I experienced a lot in my month in El Salvador. I made it to 7/14 of the provinces and I was able to watch shows ranging from a classical symphony to a travelling circus. However, the greatest experience of all was learning people's stories. I seriously think that you could pick any person in El Salvador and their life would be content for an incredibly moving book or movie.
Many of these situations and stories that I will discuss are not unheard of in the First World. They are just much more of an ordinary occurrence in El Salvador.
I have mentioned gang violence a few times in my blog. In this month there was violence between gangs, policemen and bus drivers. Many bus drivers were a target of gangs and it resulted in a bus strike. That was detrimental to the already congested traffic of San Salvador.The violence of El Salvador affects every citizen. The situation that brought the extent of this gang situation to my attention was meeting a man a few years older than me. He had to leave his home and family because of physical violence and death threats from a neighbouring gang.
Another example of current violence came from meeting a mother and her three children. They rode a bus over an hour to come sell plants to their family friend Brian. After they sold Brian some new plants, Brian then explained their story. Their father was a gardener and was brutally murdered.The police did not investigate the murder. They usually never do. With one of the highest murder rates in the world, only three percent of cases will get looked into.
The impact of violence, and resulting displacement of people, is not anything new to El Salvador. The civil war in the 80's took many lives. I met people who grew up without a father because of the war. On the plane ride to El Salvador, and all throughout my stay, I met Americans who were former Salvadorans. Many of them left their lives in El Salvador and fled for safety. The war caused families to become separated as they did anything to survive.
Situations like these really cause me to think about life and death. Those are not easy thoughts ponder. Another situation that made me think of this theme was the health care system. I attended an HIV and AIDS support group meeting in a San Salvadoran Hospital. It was nice to be able to see people come together to bond with, and support, each other as they battled their illness.
Another healthcare related experience was meeting a haemophiliac. It was difficult to learn about his pain, his dying haemophiliac friends, and his experiences of sub-standard healthcare. He has to go to the emergency during the night to receive treatment and after has to sit in the waiting room awake all night. It is a difficult and repetitive routine in his life.
These examples explain the violence and healthcare in El Salvador, but I will now focus on poverty. The home I stayed in would be considered middle class in El Salvador. However, I am not sure what my Canadian friends would describe a home that only received four hours of undrinkable and cold water, a place for stray cats to enter (in my bed one night! not enjoyable), a place where mosquito nets were beyond useful, and house that has a temporary small river run through when there is a down poor of rain. It was by far a very different place to stay than what I was used to, but many people who have lived there and would visit for nights experienced one of the most luxurious homes they have ever stayed in. I was in no place to complain about my accommodations because of the poverty that so many Salvadorans live with.
I spent day having fun swimming with coffee farmers. The average coffee farmer makes three dollars a day. My first job as newspaper deliverer paid me roughly three dollars an hour. Obviously there are differences with the economies of El Salvador and Canada. That being said, the wage of a coffee farmer does not allow for basic needs to be met. Living standards are low.
One of the coffee farmers also worked as a security guard. That job paid him a dollar an hour, so he made twenty-four dollars a day... yes he worked all day and night. Then he would get a day off and do it all again. The human body is not designed for that sort of functioning. It is sad to see people being overworked and then seeing people unemployed. There could be such a better balance.
I was also given an opportunity to visit a homeless shelter. It was not the same as the shelters in Edmonton, but it was still a great place of community and support. A few people staying there
invited me to play board games with them, It was very enjoyable to spend time with the people living in that home.
These situations and stories are sad, and it is often easy just to turn a blind eye on these situations and just forget about it. However, with spending time with people through all of these scenarios-- the humanity of it all really shines. When we associate a name or face with injustices, it is more difficult to forget.
It should not be forgotten.
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