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Marvin—by Graham Foster

Hola, mi nombre es Marvin. I am 18 years old and I live here in Guarjila. I go to the high school in Los Ranchos and I’m also very involved with the Tambarindo youth group. The Tambarindo is the biggest youth group in Guarjila. It’s run by Jon Corlione who is from New York but he’s been with us here for longer than I can remember. Everyone says he’s crazy but I think he’s a good guy. The Tambarindos are a huge part of my life, and although it can be hard sometimes, the benefits are well worth it. Being part of the Tambarindo turned my life around. I used to be involved with the gangs and drugs that would make their way here from San Salvador and Chaletenango, but now, thanks to the tambarindos, I see how that destroys lives and I stay away from it. It’s been a few years since I started coming to meetings and now I am a very dedicated member.

Now I’m one of the five members of the Tambarindos who get to go the river for a discussion and lunch with the delegation from Seattle. We all load up into the truck along with the fish and chicken and make our way to Rio Sumpul. The cool water of the river is enticing but before we can swim everyone is gathered around Francisco and Margarito as they began to lead a discussion about globalization, PPP, economics, and going North. It’s hard for me to listen to all of these statistics about the lack of jobs and opportunities and I wonder what it’s like for the Americans. I listen closely as Margarito describes his story of going to the States to work. I’ve always thought this seemed like my best option. It’s risky but at least there are some jobs there. There's absolutely nothing here.

An hour later everyone is getting restless and hungry so we decide to end the discussion so we can have lunch and play in the river. A bunch of the guys started a game of water polo on the other side of the river. Graham and I joined in and it turned into a great game except for Graham’s huge height advantage. I thought it was cool that he actually wanted to play with us and that he was at least trying to talk in Spanish to us. It’s ok that I could barely understand a word he said, at least he was trying. After the game we were all relaxing in the sun together. Graham and I swam over to the big rocks in the middle of the river to jump off, but I wanted to talk to him a little before we made the plunge.

"Do you like it here in Guarjila?" I asked. It took him a second to figure out what I said but then he answered a big smile and "si, me gusta mucho!" We spent almost an hour talking about everything from the weather, to what we want to do in the future. I told him that I want to go work in Seattle sometime in the next couple of years and that I have a sister who lives there. He looked surprised.

"It’s impossible to find a job here", I said, "at least in the U.S. there is a chance that I could find something. I don’t want to go to the U.S. but feel like I have to. My family needs me to provide some money for them, and there is nothing I can do here. Working the fields is basically my only option, and it hardly pays anything." I don’t know how much of that he understood but he looks like he got the gist of it.

The sun dipped behind the hill and we started to feel the wind cool us down. It felt like it was time to finally jump off and swim back. I feel better after talking to him and the rest of the delegation. It’s nice to know that there are people in the U.S. who care about what we’re facing and want to help.

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Elsy—by Mary Edwards

Bienvenidos a nuestras amigos y amigos, nuestra hermanas y hermanos a Guarjila. Mi nombre is Elsy. I am the president of the Cipote, a radio show produced by youth and for  youth on Radio Sumpul. It is a great pleasure to have you here, to see old friends again and to meet new friends.

We don’t really have a formal agenda for today, but we thought that we would begin by having all of us introduce ourselves. Then we will tell you something about our radio show and then we would like to ask you to be on our radio show this Sunday. Does this sound good to everyone?

“There are 35 children aged 8-18 in our group. We started in 1998 and then Plan El Salvador began working with us in July of 2000. There were 20 children in the program at that time, and I was one of the young ones. When we begin each year, we establish our rules for ourselves as a group. This year, we decided together our commitments—that we would attend weekly 7 am meetings, participate in planning, be on time, help with the radio program and write for the show.  These you see posted on the wall. We also listed talents that work in the radio requires: responsibility, writing, reading, public speaking, habits of asking questions and seeking information and respecting the opinions of others. This process we went through in order to prepare ourselves to work together for the important cause of educating ourselves and other children in Guarjila and other communities about issues facing youth. We have even heard from youth in other countries like Honduras that they listen to our radio show. It is a great privilege to have such a voice, but also with that privilege comes great responsibility. ”

“We meet on Tuesday each week to determine our theme and plan our program, which runs from 7-8 am on Sunday mornings. We decide the theme for the week, which are topics that affect teens and our community such as AIDS, alcoholism, solidarity, legends, and New Year’s. We have segments that we divide responsibility for each week. For example, there’s a segment on arts and literature, an interview of the week, letters from our listeners.”

I would now like for other members of the Cipotes to talk with you about their responsibilities. I listen as each youth describes their responsibilities and I am proud of the joy and seriousness with which we all approach this work. 

“The most important section of our radio show,” I hear nine year-old Mary say, “is our section on Children’s Rights because we need to educate ourselves about these rights so that we cannot be exploited.” The dozen youth around the concrete room agree that this is the most important and begin their list from the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child: not to be exploited, not to be discriminated against, to be healthy, to be loved, to have a roof overhead, to have an education, to live…   

I speak up again:  “The right to live is the most important because as long as we live we can fight for our other rights.” I think that for some people this right is taken for granted, but we know what happened to our families and our friends during the Civil War, and this is not a right that we take lightly.

Again I say, “Perhaps now we would like to talk about our next radio show. We would like for you to be our guests and to tell us about issues that youth in Seattle face and how you would spend New Year’s in Seattle. Okay? Be there at 6:30 am on Sunday.” I think I see Graham wince, but the Methodists all nod cheerfully enough.

It is now later in the week, and we are all seated on the edge of the river listening to dismal statistics about the Salvadoran economy, our debts, our economic relationship with the US, and our place in the global economy. This talk makes me frightened for my future and the future of my country. What does PPP mean for Guarjila? The economist asks us. I reflect on this question and I say, “I’ve heard there will be a huge, 8-lane highway that will go through Guarjila. They say it’ll have economic benefit, but I think about those in Guarjila that will lose their homes. What does it mean for the poor? They should have thought about that, but they never ask the poor.”

As the conversation gets more and more depressing, I listen intently but I also look at the friends I’ve made on the beach beside me. I look at my Salvadoran friends and at my new friends from the US: Clariiiita and the way she makes me laugh, Graham’s gentle giganticness and his promise to teach me to swim, Dylan’s reflective and thoughtful nature. Tom interrupts my thoughts to ask how we youth in Guarjila feel when we hear this information.

I say: “These statistics make me sad and make me scared for my future. But still, we young people have youthful optimism, and we believe that we must stand up for our rights. We know we cannot stop PPP, but we hope to educate ourselves to make sure that we have decent land and housing and protection of Human Rights. I believe that for just one day they should put the youth in charge of the country. We would understand what’s important.”

I imagine a day where Clare, Dylan, Graham, Mauricio, Chago and I are in charge. We would listen to the poor. We would prioritize food  and health care and basic human rights for all people over the greed of corporations. In us is the hope of El Salvador and of the US.