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Published: January 19th 2010
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this is my classroom at the CIS. alright, yall.... i want to just let you know a little about the organization that i am working with down here... because it is AMAZING!!! please note... this is a VERY abridged version... if you wanna know more, go to thier website:
http://www.cis-elsalvador.org/
so, it is called El Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad. It was started in 1992, right after the Peace Accords were signed, ending El Salvador´s 12 year long civil war. the organization was started by a group of salvadorans and americans. the idea was to create a space for the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of El Salvador, who had just suffered a brutal civil war, and were faced with major economic hardships and human rights abuses... ....
so, they have several programs where most of thier energy and resources are concentrated:
-- youth programs... they have scholarship and tutoring programs for middle and high school students who are in economic need, and then follow-up programs that support the youth in going to college and getting involved in work that will give back to thier communities... rather than leaving and going to the US
-- women´s businesses... they provide
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sandra, one of my amazing inspiring students. micro-financing options for women-owned businesses... they have supported many different projects... there is a woman owned and run dairy, many artisan shops, etc... the idea here is to provide options to women who have had fewer eduactional opportunities, and to put money into the pockets of those who are most likely to spend it on family support, in the form of food and education.
-- community organizing... they have many projects where they are providing support to communities around the country which are organizing around different issues... for example, one such community is in the department of cabanas, and they are organizing and protesting against a big transnational mining company that is ¨doing business¨in thier community which poses SERIOUS environmental, economic, and health hazards to the entire country. this issue is VERY intense right now... several environmental activists have recently been shot and killed. it is really worth reading about...
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1422
http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/megan-kinch/2390
http://www.grupoapoyo.org/basn/node/9730
a human rights lawyer who is involved in this case came to CIS to give a talk the other day... he urged peeps to send letters to congresspeople, urging them to do something to help the peeps of el salvador around this issue (the company, Pacific Rim, is a Canadian Company, but has offices in the US for the sole purpose of having access to free trade agreements that the US has with central american countries...)
-- election watch... international volunteers come to El Salvador through CIS to witness elections in this country where democracy is young and fragile..
-- artisan support.... CIS supports artisans in a fair trade kinda way by buying thier goods at a fair price up front and also offering $ in advance for the purchase of materials... this is in contrast to most markets that sell crafts on consignment and give the artists an unfair price...
-- language school... this is the part that i am involved in. at the beginning, it was just a spanish school, to lure foreigners here, to teach them about el salvador and invite them to be witnesses to what was goin on in el salvador right after the war, and to invite them to stand in solidarity with the peeps of el salvador. at first, they didn´t even think about having an english school because english is ¨the colonizers language¨, etc... however, 1 year into the school´s start, many salvadorans started approaching the cis and wondering why, with all these foreigners, they couldnt offer english classes. it turns out that it is extremely hard for peeps here to find a job in urban centers (where the majority of the population is) without english. also, many activists and peeps involved in social justice movements felt like it was necesary to learn enlish in order to collaborate with the international community. so, they started offering a few english classes. the school has since grown. in order to be accepted into teh english school, students must show economic need, and also must be involved in some kind of socially oriented project. this could take the shape of working, say, as a doctor or a humann rights lawyer or environmentalist, or it could take the shape of being involved in social work through the church, or working with youth, etc... so basically, my students are completely amazing and inspiring.
thats it in a very small nutshell...
look it up if you want to know more... and if you have a minute, please consider looking into the mining issue and maybe sending a letter to your congress person.
alright!!!
thanks for listening to what im involved in down here!
love to all.
...e.
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