this shocking comparison overlooks an unrecognised problem here; gender based violence and abuse.

We met a leading Salvadorian feminist, Morena Herrera, who shed light on the position of women in Salvadorian society and the problem that issues affecting them are seemingly invisible to the state. For instance, the number of sexual abuses reported each year is equal to the number of murders reported (3,600 cases). However, a survey conducted by Morena Herrera suggest that because of the stigma attached to sexual abuse in El Salvador, with the suggestion victims “deserved it,” only around 10% of cases are reported. This means sexual abuse is a far greater problem in El Salvador, one which targets women and one which could claim 36,000 victims a year in silence.

On the surface El Salvador is rated as a medium income country, which many countries in the world do not believe is in need of significant development assistance. This is a dangerous assumption to make; a recent UN Women report placed El Salvador top in the world for rates of femicide, after an increase of 197%. Murders against men have remained stagnant. The massive division between the few rich and the many poor in El Salvador has exacerbated the violence and the unequal position of women in society has seen them targeted. Women earn on average $3,043 per year, while mean earn $7,543 per year. Women have more savings accounts than men, but men have double the amount of savings. Women have a long way to go.

The rights of women in El Salvador went unrecognised until the Civil War; when a small number of feminists, including Morena Herrera, began to press for change. A turning point came during the war, when an intervention attempting to bring an end to the conflict introduced a programme of land redistribution. Beneficiaries of the land distribution should have been those who fought on both sides and those who had contributed to the war effort. Women however, were not equal beneficiaries; land they earned was signed over to their husband or eldest son and had women’s organisations not intervened it is unlikely any women would have benefited. In the end 5% of the beneficiaries were women; a far cry from the 30% of women who made up the guerrilla army and the 60% of women supporting the guerrillas though farming and delivering supplies.

Another area where there is significant room for improvement is sexual and reproductive rights; this forms a significant part of our work here with the Salvadorian organisation IMU. Abortion is illegal in El Salvador and as such a criminal offence, with no exception even if the mother’s life is at risk, the foetus is dead or the conception was a result of rape. The Salvadorian Government has signed up to many international agreements on sexual and reproductive rights but has always entered significant exceptions. This means today there are at least 124 women in adult prisons with sentences up to 30 years. Morena Herrera was not allowed access to the juvenile prison, but with teenage pregnancy making up 30% of conceptions the number of young girls imprisoned is likely to be shocking.

Some progress is beginning to be made in El Salvador, notably with two new laws passed by the Government and due for implementation in 2012. The first recognises violence against women is a problem and sets out provisions to outlaw it. A significant step in that it acknowledges that gender based violence is not isolate to the private family sphere. The second is a law of equality to eradicate discrimination against women. Morena Herrera acknowledges that these are steps in the right direction but notes that El Salvador has a very long way to go.

One last statistic to leave you with; 19% of the Salvadorian Parliament is made up of women; in the UK it is 20%. Worldwide women have significant hurdles to jump and in the UK we must press our Government to examine both the position of women in our own country and to put pressure on El Salvador to address their gender divide, as women do after all make up 50% of the world’s population.

Women in El Salvador

Today in El Salvador, the same number of people will be killed as during the height of the Civil War. Yet, even this shocking comparison overlooks an unrecognised problem here; gender based violence and abuse.

We met a leading Salvadorian feminist, Morena Herrera, who shed light on the position of women in Salvadorian society and the problem that issues affecting them are seemingly invisible to the state. For instance, the number of sexual abuses reported each year is equal to the number of murders reported (3,600 cases). However, a survey conducted by Morena Herrera suggest that because of the stigma attached to sexual abuse in El Salvador, with the suggestion victims “deserved it,” only around 10% of cases are reported. This means sexual abuse is a far greater problem in El Salvador, one which targets women and one which could claim 36,000 victims a year in silence.

On the surface El Salvador is rated as a medium income country, which many countries in the world do not believe is in need of significant development assistance. This is a dangerous assumption to make; a recent UN Women report placed El Salvador top in the world for rates of femicide, after an increase of 197%. Murders against men have remained stagnant. The massive division between the few rich and the many poor in El Salvador has exacerbated the violence and the unequal position of women in society has seen them targeted. Women earn on average $3,043 per year, while mean earn $7,543 per year. Women have more savings accounts than men, but men have double the amount of savings. Women have a long way to go.

The rights of women in El Salvador went unrecognised until the Civil War; when a small number of feminists, including Morena Herrera, began to press for change. A turning point came during the war, when an intervention attempting to bring an end to the conflict introduced a programme of land redistribution. Beneficiaries of the land distribution should have been those who fought on both sides and those who had contributed to the war effort. Women however, were not equal beneficiaries; land they earned was signed over to their husband or eldest son and had women’s organisations not intervened it is unlikely any women would have benefited. In the end 5% of the beneficiaries were women; a far cry from the 30% of women who made up the guerrilla army and the 60% of women supporting the guerrillas though farming and delivering supplies.

