Independence Day

My favorite part of this whole day:

The very first song sung in Alejandria – the first song of the Rosary that was being said in honor and gratitude for the birthday of Jesús’ mom Dolores (but we call her Niña Lola).

It is a common song for the Rosary: a blessing to Mary.   And it is repeated often throughout the Rosary.  This song is beautiful when sung by the voices in Alejandria.

Something about the quality of the voices within this group.  There are a couple of people in the community that have incredibly beautiful voices: Balmore, Jesús, Blanca and Idalia for sure.  But there are several whose voices can be … painful to hear. 

BUT.

Put them together – all those voices – the good and the bad – and they create a beautiful, and I think, unintentional harmony.

It fills me with peace.

 

The altar at Lola's house is always lush with flowers from around her home

 

Beautifully arranged by Jesus

Someone once called this a Lobster Claw

Bird of Paradise

A different variety of Lobster Claw

"maracas" -
ALL of these grow wild in Lola's yard.

Angela - Blanca's mother

I like the placement of the Rosary beads

 

We surprised Lola with a cake!

 

Freddy and Jeferson

Lola and Jesus dishing up tamales - a birthday tradition!

Pilar helping in the kitchen - serving up coffee and tamales and then cake!

Aminta was gifted a banana tree to plant in her yard

Everyone enjoyed the and cake




 

 

 

If a Tree falls ...

So the question of the day is:

If a tree falls over the road and no one is there to see it (thank God) … did it really fall?

and

WHO will clear it away??

As we were driving out of town to take Blanca and Idalia home, heading towards Alejandria, someone from another truck yelled that a tree had fallen in the road and wasn’t passable.

They didn’t specify which road and there is a fork heading out of town – one road leads to San Francisco and most of the cantons, and the other road leads to Alejandria and a couple other cantons.  They also said it was a huge ‘amate’ tree that had fallen and Blanca said, there are no amate trees on the way to Alejandria. 

We kept going anyway.  I figured I would get them as far as we could go and they could walk from there and Cecilia and I would just turn around and head back.  We made it about ¾ of the way down to Alejandria.

And sure enough, there was a HUGE ceiba tree (like a kapok) laying across the road.  Actually, it wasn’t the whole tree – just ONE branch with lots of huge limbs.  Had the whole tree fallen, it would have wiped out the power pole on the side of the road.

as far as we could get

getting out to take a closer look!

So we stopped ... there was no other choice.  I wanted to get a closer look and take photos.  And Cecilia ran down the road to someone’s house and came back with axes.  Blanca helped out a bit.

We stayed put till the road was passable.  I got lots of photos and a video.  We waited out the cleaning crew. There were a few men from city hall and lots of people from Alejandria with machetes and axes hacking away at these huge limbs.  It was a slow, hot, muscle aching (I imagine) process.

This could have really hurt someone!

the poor tree ... it was a HUGE branch with many limbs. 

Or is that huge limb with many branches?

There were no power tools. Many of the branches were at least 12" wide and all were cut by machete and axe and hauled to the side by strong men. They did this under the hot ... dodging flying wood debris ... dodging everyone else's machetes ... avoiding bees nests ... (one brave man made a torch and burned a nest that was close to the ground after the fall.

This was amazing to watch them clear away the tree.  They had started not too long before we got there, and we were there about an hour.  Considering the tools on hand, I would say they did pretty rapid work.

This is the main reason I carry a machete in the Pastoral House pick-up truck.  Not that I could handle this type of tree fall – but in the past, we have had to clear smaller debris in our path!

 

 

Who owns the land?

I had a lengthy conversation yesterday afternoon with Blanca and Idalia.  I had been called down to share an early supper of pupusas.  We talked about a lot of different things – trivial and then some not so trivial. 

I’m not sure how the conversation started but we managed to segue into a hot topic.    Idalia mentioned that people from La Geo (the Geo Thermal plant here in Berlín) (and their heavily armed security guards) were measuring and staking out the land around their home.  I asked … isn’t that your family land?  Well, yes it is.  It’s been in the family for a very long time (Blanca’s family and Idalia’s family live next to each other – coffee trees and many types of fruit trees in a well-kept bit of land between and around their respective humble dirt floor homes. 

I didn’t think they were planning to sell – they have lived there all their lives and continually work to maintain their homes nicely. 

La Geo owns LOTS of land: in Alegría and Berlín.  They own a lot of the land in Montañita, a lot of the land in El Recreo.  They own a lot of the land in Los Cañales.  They own land in San Francisco … in Alejandria … Hacienda Nueva …

They keep buying up land and on much of it they dig more wells and run their gigantic tubing between the wells and the main parts of the plant.    Ugly eye-sores but that is the least of the problems they create.

 So I asked … why are they measuring if you don’t want to sell?

Here is the frustrating response:

‘If they want it – they will have it.’

