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Published: August 5th 2010
Finished Church
Yesterday you saw what the church looked like. This is what it looked like just before we left.Wednesday, August 4th
First of all, I should clarify my use of titles. At first I was saying Santa Ana Refugee Camp, and now I've been using the more appropriate title of Los Angeles Commnity. There are probably a number of other "commnities" around Santa Ana where the families that are either made homeless by flooding, earthquake, or mudslide are given small parcels of land to use as their homes. In both the original Los Angeles community suported mostly by Kenton Moody Ministries and the newer and smaller Los Angeles 2 community, the average family lives in a 20 foot by 30 foot (my estimation) plot with tree limbs, boards and wire for fencing and a combination discarded tin signs, hunks of wood and whatever else they can scrounge up for houses. Generally speaking, they only use their "houses" for storing whatever little they own, and to sleep in. They cook and eat outside, spending their days either finding small jobs to do, or participating in the what seems the most common profession of selling something on the streets. They sell fruit or vegetables (sometimes what they grow but more often what they buy in small bulk lots), or any
The Puppy
Hopefully you can see this little puppy at Los Angeles 2. other commonly sold item such as toilet paper rolls, or a small food stand. They can't buy large quantities of anything, so they buy amounts they can and then try to sell it for a profit, often making only a couple of dollars a day. Apparently, the government doesn't supply much of anything, even to the most destitute. The more ingenious of them will come up with some item they can buy cheaply and sell quickly for a small profit, such as making the local favorite of pupusas on the side of the street, which is a sort of sandwich made from cornmeal, then fried and served with some combination of refried beans, chopped vegetables, and a sauce. These are eaten by hand by tearing off a small piece and scooping up the fixings.
Today, we went to Los Angeles 2 to put walls up on their church. The walls consisted of 2x2s we made into a frame, then screwed or nailed 4x8 sheets of fiberglass siding like drywall. After we were done, a small crew put cinder blocks with cement along the edges to seal the church from flooding. When we finished there, we went to the Moody's
The Women Arrive
Just as we were finishing up, some of our ladies arrived. You can see my cute blond wife Manoli just right of center. house for a lunch of hamburgers. Since we were running late and had to be at Los Angeles 1 to hand out pizza and watermelon followed by the dedication ceremony for the houses, most of us half finished at the Moody's house and ate the rest on the way. At the moment, the hotel's WiFi is down, but I hope to get some videos of the pizza handout and dedication ceremony up on YouTube for everyone to see. You should have seen how excited everyone was to get pizza and watermelon! There were so many little kids and their mothers in line it was a madhouse. Afterwards, we all went to the dedication ceremony where the major of Santa Ana, the council leader of Los Angeles, an Army Colonel, the representative from Un Techo Para Mi Pais (A Roof for my country), and Mr. Moody all made brief speeches. We all walked to one of the new houses, where a short speech was made the a symbolic ribbon-cuttin ceremony took place. Then, it was our turn to visit each of the houses we'd built and present a good-sized tupperware bin of "necessities" along with a couple of personalized items, to
Los Angeles 2 Street
Here is a view down one of the streets of Los Angeles 2. each new homeowner. They were all so grateful. We had to hurry a bit because a good sized storm was on its way. When we finished up, we all headed quickly to the buses, said our goodbyes, and made our way to dinner at our usual restaurant. Everyone had items for "special" people we'd met (mostly kids) while we were here. I had been working often alongside a young guy (probably 15 or 16) who was one of the local hires, named Francisco. The other day, he'd commented on the fact that I had nice tennis shoes (they were actually fairly old and quite dirty by that time). When he mentioned the fact that his feet were about the same size as mine, I got the idea he might like to have a pair like them. So, I gave them to him, along with the shorts and t-shirts that I'd worn while there. He was quite happy about the gift and when I apologized for them not be clean (since we have no laundry services in the hotel), he told me that was no problem at all. These folks are so poor that anything they get is such a blessing.
Lunch at the Moodys
Here is the lady making our hamburger lunches for us. Some of the kids had a hard time seeing us leave, knowing that we weren't coming back until maybe next year. I'm willing to bet that everyone in our group had at least one special kid or mother that we became attached to. My wife grew very fond of a young mother with 5 kids.
Dinner at our usual restaurant was something like tacos, made with two soft corn tortillas and a variety of fillings. Very tasty! Tomorrow is our groups off day without Mr. Moody and we plan on visiting the orphanage near La Libertad that the church helped renovate and then up a nearby mountain to a remote church. Friday will be a "fun day", and our last day with Mr. Moody. I think he plans on taking us to see a nearby volcano. Well, its getting late, so I guess I'll sign off for now.
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Inigo
non-member comment
Hi
Hi sir, ny name is Iñigo, Im salvadorean and I've been following your stories trough this blog since the first entry. I really apreciate your contribution to the poor in this country that, as you can clearly see are the most. I live in the capital city, but i was born in Santa Ana, the city you are staying. As I can see you are in hotel tolteca which is a little far from downtown. I would like to recommend you to visit the historical center of Santa Ana which is one of the best in Central America. There you can see three awesome buildings: Teatro de Santa Ana, the most beautiful of this country whic was built about a century ago financed by the money that came from coffee; Catedral de Santa Ana which is the most beautiful church of El Salvador because of its gothical style and the third one is La Alcaldía (City Hall) which is a beautiful one too. Three of them are surrounding the central square. Once there you can ask your local partner to drink a coffe and traditional "pan dulce" (desserts) in "Ban Ban" a sort of local "dunkin donuts" or so. There are two "Ban Ban" nearby the central square, just 50 meters I think. If you go, dont forget to ask for "Borrachos" a tipical dessert of Santa Ana with a hot cup of coffee. The trip will take only 1 hour or so. Dont miss it!!!!! Bye!!!