Another area where there is significant room for improvement is sexual and reproductive rights; this forms a significant part of our work here with the Salvadorian organisation IMU. Abortion is illegal in El Salvador and as such a criminal offence, with no exception even if the mother’s life is at risk, the foetus is dead or the conception was a result of rape. The Salvadorian Government has signed up to many international agreements on sexual and reproductive rights but has always entered significant exceptions. This means today there are at least 124 women in adult prisons with sentences up to 30 years. Morena Herrera was not allowed access to the juvenile prison, but with teenage pregnancy making up 30% of conceptions the number of young girls imprisoned is likely to be shocking.

Some progress is beginning to be made in El Salvador, notably with two new laws passed by the Government and due for implementation in 2012. The first recognises violence against women is a problem and sets out provisions to outlaw it. A significant step in that it acknowledges that gender based violence is not isolate to the private family sphere. The second is a law of equality to eradicate discrimination against women. Morena Herrera acknowledges that these are steps in the right direction but notes that El Salvador has a very long way to go.

One last statistic to leave you with; 19% of the Salvadorian Parliament is made up of women; in the UK it is 20%. Worldwide women have significant hurdles to jump and in the UK we must press our Government to examine both the position of women in our own country and to put pressure on El Salvador to address their gender divide, as women do after all make up 50% of the world’s population.

Tres Veces Mojado los Tigres del Norte - Young People in El Salvador

Almost a third of the population of El Salvador live illgally in the US; 3 million individuals who have endured both a mentally and physically challenging journey, across 3 countries, in search of employment and opportunities not available in El Salvador.

Today, we heard a first hand account of such a journey; from a Salvadorean who returned last year after 3 years living and working illegally in the US. His story encompassed the lost hope of the Salvadorean youth, a group of people who have little prospect of employment, no matter how educated or skilled they are. Of the 27,000 who apply to the subsidised University every year, only 9,000 are able to take up places. Yet, an education has little purpose in El Salvador with graduate jobs virtually non-existent and any job in scarce availability, there seems little point.

Faced with the choice of unemployment in El Salvador or a dangerous journey to the US and the prospect of a job, it is understandable why so many choose the latter. If they survive the journey to the US and find employment, they are able to support their families in El Salvador and build a future if they choose to return.

The other viable option for youth in El Salvador is to join a gang and with no opportunities it is easier to understand why many do. Despite this, instead of investing in providing opportunities for young Salvadoreans the government has put in place stricter security measures and a greater police presence. An election winning formula perhaps, but not one which which will act as a preventative measure. 

The ability of the Salvadorean government to neglect invest in the future of 60% of the population (under 25s) is not a problem isolated to El Salvador. The issue of youth unemployment and a lack of opportunities is something we can see mirrored in the UK and beyond. Young people can be exploited by governments when it is convenient and cast aside when they are no longer need, with no consequence.

Interesting Links

Tres Veces Mojado los Tigres del Norte - A song/video about the Salvadorean journey to the US, where they are illegal in 3 countries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL6DYsQx9b0

Sin Nombre - a film incorporating the issues of migration and gangs. A good film, really worth a watch as it reflects the experiences we have heard first hand about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTSi0pKjC5g

Country Initiation and Training

During the thunder storm which hit Suchitoto this afternoon the training venue was hit by a stray piece of lightening, no one was hurt, but the sound of the lightbulb blowing was enough to send us all jumping out of our seats! These first few days in El Salvador have challenged and surprised us all and we are just at the beginning of this amazing experience.

The 10 days of training are delivered by the Global Platform programme in Succhitoto and involves comprehensive sessions on all elements of development work from the Millienium Development Goals to country specific information about El Salvaodor's past. We are also attending Spanish lessons every morning in the local Spanish School, the teachers may speak no English but it is the best language course I have ever been on!

Salvadorians have been very open to sharing with us their painful and still raw experiences during the Civil War (1980 to 1992) and this has confirmed my resolve to improve my Spanish in order to find out more. Hearing first hand accounts of the atrocities which took place here is shocking and upsetting, but you then begin to understand how far this country has come and the challenges it still faces. The Salvadorians who have shared their reality have been very proud and keen to welcome visitors to their country who want to learn about their history.

Introduction

This July I will travel to El Salvador to volunteer for 10 weeks through the International Citizen Service, (ICS) funded by DFID. The placement has been setup by Progressio, a Catholic Development agency, and we will be working with their local partners in downtown San Salvador.

Having never volunteered abroad before I am really excited for this once in a life time opportunity, which could be life-changing. My time in El Salvador will give me a first-hand insight into the issues I have read about while studying for an MA in International Intervention at the University of Surrey. I value the importance of making a genuine difference to the lives of the world's poorest and this experience will undoubtedly alter my outlook. I hope to develop new skills and to improve my Spanish, both of which will contribute towards building my own future.

The projects we will work on relate to the Millenium Development Goals, and in El Salvador we will focus on  Millennium Development Goal 5. B: Achieve universal access to reproductive health, through raising awareness of gender based violence and sexual and reproductive rights. 

In line with Progressio's belief in 'people powered development', we will work with two local partners IMU and CBC (Centro Bartolomé de las Casas) to help deliver a peace and gender violence workshop, an advocacy arts festival, a street theatre event and three murals at a local college. The aim to raise awareness of gender based violence in the historic district.


As one of the first groups to depart the UK as part of the ICS scheme, I hope this blog will provide inspiration for others to follow in my footsteps and to take up what is likely to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience another culture first hand.