La Geo comes in and offers a nice sum of money for your land.  Lots of people accept it – it is a great temptation to have that kind of money in your hand … unfortunately, when that money is gone – the people  are left with nothing.  Most people don’t think to the future here.  (So says Blanca). 

If you don’t want to sell – they can potentially take your land.  They have the cooperation of the government and an individual has (realistically) no recourse for protest.  They say the top several feet of the land belongs to the individual land owner - but beneath that layer, the land belongs to the government. 

So if La Geo wants your land.  One way or another, it is likely to become theirs. 

And they are sneaky … they buy the land that has a section of road on it.  Therefore the use of the road is determined by La Geo.  Roads are not ‘public’ property.  People may or may not be allowed access to said road - even if it is the only way to get 'from here to there' in your canton.

And there seems to be a land feeding-frenzy lately.  There are at least two new wells that are still in the process of being built in the last few months – these we can see from the main road between Berlín and Mercedes Umaña.  They are huge.  Lots of land is cleared around them.  They are noisy and smell horrible at times.  They construct walls around them and they are heavily guarded.  Lately, there are LOTS of people in the La Geo uniform in Berlín.   They are not from here.  They are imported labor from neighboring countries, but also from Spain and Italy. 

There are minimal (no?) restrictions or consequences for the pollutants they expel in the air, the water or the land.  We drive through a large area between Mercedes Umaña and Berlín, and between Berlín and Alegría where we have to hold our breath.  I couldn’t imagine living within that stench.  Below the plant, children come out of their ‘bath’ with what look like burns or extreme rashes because their bathing water has been contaminated. (These have been officially documented).  Fruit trees stop producing.  Animals are sickly and dying off.   The cancer rate is quite high as well as kidney disease (can we blame La Geo for that?  I honestly don’t know but it would be a logical assumption).

The plant itself and many of the wells and perforations are in the municipality of Alegría … so even any tax revenue generated (if any) does not come to Berlín. Berlín also does not receive the electricity from La Geo - as was one of the original promises when they proposed coming here.

Blanca, Idalia and Cecilia have friends who work at La Geo who know things.  They can’t/won’t say anything … they need their jobs.  And ‘accidents’ happen. 

I wonder how those in control (the owners, executives, big stockholders, etc.) can sleep at night. How can they not know of the negative consequences of their companies?  Honestly. 

God's Moments ...

It seems there are lots of “God moments” in life – pieces of time that you happen to be where you are needed – and you are there not because you purposely went there – but perhaps a delay on the road made you late – but – it was a good thing you were late because you were able to give someone a lift.  Had you been on time, you would have not been able to help.  Or … on the ‘spur of the moment’ you decided to turn here rather than there …

This afternoon, it was the later … we went down to Alejandria to bring the pan dulce to be given to the folks who had been praying and had been in vigil for Elena.  Her 9^th day of death is tomorrow and the family is preparing tamales by the thousands (literally) to be given to the faithful attendees.  The Pastoral Team ladies (and their families) don’t just give the tamales to those that attend the 9^th day vigil (beginning at 8 p.m. with a mass and not ending till daybreak the next day).  They give the tamales to those who attended the first night vigil, those who attended the mass and interment.  Those who brought flowers … whoever participated received at least a dozen tamales. 

We didn’t stay long in Alejandria.  Cecilia and I had gone down with Misael and Sesi (Margarita’s children).  Margarita had spent the day with Blanca and Idalia and their families helping to make the tamales.  We dropped off the pan dulce, helped disburse tamales then packed up and left - bringing Margarita with us.  On the way back to Berlín, we made some tamale delivery stops.  We went up to Colonia El Jardín to deliver to an aunt.  We went down to Hacienda Nueva in Coyolar (both places not too far from the Pastoral House).  The road down to Hacienda Nueva is bad … very rocky.  But nothing that the truck in 4x4 mode cannot handle.  We delivered to 3 homes down there.  About 2/3 of the way down, we saw a bunch of boys – bike-riding, chatting, hanging out.  On the way back up Cecilia suggested a shortcut so we went a slightly different way back up. We ran into the boys again  They asked us to stop.  One of the boys had broken his arm.  They were hoping we would take him to town.  No doubt about it … his arm was bent between his elbow and wrist and the bone was bulging the skin.  We put him in the front seat and gave him a seat cushion to put on his lap to help cradle his arm. 

I was directed to take him to the Red Cross which is right between the high school and the Berlín Clinic.   I’m not sure why they didn’t take him to the clinic itself.  My guess is, they would not attend to him (past history).  The Red Cross folks could possibly get him to the hospital either in Santiago de María or San Miguel (they would decide).    

Had we not taken the shortcut on Cecilia’s whim, the boy would have had to walk about 2 miles …

The last thing I saw was Cecilia handing some cash to the brother who would stay with the young man.  He would have to pay the gas to cover the trip.  God bless Cecilia.

