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Newsletter - Fall 2005
-The
Binghamton El Charcón Arts Initiative
-El Charcón: The Power
of Community
-Sanitation Issues in El
Charcón
-El Charcón, October 1,
2005 Committee of the Binghamton Sister Cities
-Solidarity Across Borders
-E-mail CORRESPONDENCE FROM
TERESA AFTER HURRICANE STAN
The Binghamton El
Charcón Arts Initiative
by Mik Tulumello
 A youth theater group dramatizes the painful
and dangerous underground journey from El Salvador to "El Norte".
Muralists at the National University depict the horrors of civil war
and social struggle. Young people in El Charcón participate in a
crafts workshop, expressing their creativity and generating income.
During our summer visit to El Salvador, Adam Flint and I witnessed the
power of the arts to heal, create, uplift, promote and support our
joint vision of community and solidarity. Our newest project, the
Binghamton - El Charcón Arts Initiative, seeks to accomplish
these goals, and we need your help to make it happen.
During
our visit to El Salvador, Adam and I met with Teresa Perez, Sister
Cities' El Salvador cocoordinator, to discuss what we could do with our
Salvadoran sister cities in terms of development of the arts. We
discussed how, in addition to being an economic resource, art is
essential to recovery from the trauma of war because it helps people to
process their experiences. The meeting with Teresa resulted in a second
meeting, this time with the National University art department staff,
to discuss ways to develop these ideas.
Which
brings us to the Binghamton - El Charcón Arts Initiative.
Meeting with Ricardo Sorto, head of the Art Department at the
University of El Salvador, we discussed the idea of creating a bridge
of understanding between the people of Greater Binghamton and the
people of El Salvador by exchanging artists who, in addition to
participating in other arts programs, would use their visits to work
with the youth of their sister region. Ricardo and the faculty
expressed great interest in this proposal and stated that they would do
whatever was within their means to facilitate it. At a later workshop
facilitated by Ricardo Sorto, participants explored how art, from
visual arts to music and drama, can help communities maintain their
identities and values. Because of the scars left by violence and the
transient nature of the postwar Salvadoran population, young people
have great difficulty in forming an identity outside of mass media and
consumer culture. Community programs in the arts are a relatively
inexpensive way of countering this while bringing about healing and
exploring solutions to social ills. One example is the youthrun drama
group from San José Las Flores which uses plays to explore such
complex issues as the migration of Salvadoran youth to the United
States (and its effect on Salvadoran society), or the changing role of
women in the Salvadoran workforce.
Another
initiative discussed (and already begun in El Charcón) was the
production of local crafts which can be used to promote rural
communities economically and culturally by developing skills and
generating income as well as helping to recover indigenous traditions
and a sense of identity. Our pilot program in El Charcón has
already been an unprecedented success. With Adam's translation
assistance, I taught a macramé workshop in which the El
Charcón Youth Group learned how to create necklaces, anklets and
bracelets, with emphasis on using natural materials such as local
shells and seeds.
At the
recent National Board Meeting, we received a package of 50 well crafted
necklaces and bracelets that the Youth Group had made. We were amazed
at the complexity and variety of the crafts. During the two months
since their lesson with me, the youth had honed their skills to levels
far beyond what they had originally been taught. This package of crafts
reached us in spite of a flood in El Charcón which left 5
families homeless and forced several others to move. The young people
who brought the bracelets to San Salvador for delivery to us walked
long distances when the buses they were riding were stopped by
hurricanecaused mud slides on the road into the capital. We are honored
to have such persevering and dedicated youth as our brothers and
sisters in El Charcón. Their work will be available for sale
before Christmas, place and time TBA. Money from the sale of these
crafts will go to the El Charcón Youth Group.
Binghamton
area artists are encouraged to join us for our first ever arts
delegation next summer! Wanted: artists with skills in crafts as well
as fine arts; a bonus if you speak Spanish or can write grants. If
interested please contact me at fuzybadger@cableracer.com
or 607-222-6534.
The
people of El Salvador have long been an inspiration in how to work
together for a better world in the face of adversity. You are invited
to join the Binghamton - El Charcón Sister City Project in this
new Arts Initiative where we work for a better community here at home
and for our friends in El Salvador.
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El Charcón: The Power
of Community
By Adam Flint
When the river whose waters sustain residents of Binghamton's
Salvadoran sister community started to dry up some months back, and it
turned out that a wealthy landowner upstream had diverted the river for
his shrimp farm, the people of El Charcón did not expect that
the government would respond to their needs. And with reason. The far
rightwing ARENA party holds El Salvador's presidency as well as the
mayor's office in the municipality that includes El Charcón. The
landowner belongs to the ARENA party. When they found out about the
shrimp farm, 70 residents of El Charcón simply went upstream and
took down the dam that, to serve the interests of one man, had diverted
water upon which hundreds of lives depended. That was one example of
the power of community that I witnessed during my July visit to El
Salvador.
