Five Days in El SalvadorBy Brian and Alix Clemente Our daughter Amy Clemente is a junior at Boston College. She spent the Fall 2002 semester in El Salvador at the Casa de la Solidaridad. My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting Amy and the Casa for five days in October 2002. Our five day visit with Amy included a thorough immersion into the entire Casa program, including meals with the students and staff, classes at the University of Central America, visit to Praxis/Field Placement, meeting with the directors and a tour of San Salvador, the city and historical sites. Sharing this time with Amy turned out to be very important for her and for us. As parents, when we first heard that our daughter was considering going to San Salvador our reaction was less than enthusiastic. Mostly due to our own ignorance, we had very little understanding of the political stability of the country. We even thought that there was still a rebellion going on. While her classmates were planning their trips abroad to Rome, France, Madrid and even New Zealand, our daughter was going to San Salvador. Initially we were concerned about sending our “baby” to Central America, but after reading the documentation that was provided we became more comfortable. The little research we did do convinced us of the stability of local government. We went to San Salvador to visit our daughter. But we came home with more than just a few days spent with her. We came home with a new respect and understanding of her as a person. While it is very difficult to put the wonderful experience we had visiting Amy in words, it might be simply stated that if we didn’t visit her here we would have missed one of the most valuable experiences of her life (and of our lives). Her experience there has changed Amy’s life forever. Our daughter’s Casa group was composed of thirteen college students and most importantly a full-time cook. The strong community that had formed after only a couple of months together was palpable. It was wonderful to witness their sincere concern and respect for each other. The program had created a wonderful environment for them. At the University of Central America the classes and teachers were exceptional as well. One of the students commented to us, “We have the best teachers in the entire college”. After sitting in on four classes, we agreed and were very impressed (although, we must confess that one was entirely in Spanish and we don’t speak Spanish!). The highlight of our trip was definitely the visit to Amy’s praxis (or field placement). As part of their curriculum, each student spends two days a week in communities of the poor. Amy was assigned to work with a family, the Quintanillas, who live in San Antonio Abad, at the edge of the city. This family had 11 children, two of whom had died in the war. They live on the side of a volcano in a three-room shack. But any lack of material processions was more than compensated for with an amazing amount of faith and love. We saw the tremendous poverty they live in and listened to their tragic stories of survival and loss during the war. We also prayed, ate, sang, laughed and danced together. It was remarkable to see how happy they are and embarrassing that no matter how little they had they wanted to share it with you. If you gave them a gift they immediately wanted to share it with you. Our trip to San Salvador has brought us closer to our daughter and enabled us to share a very special time together. The Casa program will be the highlight of our daughter’s collegiate career and we were certainly happy that we made the trip. If we had any input into the academic curriculum of American colleges we would make a trip to the Casa a requirement for every student to graduate. The academic lessons were exceptional but the cultural and social experiences of this program have left its mark on Amy for the rest of her life. In closing we would be remiss if we didn’t tell all parents that The Casa de la Solidaridad is a program that we recommend that you look into. The lessons we learned in our brief visit will stay with us forever. The lessons our daughter learned changed her into an “Extraordinary Young Lady”. Contact Brian and Alix at: Brianinvero@aol.com |
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