Mass and Burial - or - EIGHT in ONE

The mass was to start at 9 a.m.  The casket would come in the funeral home pick-up truck and the people from Alejandria would follow on foot.  It’s only about 2 miles. 

Since we had to bring things to the house and drop people at the cemetery early (to dig), Blanca and I both had had a chance to clean up and change.  And we were ready to join the procession as it passed.  Blanca asked me to run ahead and keep an eye on her mother till she could catch up.  (María Elena was her sister).  She had to make some other arrangements.  So I trotted close to the truck that she was riding in and walked along side it till we got to the church.

Arriving - in front of the Pastoral House.  The name of the funeral home: Yom Kippur. 

The red truck has a few of the older women in the cab and a few of the men who dug the gravesite hole.

Blanca's mother and her sister in-law were in the cab of this truck.

The men carried the casket inside and opened the lid so people could have one last viewing.  Then Father Santos came down the aisle to serve mass.  Manuel from Las Delicias had been asked to sing for the mass.  He has a lovely voice that needs no chorus and is a close family friend. 

The mass itself was only about 45 minutes.  It was a regular mass, just shortened a bit and with a section specifically in honor of the deceased.  When mass was done, the men carried the casket back out and into the funeral home truck so we could begin the walk to the cemetery.

Most everyone walked behind the casket down the hill.  A couple of older people rode in the 2 pick-ups.  This procession took about 45 minutes. 

At the cemetery, there is a covered ‘salon’ for the casket to be displayed and for the family and friends to gather round for a final look and to hear anyone speak.  A man named Mariano from Loma Alta was asked to say a few words.  A few words always ends up being at least 20 minutes – regardless who is asked to speak.  Balmore then spoke – thanking everyone for their accompaniment.  I was sitting with Blanca’s mother and Margarita away from the crowds.  We made room for the people and the casket to pass. 

The custom here is that people watch the casket lowered into the grave.  There are no fancy machines to do this.  No pulley system.  It is just 4-6 men with rope.  They are more or less evenly spaced on either side of the hole of the grave.  Each with an end of the rope which is looped under the casket. The try to keep the casket level on its way down.  Not always successfully – but today for the most part they did a fine job. 

Then they start filling the hole.  This is when people seem to become most emotional.  It is such a final act. 

Mostly the men with their shovels filled the hole.  But a couple of women scooped dirt in their hands and helped.  That was more of a symbolic gesture.

Elmer and Javier (great nephews of Elena) became quite faint. Normally, immediate family does not have to help lower the casket … but in this case their assistance was needed. Between that very emotionally distressing act and the fact that they had not slept for probably 40 hours, and probably hadn’t eaten much, it is no wonder they were overcome.

When the hole was finally filled – with the temporary wooden cross embedded and a mound of dirt over the grave, people started decorating with the flowers from the night before. They had so many flowers they were able to ‘share’ with many of the other family graves nearby.

Temporary home made wooden cross - Maria Elena Coreas

Almost done - the base of the cross is buried about 2 feet

Women and some of the men help decorate

Blanca said: "she was lucky - she had lots of flowers"
This really translates: she had lots of people who loved her.  She was good to everyone.

Elena's cross cannot be seen anymore for the quantity of flowers

They were able to share some of the flowers with neighboring graves - family members.
Including Elena's mother's nearby grave.

So it was time to leave.  And even though it was overcast and threatened rain all morning, the rain had held off very nicely and people began to pile into the family pick-up truck to go back to Alejandria hoping to get there before the rains finally fell.  The rest of us started the hike up the hill back to the Pastoral House.  Within about a block, the rain started.  And it started hard.  Blanca, Cecilia, Pati, Margaret and her two children Misael and Sesi, and I started to walk faster.  I had an umbrella which I gave to Blanca and 5 year old Misael.  Pati had two plastic scraps she and I used as head coverings.  Relatively quickly, a moto-taxi slowed down for us and all but Cecilia and I got in for the ride up the hill.  Cecilia and I decided we could walk  (we both have the mother-martyr syndrome - we would rather others be comfortable!)  But the driver said there was room for us, too … there were 5 already in the back seat – which is really meant for 2 or 3… so Cecilia and I were invited to climb in and sit on either side of the driver.

How the heck that little moto-taxi made it up that steep hill is beyond me.  But what a blessing.  It was a ‘light-hearted’ way to put closure on the day’s sadness. 

Rosary and Vigil in Alejandria

I was exhausted. But I’m sure not as tired as my Compañeras were – and all their family members.

I attended the Rosary and vigil Monday night at Elena’s house in Alejandria.  She was still there – in the casket.  She looked beautiful – almost smiling.  Margot, Blanca’s sister, said her face did that ‘spontaneously’ when they put the first injection of preservative liquid in her.  (Yes, the family does that). 