As is
the custom, the arrival in El Charcón of our small delegation
(Mik Tulumello and myself) was the occasion for a big party in the
center of the village, with 75 + people dancing in the street in front
of the community house. Later, we met with the community board of
directors as well as the Youth Group to discuss challenges facing the
community. El Charcón and all the communities of CRIPDES*,
continue to struggle in the face of economic depression in the
countryside that is driving 500 Salvadorans a day to attempt the
dangerous trip to the U.S. The Central America Free Trade agreement,
which passed in Congress by just one vote, will only worsen this
situation.
Towards
the end of my summer visit, I met with Nelson Arevalo, director of
CORDES*, and Jacobo Monsón, the youth organizer for CRIPDES
Southern La Libertad. We discussed a great many issues, but foremost
among them was the increased need for support for new young leadership
in El Charcón and the region. Binghamton does not have the
capacity nor the role of creating economic opportunity and social
justice in Southern La Libertad, but we can support organizers who can
mobilize their communities towards these ends. We need your support to
make this happen!
*CORDES
and CRIPDES are both Salvadoran not-for-profits. CRIPDES promotes the
social and political development of rural communities, giving them a
prominent, united voice on national issues. CORDES provides technical
assistance to CRIPDES communities for development projects.
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Sanitation Issues in El
Charcón
by Dick Andrus
Most of us take clean water and decent bathroom facilities for granted
- something
that just comes automatically. But in much of the world, including El
Charcón,
this simply isnít true. When making enough money to eat and
clothe yourself takes
all of your energy, having both the time and money to build sanitary
toilet facilities
may not be possible.
In
part of El Charcón, there are either inadequate latrines or none
at all. The consequence of this is water pollution from leakage into
groundwater and from there into the river. In a wet tropical climate,
poor latrines readily leach pollutants. In other cases, the lack of any
facilities leads to even more pollution from overland runoff.
The
lack of adequate clean water is also critical. There is some water but
not enough for the whole community. Some families must carry water a
considerable distance, a situation in which many resort to using the
same river water that they are polluting. Diarrhea from bad water is
all too common and is a significant negative health factor in the
community.
Composting
toilets go a good way in at least avoiding pollution, as they capture
the nutrients in human waste before they can degrade the water. After
aging, the composted waste can then be disposed of away from the
stream, perhaps as a soil amendment and nutrient source for trees.
Several families already have composting latrines but these are old and
in need of replacement or repair.
El
Charcón is looking to meet these two basic needs as it searches
for ways to provide potable water for the community as well as a
composting latrine for each household. Lack of adequate sanitation and
access to clean water is a major aspect of poverty around the world, so
in one sense our community of El Charcón is simply another
statistic. But somehow it seems different when the people involved are
people we know.
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El Charcón, October
1, 2005 Committee of the Binghamton Sister Cities
 Please receive warm greetings from the
scholarship student Nurian Sugey Lara
Guillén, from the community of El Charcón, who wishes all
of you much success
in your daily undertakings. After this brief introduction I would like
to tell
you the following.
I am
writing to thank you for the scholarship you have granted me. Thanks to
this scholarship I am able to continue my second year of high school
studies. I use this money to buy the supplies I need for doing my
homework, for travel expenses for getting to school and to meetings, as
well as for paying the monthly school fee. Thatís what I use the
scholarship for and that is why I thank you, because I will never tire
of saying thank you.
OK, I
will close here, hoping God blesses you all for the help that you offer
so many young people, who, like myself, are needy, and thank you also
for your work and your desire to see us get ahead.
With
much affection,
Nuria Sugey Lara G
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Solidarity Across Borders
by Adam Flint
"We
are a movement that fosters a culture of community and creativity and
that works together to build a better world based on values of social
justice, solidarity, love, peace, faith, hope, freedom and respect. We
work towards these goals by defining struggles that unify our
communities and movements, bridging northsouth borders through popular
education and grassroots organizing."
These words represent the spirit and substance of the international
solidarity 'encuentro' (summit) 'Solidarity Across Borders: The
Gathering of Sisterhood and Solidarity "Romero Lives,"' that took place
at the University of El Salvador on July 15-17, 2005. The encuentro
occurs just once every four years. It was very exciting to be there.
