November 2000

Dire economic conditions for rural residents in Central America

In both Guatemala and El Salvador the rural poor and urban middle-class are experiencing tight times. In October, an observer working on documentation of human rights abuses in Guatemala explained that Central America is a powder keg that would explode except for the escape valve of money earned in the US and sent home, primarily by illegal workers. On my visit to El Salvador I experienced this personally when a seven-year member of La Nueva Esperanza told me that her fifty-year old husband had started out for the U.S. the day before-walking.

We know other small-scale farmers from El Salvador who have come to the states with the help of coyotes (people in the business of bringing in illegal workers). One individual, a forty-two year-old, father of nine, made several attempts, finally succeeding at the cost of $7000. Here since March, working days in construction and nights as a dishwasher, he has paid off the cost of his arrival and is now sending money home. His next goal is to bring his oldest son on the same dangerous route. He plans to stay here for three to five years to accumulate enough to build a house in a town where he would have access to commercial opportunities and his children would be able to attend school beyond 4th grade. He shares a three-bedroom apartment with nine other men in a complex occupied by "illegals" from many countries. He is a member of a new corps of workers that helps insure the stability of Central American.

First Graduation for High School Scholarship Program

After six months of bureaucratic postponements Delmi, pictured above, finally graduated. Most Co-partners scholarships are for elementary and junior high school students. Delmi is special in the Ilobasco area because she is the rare rural woman to make it through high school. The delay of her graduation means that she must wait a year to begin teacher training. Co-partners has committed to continue her scholarship through the five years of study required for a teaching degree.

Possible Permanent Location for La Nueva Esperenza

During the seven years since it's founding in 1993 La Nueva Esperanza has met in a borrowed room in the church parish house. This means sharing space with music and youth groups, baptismal and catechism classes. It means that all materials must be stored in locked cabinets because anything left outside naturally disappears. Members are anxious to find a low-cost location of their own. In early October volunteers, Archer Heinzen and Gloria Martel spent two days in Ilobasco talking to community and church leaders about possible buildings. After making many contacts a possible site was located. It is an unused, church-owned building and is now being considered by the responsible council as a center for La Nueva Esperanza.

New Guatemala Sheep Project

In October, Catalina Ventura, pictured above, received the first check for a sheep project with the Asociación para el Desarrollo Indígena del Kiche' (ADIK). This project is based on a popular development strategy of purchasing animals for breeding within a community. Each project participant receives a female animal and the community shares a male. Each participant commits to breed her animal and return the first female offspring to the organization, to be given to another woman. Subsequent births are hers to keep to expand her herd or to sell. ADIK is an organization, similar to La Nueva Esperanza, supported by volunteers, using an integrated approach to development by focusing on reproductive health, small business, and community organization.

Co-partners of Campesinas Board of Directors

Chairperson: Archer Heinzen, Alexandria, VA

Secretary/Treas.: Julia Gonzalez, Gaithersburg, MD

Board Members:

Phoebe Lansdale, Washington, DC

Glynne Leonard, Falls Church, VA

Pilar Lecarios, Lima, Peru

Gloria Martel, San Salvador, El Salvador

Rosa Irma Mendoza, San Salvador, El Salvador

Teresa Rodriguez de Sarroca, Rome, Italy

La Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) Board of Directors

President: Rosa Flores

Vice President: chita Rodriguez

Secretary: Anriana Dinora Rivas

Treasurer: Gloribel Mendoza