We didn’t get to Alejandria till about 6 p.m.  We had to wait for the pan dulce to finish cooking and also wait for Elida who was coming from Virginia. 

By the time we left the Pastoral House, it was getting dark – and it was very cloudy.  About a third of the way there it started raining – and not just a drizzle – making it quite soggy for the people in the back of the truck.  We had Elida, her daughter Lorena, Margarita and her pregnant sister Reina, and 3 women from Alejandria accompanying us.   Most of them were in the back with the tubs of sweet bread which were covered in plastic. Fortunately, someone thought to bring a tarp so they had me stop driving while they covered themselves. Blanca, Aminta and Reina were in the cab with me along with a bunch of things that for the vigil could not get wet. 

Alejandro was waiting for us at the turnoff to the road that leads to the other side of the ravine where about half the community lives.  He knows I don’t like to drive down into the ravine and then back up.  It is wicked steep and has a couple of scary turns. And it is worse when wet. So I ended up in the back of the truck for the ride down the hill.  He stopped about 30 yards from the bottom to check out how high the water was – it had been rising.  This would determine if we could even go on.  Blanca and I went down to look with him.  It wasn’t so bad: maybe a foot deep and not running too swiftly.  So he went back up for the truck and scooted across the water.  Blanca and I waited for him.  We thought he would stop so we could hop back on but no.  He continued on up the steep hill.  Blanca and I took off our shoes and we crossed the water on foot with Elmer’s helping hand.  So much for the bug spray I doused my feet with!

By the time we got up the hill everyone was soaked.  But it was still warm out so to me, it felt good to be a bit wet.  Blanca and I washed our feet since we walked up the hill barefooted and were quite muddy.

People got settled.  Those who were going to help prepare the snacks stayed behind in Blanca’s mother’s house.  I was told to go up to Elena’s house and be with the people.  There were not too many people yet.  So we waited and chatted a little.  In between chatter, we contemplated the life and death of loved ones (I did anyway – I’m not sure what others were thinking).

I did not want to use the flash ... I felt funny enough taking the photo. 
With the storms, there was also no electricity so all we had were the 4 candles and a gas-type lantern hung from the rafters.

People straggled in.  By 7:30 it was time to start.  Balmore welcomed all and said a few kind words to all that were present to accompany the family in their sadness.  Elida was asked to do the first reflection.  This was followed by the first Rosary which lasts about a half hour.  Then we had about a 10 minute rest.  Then there was another reflection done by Balmore which was followed by another Rosary.  Then another 10 minute rest.  Then Jesús did yet another reflection which was followed by yet another Rosary.

We were done with the prayers by 10:30.  This was the very first vigil I have ever attended so I wasn’t sure if we were done.  But turned out we were.  With the prayer anyway. 

By this time there were at least 40 people standing and sitting outside the house and between 40-50 people jammed inside Elena’s house.  “Walls” had been moved to create one larger room.  (Remember that many walls here are just sheets or tarp separating space).  There was a beautiful altar created – a table with lots of flowers and religious items.  The casket was elevated on stands in front of that.  And there were 4 very tall pillar candles on each side of the casket and an ‘oil’ candle under.  And there were flowers in abundance all around and on top of the altar and casket.  None of the flowers were purchased – all came from people’s homes and arranged in whatever container could be found: 2 liter soda bottles cut in half, old paint cans with newspaper wrapped around them, etc.

At about 12:30 a.m., Cecilia came up to me and asked if I wanted to rest a bit.  I said no at first, but then Elida and Lorena were going to rest so I decided to join them.  We walked down the very slippery and muddy path to Celilia’s mother’s house and we were shown where we could rest.  There were 2 beds in one of the ‘room’s.  We all needed to avail ourselves to the bathroom facilities and we went together to share flashlights.  Idalia had baby wipes so we could clean our feet.  We slept in our clothes.  By the time we got settled in, it was well after 1 a.m.  Elida’s phone kept going off – it rained really strong a couple of times (and is like thunder on the lamina roofs), the roosters sang (loudly), and people were coming and going so it wasn’t a huge sleep we got.  But it was more than some people got.  I was grateful for the rest.  By 4 a.m., Elida decided we needed to go back up to Elena’s house to accompany the family once again.  So up we popped, put on our sandals, made a trip to the bathroom and began the slippery trek back up.

Most of the people had left. People had come from El Recreo, Berlín, Hacienda Nueva, Loma Alta and of course, Alejandria.  Most of the family was still there – and the young men who were going to help get the casket across the ravine to the main road to the funeral truck.  Blanca, Idalia, Cecilia, Margarita, an uncle were inside the room with the casket.  The young men were outside the door playing cards. 

