A US mission volunteer reports on continuing efforts for "recuperation"

Marcia Towers <marciatowers@yahoo.com> is serving as a mission volunteer in El Salvador, after graduating last year from Virginia Tech, and from the Presbyterian campus ministry program at Cooper House, in Blacksburg, VA. Thanks to campus minister Catherine Snyder for sharing these notes, and to Marcia for permission to publish them here.

Check our her first report,  her second one and third one, and also a report from Guatemala. 

[published here on 3-24-01]

Thanks to Catherine C. Snyder, Presbyterian Campus Minister in Blacksburg, VA, for sharing this report.

Hi Friends,

I think it's been about a month since I wrote last. I'm falling into the same problem as the big time media do -- when things calm down a bit and become more routine, there's just not as much interesting stuff to write about even though the process of recovery has hardly even begun. But it's important to note that although we are settling into a routine again, it is not the same routine as before.

The routine for 20% of the country now is to wake up under plastic or under a severely damaged house that should not be lived in. The routine of many now is not to have a place of work to go to because they lost their jobs or their fields or their market, or because they're busy moving rubble that was once their house. The routine of the majority of the country now (including me) is to jump when someone bumps their chair because they think the earth is shaking (we're still having aftershocks two and a half months after the first earthquake -- more than 6,000 in total - but much less frequently and weaker). The routine of many people in the office where I work now is to work from 8 in the morning until late at night, because we've taken on an enormous project of helping significantly with the reconstruction and it is a lot of extra responsibility.

The philosophy of Alfalit and the Reformed Church, where I'm working, is to choose some specific communities to work in, and to work for holistic recuperation. The most obvious aspect is the reconstruction of the house, and specifically to build it in a form resistant to earthquakes. The houses are built on credit that the people must pay back (at very low cost and extremely low interest) because purely giving the house creates a situation of dependency, by giving things instead of helping people learn that they are very capable. But the people cannot pay back the loans if they don't have work.

The second aspect of the recuperation, then, is to create sources of work by training the people and by creating community banks to give loans to start a small business (selling tortillas, opening a small restaurant, etc).

Along with people's ability to work and to return to a normal life is the third aspect, emotional recuperation. There will be a lot of training of community leaders on how to help the community emotionally, as well as interaction with work groups and others who are involved in the community to listen to the people and allow them to begin the process of moving on.

Please continue to hold this country in your prayers. Pray for the continued financial help from other countries and individuals, for the wisdom and sincerity of the multitude of organizations who will contribute to the reconstruction, and for the resilience of the people.

Also, I am helping design the program of receiving delegations to accompany the reconstruction process and to build cross-cultural relationships. If anyone has interest, I'd love to hear from you and I can begin to give you more details in the next week or two.

I don't want to go asking for money. But as I know these e-mails are sent half way around the world, I'm going to give you the way that you can help us out if you so desire. Remember, the recuperation process is only beginning. You can give to the Presbyterian Church, USA, account number 9-2000140 for El Salvador. Checks can be written to "Presbyterian Church, USA" and sent to "Central Receiving Services, Section 300, Louisville, KY 40289." You can also call 1-800-872-3283 and give by credit card. Thanks for your help.

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