back to Suchi!!

April 20, 2010
Dear Friends,

Can you believe how quickly time has passed? Here we are in the spring of 2010. This past December I graduated from Georgetown with a major in Psychology and a minor in Justice and Peace Studies and will be walking at Commencement this May. I am currently enrolled in a Teaching English as a Foreign Language class and will be certified to teach this June. As if all of this were not enough, this coming September I will be moving to El Salvador to work at Centro Arte para la Paz (http://capsuchitoto.org/). As part of this experience, I will teach, help to organize community events, and live with the people who captured my heart when I studied abroad there last spring.
Centro Arte para la Paz is located in Suchitoto, which is a small town about two hours by bus (a 75 cent trip!) north of San Salvador. My theology professor, Sister Peggy O’Neil, is very involved with the center. At the end of my semester there, she invited me back to work with her, and I have gratefully and excitedly accepted her invitation.
My time in El Salvador was inspirational and formative. I often reflected on the question, “Where does my greatest desire meet the world’s greatest need?” For me, upon graduation, the answer is resoundingly in El Salvador, at Centro Arte para la Paz.
My desire: ever since I can remember, I have known that I wanted to serve, that I wanted to work with people, to listen. As I got older, I developed a yen for travel. On my graduation from high school, my dream was to join Peace Corp: to travel, to serve, to be part of a community completely different from anything that I had known. There was a part of me that felt like “well, it’s nice to dream, but I’m sure you’ll grow out of it, Christy.” After my time in El Salvador, it is clear that this desire to serve and live with the poor and the marginalized is not a passing phase, but a vocation. With Sister Peggy’s invitation, it became possible.
The need: The people of El Salvador are special. There is no other way to say it. The memory of the 12-year civil war of the 1980’s remains very much a part of Salvadoran life: memories of homes and people lost, war-time tensions turned into political tensions, the majority of the population living in poverty. Yet, there is a tangible hope, faith, and joy. There is a generosity and a hospitality, which I can only hope to learn.
Thus, the need is truly a mutual one. The work of the center in Suchitoto is to provide resources and community space for the people of the city as well as to invite foreigners in to serve and learn about the reality of El Salvador. With this in mind, my Justice and Peace senior thesis was the creation of a peace education curriculum built specifically for Salvadoran elementary school children. This is a class I will likely have the opportunity to teach. The gift back, to me, to other volunteers, is a lesson in simplicity, generosity, and giving with no thought to the cost.
As I prepare for this next great journey, I invite you to join me, through financial support, prayers and by following on my blog! I will be in Suchitoto from September of 2010 to May of 2012. To meet my expenses for this time, I am raising approximately $6,000 for food and travel expenses (due to the visitor visa system, I will have to leave the country every three months). Sister Peggy has generously provided housing and a stipend of $100 each month, so the cost I am responsible for is now $3,900. Any help you are able to provide is much appreciated! Please contact me (or leave a comment with your contact info) if you are interested in supporting me!
Financial assistance, however, is not the only support I need. Perhaps even more important are your prayers: for me, for the center, and for people of El Salvador!
I will be posting updates and pictures regularly on my blog (here!).
If you have any questions, would like more information, or just want to chat, please do not hesitate to comment! Thank you so much for your time and support!

Con Paz y Mucho Amor,
Christy