By 6 a.m. it was time for some of us to leave.  Blanca, Margarita, Reina (the pregnant woman) and I took the tubs and a few other things back to the Pastoral House.   We also brought a half dozen young men and dropped them off at the cemetery because they needed to get started digging the hole.

I’ll save the rest of that for the next blog …

Update

Update ... Maria Elena died last night ... I just found out.  I imagine today will be filled with preparation for the interment and the first of the nine days of rosary vigils.

Please add the family to your prayers as they grieve.

Here is another thing about El Salvador - and I imagine many other places where elder care has not been institutionalized.

Maria Elena Coreas - November 2010

An aunt of Cecilia, Idalia and Blanca has been ill. Her name is María Elena Coreas and she is 73.  She has not been healthy for a very long time.  She has always been very thin – she smokes a lot and has for years.  She has had spells of weakness off and on since I’ve known her.  But this past month and a half she has been basically bed-ridden.  She hardly eats – maybe a half a tortilla a day or half a tamale … they buy her Gatorade and juices but she doesn’t consume much of those either. 

For the past month and a half, she has not been able to get out of her bed, hammock or chair without assistance.  She has had a couple of days where she could at least ‘help’ herself get out.  But for about 3 weeks now, she has not even been able to even help her helpers.  So if she needs to use the bathroom (which of course, is outside a ways) she has needed someone to basically carry her.  And the ladies say she is HEAVY.  They wonder how someone so thin can weigh so much. 

She won’t go to a doctor but my guess is she either has cancer or emphysema.   It’s a ‘logical’ assumption but certainly not based on any real knowledge I possess.

So someone is with her 24 hours out of the day.  During the day, it is mostly Cecilia’s father who spends time with her.  Alejandro has spent many days with her.  Blanca’s sisters from San Salvador come.  Other people bring food - which she doesn’t eat for the most part – but the food suppliers make sure whoever is watching over her is fed. 

During the night, it has been Cecilia, Blanca and Idalia taking turns spending the nights: vigilantly watching over her.  This means, that every 3^rd night, one of these women does not sleep because María Elena does not sleep.  She cat naps during the day and dozes occasionally at night.  And she talks.  She sometimes talks to people who are not there. 

You might ask if Cecilia, Blanca and Idalia catch up on their sleep during the day.  Short answer: no.  They go about their work as usual: laundry, cooking, doing the books, going out to the communities for whatever task needs to be done on whatever given day. 

I can see it is taking its toll on them.  They have a constant ‘cold’ – bags under their eyes.  They drag a little. 

But no one complains.  They might comment how tired they are.  But it isn’t a complaint.  If María Elena lives in this condition for the next 10 years – they will continue watching over her as they are. 

They talk about her a lot and worry.  As Cecilia said this morning because it seems she is getting worse: “we’ll have to see what God has to say about this.” 

I saw María Elena 3 days ago.  Blanca’s sister from San Salvador was with her.  And she is as thin as anything.  She was in bed – covered up to the neck with several blankets in spite of the heat of the afternoon.  But she did not feel warm to the touch.  She recognized me and we chatted a bit.  I crawled under her mosquito net to sit on the edge of her bed for a bit.  It’s hard to talk through netting.   Mostly I asked her how she was feeling: do you have pain? Are you able to eat? I tried to acknowledge what she was feeling – to try to understand –

She was worried about her own mother’s gravesite.  Did someone go out and put flowers up for Mother’s Day?   We assured her it was done.  And the next day I took a photo and printed it for the family to show her.

Family is a treasure. 

I don’t think I would have it in me to do what Cecilia, Blanca and Idalia are doing.  For that matter, what the rest of the family is doing also.    

But even if there was a nursing home facility anywhere near – I don’t think María Elena would be there.  Family takes on that responsibility. 

God bless them and all care-takers of the elderly and ill.  Whether they are family care-takers or hired care-takers or the loving care-takers in our own elder care facilities.  A special blessing to those at Spurgeon Manor in Dallas Center where my own mother is receiving such good round the clock care. 

And God bless those who are in need of care. 

Raining Buckets

I know I’ve talked about this before and in the grand scheme of things it is a little thing.  It is something we North Americans (for the most part) think about differently.  Even I do sometimes after all this time.

I had fallen asleep to rain on the roof.  I woke up sporadically throughout the night hearing that rain – thinking what a lovely sound to be sleeping to… and then I woke up to begin the day with the rain still pouring. 

This isn’t TOO unusual.  We are in the rainy season after all.  And October and the beginning of November can be particularly relentless.  So I’m not sure why this morning I’m ‘obsessing’ about children and youth walking into town from the cantons to get to school. 

