Going out on a limb - Tuesday

Our gospel reading with Sister Fran this morning was the story of Zaccheus, the tax collector who climbed up the tree to see Jesus because he was too short to see him. He was not too popular because of how he had cheated people over the years, but he became changed by his encounter with Jesus.



Of course Zaccheus was not the only one to be changed by his encounters. Today we divided again into 3 teams and visited the village of Angela Montano. This is the community where Sister Fran and Sister Pauline live. Sisters Fran and Pauline belong to the Sisters of Providence founded by Emilie Gamelin in Canada in the 1840's. There are no other Providence sisters in El Salvador. Angela Montano has a strong spirit of taking care of each other, in part due to the work of the sisters over the years. Like San Hilario that we visited yesterday, the community is mostly made up of people who fought on the side of FMLN and were resettled in the village as part of the peace negotiations brokered by the United Nations.


In the afternoon, Sister Elena taught Melinda, Erica, and Alex (Erica and Alex are assisting with the scholarship program described in yesterday's posting) how to make her famous salsa recipe. Sister Elena belongs to the order Saint Joseph of Orange and grew up in Ontario, Oregon. She has lived in Tierra Blanca for 20 years and operates the Centro Romero where we are staying.

Meanwhile providence happened (can we get a bumper sticker made?) Our Providence Beginnings Social worker sent some clothes to bring to a young son (2 1/2) and daughter (13) from her mother who currently lives in the Portland area. The mother left her home in El Salvador 2 years ago, paying a coyote $7,000 to bring her to the U.S, placing the care of her two children in the hands of her mother. Sister Elena assisted me in calling the grandmother (Ana) and arranging for a man from the same village to drive us their to deliver the clothes. It was privileged to meet her children, deliver the clothes, and take some photos back to their mother.


Meanwhile the group traveled to Hacienda, a community built on the grounds of a former estate, sold to the government during the peace treaties. We were led around the community by young men and women who receive scholarships from Sister Fran and Pauline for high school and university studies. Keep in mind these are the Salvadoran baby boomers, the first generation to grow up after the war. Most have dreams of completing university training and returning to the community to create new futures for themselves and their community.


In the evening we visited a local artisan market in Tierra Blanca which sells locally made goods. The shop receives some assistance by Sister Elena, and donates some of the profits to the Fondo de Emergencia, the fund which is used as a sort of group insurance for medical urgencies.