For
two days, 150 representatives from communities and social movements
that work with CRIPDES participated in workshops on alternatives to
neoliberal policies. Representing El Charcón were scholarship
students Nurian Sugey Lara and Guillermo Escoto, while I and Mik
Tulumello represented Binghamton. Activities included the painting of
an enormous mural on an exterior wall of the Art School, musical and
theatrical acts reflecting the themes of the summit, and lots of
informal schmoozing and socializing over meals 'al fresco.'
The
themes discussed in the working groups and plenary covered art and
culture, food sovereignty and fair trade, spirituality and struggle,
migration and poverty, and constructing popular power and a social
movement. Participants in this last workshop included wizened veterans
of the guerilla struggle against the brutal Salvadoran state of the
70's and 80's as well as young people who grew up in the postwar
environment of peace without social justice. Summarizing the
discussion, we recognized the need for movements to be autonomous from
political parties, to foster crossborder solidarity between sectors
(for example, between young people north and south), and to provide
alternative 'popular' sources of information and education.
For
Binghamton and our umbrella organization, US - El Salvador Sister
Cities, this means working together with progressive organizations in
our OWN communities here, to become not just a solidarity movement, but
a movement in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in El Salvador.
Our participation in the growing progressive movement in the Southern
Tier, exemplified by our membership in the newly formed Southern Tier
Progressive Coalition , is a step in that direction.
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E-mail CORRESPONDENCE FROM
TERESA AFTER HURRICANE STAN
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005
Subject: Update on El Charcón
Hi,
Beatriz.
Thanks for your words of solidarity in your last e-mail. I shared your
message Saturday with the community of El Charcón.
El
Charcón evacuated five families (32 people) who were at risk
because of the rains, most of them being people who live near the
basketball court. In addition Paulina and her family moved to another
house because the water was about to reach the wall of their house. The
evacuated families are living in the casa comunal*. I was deeply
affected by the state of the children. A psychologist who is leading
workshops on self-esteem and emotional intelligence gave the children
massages. She said they were very tense. 
They
needed food, clothing, etc. CRIPDES has provided them with some basic
foods. Also several families from the community have come to their aid
by giving them a few things. They are cooking communal meals in the
casa comunal and they have organized themselves rather well in terms of
meeting their basic needs. Nevertheless, what they most need is food
and some medicines. I should tell you that they used some of the money
you provided in support of the 'organizing project' to buy some food,
especially for the children, as 21 of those evacuated are children.
As the
casa comunal was occupied by the evacuated families, we held the first
of our one-day workshops in one of the classrooms of the school. We
decided to hold the workshop in spite of the complications caused by
the emergency situation we were in, thinking that this might distract
people and raise their morale. And that's what happened. Everyone was
very happy and motivated by the workshop. The topic was self-esteem.
The Governing Board, the Women's Committee, the Youth Committee and the
Water Committee all participated. In all there were 20 people. They
were very animated, involved and, most of all, very warm to one
another.
I
think that the meetings for reflection that we have had in recent days,
and the workshop on self-esteem, are helping people learn to work
together. Before this the Women's Group and the Governing Board
couldn't work together. Creating this group that includes
representatives of the Womenís, Youth and Water committees plus
the governing board, has allowed them to make progress in working
together. During the workshop everyone smiled. They enjoyed every
moment. They said, as we were closing, that they had never had any
training like this, that they were happy that everyone had
participated, that we were able to work together and laugh [and talk
about things] without getting angry.
Affectionately,
Teresa
*The
casa comunal is a large room partially enclosed by a wall topped with
chicken mesh for ventilation. This is where the community gathers for
meetings, celebrations, etc. It is unfurnished except for small benches
and a couple of small wooden tables.
Date:
Fri, 21 Oct 2005
Subject: After Hurricane Stan
Hi,
Beatriz and friends from the Binghamton committee. Greetings. I am
sending you an update following Hurricane Stan... As I told you
earlier, thirty-two people were evacuated from El Charcón.
Another problem surfaced later as a result of the heavy rains. Namely,
an enormous rock up on the hill is about to roll down on the houses.
For that reason four families that live nearby have had to leave their
houses and move into the 'model house.' We would be grateful if you
could write a letter addressed to the Ministry of Public Works in
support of their request for the demolition of that rock. The families
are depressed. One of the four families has gone to live with a
relative, while the other three remain in the 'model house.' We
continue holding our workshops on Self-Esteem and Emotional
Intelligence. There are two sessions left. One will be held tomorrow...
Twenty people continue to participate. I think that the result for the
community has been very good. They hug one another, laugh and, most
important, discuss things calmly. With warm wishes, Teresa
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