Mauricio, Elmer and Marvin (Cecilia’s brother and 2 sons) were the first thing on my mind this morning upon wakeup.  I’m thinking they will be SOAKED by the time they get here at 6:15.   I’m thinking about those poor boys who every day swing by the Pastoral House after their half hour walk UP the path from Alejandria to change into their uniforms which Cecilia has washed and ironed the day before.  These poor boys will be SOAKED.  I knew they would not be able to cross the flooded and rushing river which splits their little village to get to the main road to catch the bus.  The bus probably isn’t even running this morning because it cannot climb the slick, muddy and sometimes steep roads to town.  I’ve driven that road in the rain and it literally becomes a rushing river in many places, mucky mud and deep pot holes in others and slick cobble in others. 

I knew the boys would have to walk the more direct path – which is narrow, muddy,  steep and mostly through a coffee finca.   I’m thinking that maybe they won’t come today …

Wrong.  Right on schedule – they showed up:  Mauricio with an umbrella and his jeans rolled up and wearing his cheap sneakers to get here.  Elmer arrived in a cheap thin yellow poncho that only went down to the waist so his pants and shoes were saturated.  Marvin didn’t come (the youngest). 

Dedication and commitment.

I remember years ago, living only 4 blocks from Indian Hills Jr. High school.  I would drive my boys to school when it rained.   And even before that, when my sons were in elementary school, they rode the bus.  When it rained, I would drive them the half block to the corner and invite all the kids waiting at the bus stop to pile inside the van to wait for that bus. 

And here, so many children have to walk a very long distance to attend school.  Rain or shine, mud or dust.

And I’m pretty sure many of those same children were not thinking about the lovely sound of the rain as they slept last night – more likely they were trying to stay dry in their beds below their leaky roofs.

Total Harmony

There are moments in life that just bring you peace. I hope you’ve had that experience. It can happen anywhere or any time: either when you are alone or with a group of people – whether you are sitting in silence or in a cacophony.

I had a beautiful and wondrous moment of peace this afternoon.

We went to Alejandria for another Rosary. This time at Cecilia’s house because it was her birthday. (That is another story).

We got there a little early to help cut fruit for the “ensalada” drink. It is made of water, a large assortment of small pieces of diced up fruit (apple, grape, strawberry, mango, mamay, watermelon and cantaloupe in this case but it can have whatever in it), and some sugar to taste. We made several gallons which were later put into baggies for later distribution. We also helped make chicken sandwiches. These are made with large French rolls – the majority of the filling is cooked shredded cabbage and shredded carrots. It has minimal chicken. And they do have the occasional bone so you have to be careful with your bites. We finished just in time as the people began to arrive. We started the Rosary pretty much on time at 3:30. Balmore and the youth led the prayers and reflections. And Blanca led the singing with almost everyone joining.

There were about 35 or so people in attendance. The youngest was about 18 months (he fell asleep) and the oldest was about 83. There were lots of in between aged folks.

This was the 7th Rosary of the month … and for you Catholics out there, it was the Glorious Mysteries we prayed. (Thank you Sandy for the pamphlet that explained the Rosary to me! - it is still hard to recite the things other than the Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer – I do it in Spanish with everyone here …I’m hoping someday I can do it all not only in Spanish, but also in English!!)

So when was my beautiful and wondrous moment of peace?

Towards the end – and the Rosary here takes about an hour and a half … Blanca began a song that is common for the Rosaries. She has a strong voice. It is not refined or trained and it is very typical of the Latin American Style. You must know – that it isn’t necessarily important that you can carry a tune here – loud is the important thing. But thankfully, Blanca can carry a tune.

She began – and the others joined in almost immediately. Not everyone there could carry a tune. But somehow for this song – their ‘harmony’ worked. And it was absolutely lovely; loudish, heartfelt and sincere.

It made me want to weep – but at the same time my spirit was lifted. I wish I could describe it better. Or better yet, I wish for someday - that you (dear reader) may have this same experience.

Alabemos al Santísimo                    We praise the most Holy
Sacramento del altar                        Sacrament of the altar
En los cielos y en la tierra                In the skies and in the land
Aquí y en todo lugar.                        Here and in every place

Sing slowly and with emotion.

Working Together

Tuesday I got to see a community doing exactly what the Pastoral Team encourages at every meeting and at every place they visit!

May is the time for La Fiesta de los Flores – (The Festival of Flowers) a celebration of the Virgin Mary.

The month of May is filled with special masses; you often hear the noisemakers called ‘cojetes’ at all times of the day and night and there are Rosaries dedicated to the Virgin daily in many communities. And we were invited to go to Jesús’ house to attend his day to host the Rosary. Every day in Alejandria a different family plays host and provides a bit of refreshment after the Rosary which takes a little over an hour. May 7th is Cecilia’s day to host because it is her birthday … the 10th will be Blanca’s (it is Mother’s Day here on that day … in El Salvador they go by date – not the day of the week). And the 11th is the day for Alisha and me to host the Rosary. We’ll do our hosting at Blanca’s house so no one has to come up to Berlin. We are planning to make and serve hot chocolate and bake some chocolate chip and PB cookies for everyone.

