Saturday, February 11, 2012

Saturday, February 11, 2012

We board the bus at 8:30 AM. We are headed for a day of learning more about El Salvador, Romero, and sightseeing. I am not going to write at length regarding this day or tomorrow. The intent for these two days is to debrief, de-stress and enjoy learning more about this wonderful country, its people and history and to enjoy some of its products in the marketplace.
We began at the complex housing the chapel where Father Oscar Romero was murdered, as well as the “hospice hospital.” I had seen the murder-scene photographs in the Church in San Jose Villanueva, (as I mentioned earlier). In the congregation that day was a photo-journalist and he had taken a series of haunting and horrifying photographs. I recalled the photographs I had seen as I walked through the church. I viewed the alter where Romero was shot in the aorta and simply bled out through every orifice. Common thought is that he knew he would be murdered that day and that perhaps it was inevitable. Thus, he commanded that he be alone on the alter and have no one serving with him at that service. I believe he made this decision to preserve lives in the chapel. He was the only person killed that day in the church however, at his funeral; gunman on the roof of the government building opened fire on the thousands of people who had come to pay respect to Romero and many, many were killed that day. I read one description of piles of shoes left (lost) in the melee’ that occurred as Salvadorans fled for their lives.
We next toured Romero’s house, which has been preserved intact. Even the car he drove, sits under an awning-carport in the driveway. A young Sister talks to us before we tour the home. She goes around the circle after explaining about Romero and his life and asks the group to state one word that describes how Romero delivered his ministry. I choose the word love and one other person did as well. There were a variety of word-descriptors and I was amazed that every word was different from the last. Words like humility, compassion, charity, tolerance and peace. Once inside the humble home we went room by room, and the space did not appear to be more than 800 sq feet in total. One room; used for receiving persons when Romero lived there, now housed behind glass, the robes and clothes that Romero wore that day. They hung just as when removed from his dead body, never laundered ; stained with blood now so faded, it might have been spilled coffee. In this room, the Sister asks us to recall the word we used earlier to describe Romero and then she asks us to think about how that descriptor came into the decisions that Romero made the day he was murdered. She asks us whether we felt that Romero knew he was going to die that day? Several people spoke, it was emotional for many and there were a few eyes where the tears came. The Sister urges us to take the word we described for Romero and incorporate it into our daily lives going forward. One physician comes to be and holds me closely in a hug and another pats my shoulder and says “did you see me crying too?”

Romero’s death did nothing to appease or stop the violence however, the Civil War in El Salvador escalated from that point forward. (Romero was killed on March 16, 1980.)
Our next stop was the Jesuit; University of Central America (UCA). UCA was also a place of massacre and violence. One night six priests, a housekeeper and her young daughter were murdered in the night. Although not discussed today, the housekeeper had been shot in the vagina. I recall this from my last visit. The cruelties and hatred ran deep and long during the civil war. The room where the Housekeeper and her daughter were murdered was left as it was and we circulate into this area and then stand in the sun by the rose garden. The place where the dead bodies had been dragged is now a rose garden, tended to by the Housekeepers husband until his death very recently. Ironically, the Housekeeper and her daughter had been brought to UCA by the Jesuits to help keep her safe. There is a small museum there and the group continues to learn. We also visit the chapel and a small UCA bookstore. Intellectuals were murdered because it sent a message to the people to repress their learning, for if they tried to better themselves, they too would be killed.

For the afternoon, we visit Fernando Llort’s gallery and then on to the open-air market. And Sr. Susan takes a few of us to get the best coffee beans in El Salvador
Our day ends with pizza dinner at Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS). www.cis-elsalvador.org The group’s leader “Leslie” speaks with us, explaining the organization and her long-standing (since college and she must be in her late 50s) interest in El Salvador. I photograph the sign on the inside of the door which speaks of reminders of using the keyhole to view out before opening the door and not opening the door to anyone unknown. Main goals of the organization include the economic empowerment of women. Projects have included indigo dyeing (indigo was once El Salvador’s greatest export, now surpassed by coffee and sugar), dairy and chickens. More and more women are becoming educated and/or receiving the skills training to become more self-sufficient. Under the current FMNL, every business with more than 14 employees pays into a State-based tax which has a mandate to give the dollars to educational programs (of which CIS benefits). Another CIS imperative regards performing “election observations.”