Teacher’s stories, the return to San Jose las Flores – July 10

The church was one of the few buildings standing when the community returned in 1986 It was very important that all teachers had a chance to tell their stories. Everyone had been exhausted by the end of the previous day’s session. Today, Lidia continued with her story. When she was 12 years old, she lived in the mountains. She saw this as a privilege, she was alive. She and other teachers talked about trying to share these experiences with their students. The parents are reluctant to do so. Like the others, she has lots of nightmares. Morena continued by relating how her father was killed when she was six years old. The army was following them so they got used to hiding and running all the time. She is still very nervous and anxious much of the time. She and her family lived in Honduras for two years. When they returned in 1990, the community was already rebuilding houses in San Jose Las Flores. Still, the army attacked the people. Several times they would shoot at the people from the hills above the town. Her cousin was killed and her sister was injured in these attacks. Much of what happened to these people remains unresolved. Several times, our group leader Migual spoke of the need for justice – a need that remains to be fulfilled. The trauma remains he believes, because there has been no justice. Others say that God will punish those who committed these crimes. We asked them why they decided to come back here when there was so much danger. They quickly answered that many of them had been running for six years and were simply ‘burned out’. The community and the FMLN was looking for an alternative to hiding in the forests. To illustrate how the community was resettled, the teachers then showed us an old video taken during a mass celebrating the return of families to San Jose Las Flores. The footage is incredible and really needs to be seen by a wider audience. You can see some of the teachers as young children. They all look malnourished, afraid and hollow. Surrounding them in the background you can see FMLN troops guarding the community. The town has been totally ruined. The only recognizable building is the church. A mass is taking place and the people are celebrating their return from the refugee centers and the forest. The local people are accompanied by people from Spain and the United States. They also had the support of their local bishop. It was a great privilege to share these old videos with our friends. It was like watching home movies in someone’s basement! They laughed and cheered when they saw someone that they knew. As the videos continued, we saw the community celebrate their first corn harvest. This was three months after the first video. The difference was startling. The children played and laughed and looked healthy and happy. He community was being rebuilt. There was an obvious sense of community pulling together to reclaim their homes. You could tell already that these people were not beaten and that after all that had happened, these people would survive.

A banner celebrating the 25th anniversary of the return to San Jose las Flores

We meet the teachers of San Jose Las Flores – July 8

An early classroom in the woods as depicted on a wall mural at the school On our first full day in San Jose las Flores we sat down with the teachers we would be working with for the next week. There was Blanca, Jose, Lydia, Morena, Abalose, Esperanza, Nina, Douglas, Salvdor and Vilma. They taught from kindergarten to grade 9. Before learning more about their education methods, we needed to understand how this community had developed over the years.

Some of the teacher group we met with every day at the school In 1986, Bishop Damas was invited into the area to witness the plight of the people. He was able to see what was happening to the people and how they were being oppressed by the army. The bishop publically denounced what was going on and resolved to help the people reclaim their towns. On June 20th, 36 families who had previously taken refuge in the Church were escorted back to San Jose Las Flores. They were joined by people who had spent the previous six years hiding in the mountains. The community they returned to had been completely destroyed in earlier battles. Gradually, the town was rebuilt and people started to look for projects to sustain the community. Women started a community kitchen and a bread shop. While the projects were small, the projects allowed people to take charge of their own development. The people also built their first school out of adobe.

One of the community project – the bread shop The teachers started to tell us how they organized themselves. We learned first that they actually chose their own principal! A principal is chosen for a three-year term. The principal can stay on if the teachers agree to this. The principal is not paid any more than the teachers and it was very evident that they all worked together as a team. Decisions affecting the school were debated and decided upon as a group. The students are very motivated to come to school. There is little specialized equipment in the school, but this is changing due to donations from Holy Trinity High School here in Ottawa. The school now has a computer lab of twelve computers. The school lacks specialized equipment for art and phys.ed and there are no special programs in these areas, there is very little support for students with learning disabilities. The roof is in need of repair, there is no science lab and there is a lack of good textbooks. Still, the teachers are patient, they are aware that they lack a great deal, but they are seeing some change especially with support from outside the community. This year for the first time, the school has an English language teacher (Salvadore). There are also plans to dedicate a teacher to work with kids with learning disabilities. They are also experimenting with afternoon enrichment classes in art and phys.ed. Usually, the primary and junior students go to school in the morning. The teachers are now volunteering their time to develop some of these enrichment studies.

Kindergarten kids line up for the morning snack The teachers also discussed the need for psychological and emotional support. The students they work with all come from families that were traumatized in the war. Students are also malnourished so there is a need to provide children with healthy food while they are at school. The teachers are now considering projects that will allow students to grow food and raise livestock. They are even thinking of raising fish on the school grounds. We all see that there are lots of challenges facing the school community. The exciting thing about these people is that they are constantly planning new and innovative ways to solve these problems!