You can look at Alisha’s blog for more details about this day – but I wanted to write about what we saw on the WAY to Jesús’ house!

About 2:15, we headed out and traveled by way of the main road to Alejandria – I thought we would be parking the truck in the street and walking down the steep hill, across the little river and then back up the other side’s steep hill to get to Jesús’ house – but no. We DROVE it. Thank goodness for a seriously equipped pick up truck with good 4x4 capabilities!!! But that is another story.

There are two parts of Alejandria – one part is on this side of the river and one part is on the other side of the river. We have to drive though the ‘this side’ section to get to the ‘other side’ section. We passed the school, rounded the corner and came upon a half dozen young men working in the street with shovels, machetes and pick-axes. All of them were from Alejandria. We stopped for a bit – the Pastoral Team had made a fresh fruit drink and had ‘baggied’ the liquid up into individual servings and had brought cookies. They knew the people were working and wanted to give them a little treat.

Well – as Blanca and Cecilia handed out the snack, more people came up from where the little playing field is and from up the hill on the other side – I walked over to the ledge to look down on the field to see what they were doing. There were a bunch of people! Men and women, young and older – all clearing debris and digging trenches. I counted at least 20 people. I found out later that there had been even more people working.

They were digging the trenches down the side of a hill on one side of the road, then along the side of said road, then down a hill to the smallish field, then continuing on the side of the field and then finally down a far side hill at the end of the playing field. No one was getting paid to do this work. This is an example of a community working on behalf of itself!

This is an example of a community coming together to work to improve their own community. This is a concept that the Pastoral Team is always preaching; especially to the communities that are receiving assistance from one of our Partners in Iowa. And Alejandria has been blessed with a very generous partner – and they have taken to heart the concept of ‘giving back’ – not necessarily with things (although they do that, too!) – But also with the gift of their hands and sweat and muscle.

And were they sweating!!

This trench will serve to protect the road, the ‘cliff’ area on the side of the road as well as the playing field below. It will channel and divert the heavy rain waters to avoid serious erosion.

I was given a couple of gifts that day. The opportunity to attend the Rosary at Jesús’ house and then seeing the good work of the community!



Alejandria youth

 

Looking down into the playing field



Trenches made by people - not machines



Literally sweat rolling off her face!



2:30 p.m. - the heat of the day!



How wonderful that the teens are working for their community!

 

A brief rest



Might be the first rest of the day ...

 

Cecilia handing out a pineapple drink!  I love his smile!



Special Beginnings and Endings

Saturday was a very special day. It began with a beautiful event and ended with one even more lovely.

At 9 a.m. was a special event to bless things.

It wasn’t a formal mass. Just a blessing. There weren’t too many people there at first. Maybe 30 or so. And everyone had things in their hands: water in big water jugs, or pop bottles, or like me … in a cleaned out wine bottle (I was asked by Blanca to get some water blessed and that is what she gave me). There were several people with framed posters of Jesús or Mary, and small statues. There were a few people with guacals of beans, corn and/or rice. There were several birds (Alicia brought her half-moon conyure), a kitten, a couple of puppies, bigger dogs and a tortoise.

Father Santos came in looking tired. It was a long procession the night before and I believe he had spent his time all day in the cantons! But he greeted us kindly and with a smile for all of us and for what we had brought. He read the prayers to bless the water he was to sprinkle and then called up those who had brought water first. Since I didn’t know the procedure, I watched to see what everyone did and then followed suit.

Everyone with water approached the little table that had been set up on floor in front of the pews. And Father, with a loufah attached to a handle, dipped that sponge and raised it over his head and sprinkled all the bottles – making sure all of our water receptacles and contents got blessed with the holy water. There were a bunch of us, so as some got blessed, they went back to their seats while the rest of us slowly made out way to the front to get our own water blessed.

Then the icons followed. Then the grains. It was the same process for them.

Then the moment many were waiting for arrived – the blessing of the animals. They all brought their critters up to get sprinkled. Some critters didn’t really like it – and there were lots of smiles –

It was fun to see all this within the walls of the church. Often there are dogs that wander in … but nothing like this.

Finally – it was time for the children. THAT was the sweetest moment. Parents took up their babies and young ones and even some not so young ones. And they all got blessed. And like with the animals – not all of the children liked getting doused! There was such affection and love in Father Santos’ eyes and smile. He was obviously enjoying this tradition. And he was smiling kindly at the children and the parents the whole time. And there was even some shared gentle laughter and the reactions of the children. It truly was a sweet experience.

When all was said and done, more people straggled in. Probably 100 in all by the time it was done. Father blessed the things of the late-comers with patience and kindness.

