2 posts tagged “el salvador”
So my new friend introduced me to a guy called Christian who runs Christian Surfers in El Salvador. He took me to the beach and showed me one of the most pristine and secret breaks in the world. We entered the cemetary where the white headstones, angels and crosses painted themselves on the moody sky. We weaved in and out of ruins, greeted by cows as they looked up lazily from their munching as they stood irreverantly amonst the graves. Dogs cowered from us and chickens ran around as if they had already lost their heads. Palm trees heralded the beginning of the stony beach and set after set rolled in.
We stood watching the waves disturbing the horizon. There are no words to discribe the strange beauty of those brown waves crashing onto rocks as we stood in a cow filled cemetary, worried about coconuts falling on our heads.
From there we went to the Christian Surfers meeting. There were about 30 kids there and 45 adults. I became the photograper for the night as the guy who runs it needed some documentation for an upcoming conference. The kids came early and set up 50 mismatched chairs then played in the hammock. Two or three would sit in the hammock and pull it over them (like a cacoon), then 4 other kids would rock them until they went around in a full circle. Totally crazy. There was injury after injury... blood, grazes and still they would go back for more.
The meeting started with a game of Chinese Whistpers. The final product was ´Marcelo is going to bring us a ball filled with rice´. It began with ´Surfers, after they are surfing are hungry and want to eat chicken and beans.´ The talk was on gossip and how things get changed as they go through different people.
Half way through a bunch of Americans turned up... and took the kids away to break apart piñatas. The kids went wild but it was lots of fun.
One of the men started telling me about the work they were doing with a local orphanage and how they were going there tomorrow and wanted a translator. He invited me to stay the night with them and come the next morning to the orphanage as their translator. How could I resist!
The whole purpose in coming to El Salvador was to see my sponsor child through Compassion.
A little over a year ago I visited my sponsor child in Chile and though the experience had been good, i hadnt been overly impressed with the program. I went into this visit without any great hopes.
We were picked up by a young and very talkative lady... Rocio. She told us everything we wanted to know, all about Compassion, El Salvador, the churches here, and the impact of the war. (Will say more about the war later).
She drove us down to San Miguel and then to a village. We picked up people who were workers there on the way... I jumped in the back of the ute with some of the staff. We were thrown and rolled over pocked and eroded roads. When we finally arrived I was covered in a fine red dust, with a bruised bum and wind swept hair that had become molded by sweat and dirt. I was so in my element!
I jumped off the back, helping two beatifully dressed girls down. We saw seas of children holding up hand made signs saying things like... ´Thank yu very mush´ and welcum bowel famly´. They were all smiling and waving. We arrived at 10am and the children had been so excited that they came at 7am. I met Veronica... the girl I sponsor. She came and gave me a big hug. She had a huge smile on her face but was still a little shy. We went into the church where were were officially welcomed by all the children in the compassion program, their parents and the staff members. They thanked us for our help and one of the children got up and preached. It was powerful.
We then took a tour of the facilities and saw the classes the children were taking. Compassion works here in 4 ways... emotional, spiritual, educational and physical and their program was obviously amazing, and working. I was breathless and close to tears at seeing these beautiful children all wanting a hug. Many of these children had never seen a white person before... in real life or in movies. They didnt have running water or electicity but were so active and happy.
We eventually tore ourselves away and took Veronicas family and the staff to Lunch. We let Veronica choose and she picked Pizza Hut. They had never been to a restaurant before. They ate the food with such enjoyment and the looks on their faces was priceless. Then they went to the playground. The little boy laughed so much he kept having coughing fits. I was so happy in that restaurant.
Then we took them back to their house to meet the rest of the family and pray with them. They live on someone elses land, on a cement block. They have 3 single beds for 7 people and cook in a tin shack. The dogs were all on the point of starvation. The granparents lived there as well and were so happy and generous. They brought us gifts and showed us their home. It was so humbling to be invited into such an intimate place and it was a privalige i could never repay. Words can not discribe what I have seen and experienced. I feel... humbled by their difficult circumstances and their resilience. The mother broke down in tears and my mother comforted her. There was something powerful about mums daughter helping her daughter. They bonded despite the language barrier.
It was an emotional day that went for 4 hours longer than scedualed. The staff at compassion were amazing and I have complete faith in this organisation... seeing first hand the work that they are doing.