As everyone got up to leave afterwards, someone went up to the table and asked to be blessed. So Father blessed them with the holy water. So then everyone went up to be blessed including Cecilia, Alisha and me.

It’s hard to describe the feeling. But I went away feeling at peace. Feeling happy.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Alisha and I colored a few hard-boiled eggs with Cecilia who didn’t quite understand WHY we would be doing such an odd thing but she thought they were quite pretty. We saved the colored water because in May they make confetti eggs out of emptied egg shells which are then hit over people’s heads. I’ll learn more about that when the time comes… but we did color some of her hollowed out eggs that she had been saving in preparation for May. And she really liked the look!!

About 6:30 p.m. we got into the truck to drive out to Alejandria. There was to be a special ‘vigil’ – but not an all-nighter like the one in Berlin. Due to the off and on rain all day, we waited till the last minute to decide whether to go or not. I’m so glad it stopped raining!!

We drove to Alejandria in the dark. This was a first for Alisha. Driving at night is not my favorite thing to do, but slowly, it’s not so bad really. And there is no traffic so that is a bonus.

We had been invited to park in front of someone’s house – he said he would keep an eye on the truck for us. And he said we could park in their ‘drive-way’ – which was about 2 feet wider than the truck and steeply sloped down towards their house. And then I was told I had to back in … from a narrow road. In the DARK!!! It was quite the adventure. But I managed to do it without scraping the sides of the truck or losing control and crashing backwards into their house!! Alisha helped guide with her words and flashlight – easier for her as a fellow driver to tell me where to go! In spite of the ‘struggle’ to get into that driveway, later I was glad I had backed in because it made getting our so much easier!

One of the cool parts of this evening was that we were parked quite a way from where the vigil was to be held. So we had to walk in the dark on the dirt road. Then down from that main road on a relatively steep path to the river, cross the little river, and then up a steeper hill to Blanca’s house.

I only had a small ‘finger-ring’ light. But it was enough. Alisha, Cecilia and I didn’t slip once. It was a little damp and a little slippery from the day’s rain.

We stopped briefly at Blanca’s house to say hello and drop some things off. Then we continued down the little road to Cecilia’s family’s house. There were already a lot of people standing around a bonfire. Everyone had an un-lit candle. I had bought 20 candles in case there were some who needed one. And quite a few needed one so I’m glad I had done that. We stood around for a bit … chatting quietly. Then about 7:15, Balmore began the reflection and explanation of this celebration.

It starts with the fire. This symbolizes the Jesús is the light in the darkness. The Pascua candle is lit from this bonfire. And we start walking. Balmore held the candle up as he led us up the hill and spoke a bit but I couldn’t hear him. There were at least 40 or 50 people following him – he was leading the way to his house where the vigil would be held. About a third of the way up, he invited some – but not all – to light their candles. We continued walking. 2/3 of the way up, he turned and invited more – but not all – to light their candles. Then at the top of the hill, just outside the doors of his home, we all lit our candles.

And very cool – during the walk up the hill, the song “this little light of mine” was sung. Same tune and with more or less the same words.

When we entered the front area of Balmore’s home, there was a table set up with a simple cloth. Many plastic chairs were set out. We stood with our lights lit for a short time then we were instructed to extinguish our candles.

Then began the readings, the short reflections, the prayers and the songs. Each segment lasted about 10 minutes or so – depending upon the readings – which were from both the Old and the New Testaments. Several Alejandria youth did the scripture readings. Blanca, Idalia, Pati and Vilma were the choir. We sat for the readings and reflection and we stood when we sang. About 2/3 of the way into the vigil – after about an hour or so, they covered the table with a white cloth and placed two more candles on it which were lit by the Pascua candle. We also lit our candles again briefly then blew them out again.

More scriptures were read, with more reflection, prayer and song. Then Balmore got the water that had been blessed that morning and poured some into a guacal. He used a small leafy branch to sprinkle us all with this holy water. Then we shared communion and ended with a final reflection time.

We finished up about 9:45 p.m. Everyone was given some coffee laced with sugar and chocolate and some pan dulce. We chatted a while and enjoyed each other’s company and then people little by little went home.

We started walking back to the truck (with another family that needed a ride to town) about 10:30.

Most of us had little flashlights or used their candles to see our walking path. It is so dark out in the country. We all made it safely – no slipping. And when we were in the road area looking over the little school’s soccer field, it was all aglow!! It was flashing with fireflies. What a miraculous sight!!! We all had to stop a moment to enjoy it. Must have been hundreds down there in that smallish dark space!

We continued on to the truck. I was able to get it out of our ‘parking garage’ easily enough in 4x4 low gear. When it was safely on the road, the 5 of us from the Pastoral House loaded into the cab of the truck and the family of 6 loaded into the bed of the truck for the slow and very dark journey back up to Berlin.

It was a beautiful day and evening.