My name is Monet Eleri Gonnerman. My first name is French (even though I am not!), my middle name is Welsh (after my mom’s first cousin), and my last name is German (somewhere generations ago). I have never met anyone with any of these three names (outside of my family), teachers always mispronounce them, and no one ever knows how to spell them. However, I like my name. It is unexpected, and makes people stop and think for a second.
Beautiful Portland, Oregon
I grew up in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. My parents have always been a loving support and inspiration for me, and my brother, two years younger than me, has always been my playmate and friend. The Pacific Northwest provided us with the opportunities and joys of biking, hiking, swimming, playing basketball, and building forts in our backyard as children.
My family
Starting in Preschool, my parents decided to try homeschooling my brother and me. They heard about the values of an individualized education and time with their children and, as the years went by, my brother and I had no complaints. We were part of a group of homeschool families that went on regular field trips; we took art classes with our friends; I took ballet classes; we played sports with the local elementary school and middle school; we were a part of youth group at church; and overall, I had a lot of fun. We made close friends, grew as a family, and, year after year, when asked if we wanted to go to public school, my brother and I chose to stay with our friends. Those years of being homeschooled began to reveal parts of who I am. For instance, as one of the oldest of my friends, I was a peacemaker who listened to my friends’ squabbles and worked to bring unity, qualities I see in myself today. In high school, I chose to go to the local public school. Having never opened a locker, eaten lunch in a cafeteria, or carried around books in a backpack, everything was new, different, and a bit overwhelming! On the first day of my freshman year, I missed the school bus! However, as high school went by, my personality got stronger and more confident, I was involved in clubs, sports, and activities that I loved, and made close friends both from school and from church.
Adventure with friends at the beach
Faith has always been an influential part of my life. Ever since I was young, my parents have prayed for my brother and me and showed their faith in God through their love for each other and for us. My journey with God began as a child-like faith in Sunday school or reading a picture Bible at home, and since has grown and been challenged by life experiences, friends, and new perspectives.
In high school, I went on a mission trip to Nicaragua each summer. Every year, we would go to the same home built for girls rescued from malnutrition, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or poor home lives, who are now given a place to live, learn, and grow. The girls’ families live in the city garbage dump, making a living sifting through the trash for recyclable materials. These girls captured my heart and began to show me firsthand the realities outside of my bubble of privileged life in the United States.
Girls living in the Villa Esperanza in Nicaragua
Motivated by my desire to learn Spanish and my previous experiences in Nicaragua, I chose to study abroad in Fall 2013 in El Salvador, Central America. In the 1980’s, the country experienced a bloody civil war in which the United States funded the military government, leading to massacres of entire villages, displacement of families from their homes, and the death of many civilians. During my four months there, I never met a family untouched by the war. El Salvador is still struggling to get back on its feet. I spent two days of every week with the same three families in an urban community called Mariona. The families fight daily against long commutes to school, unreasonable working hours, unknown diseases, poor health care, and selling odd crafts here and there to put food on the table. The father of one of the families united several women’s craft cooperatives to form one business, El Salvador Craft, from which he takes no profit. He works solely to help the women keep their heads above the water. Yet, with the country’s expensive prices for purchasing copyrights on their products, much of their work is being copied and imported from China.
My Salvadoran family
We also lived with other Salvadoran university students, now my close friends, and got to know the beautiful staff of our program. Over the course of those four months, I saw intense love and intense pain. I learned about the gift of a hospitality and generosity that I will never be able to understand. They cried and I cried. I saw that Jesus’ call to care for the least of his children wasn’t just a suggestion or something to do in retirement: it was a command and something to build my life around.
Salvadoran friends and housemates
I was motivated to apply to be a Global Social Benefit Fellow by a recommendation by a past fellow who had also done the same Casa El Salvador program that I had. El Salvador had taught me, stretched me, reshaped the way I think, and still is teaching me. I am still working through questions of how my faith looks and how to respond to my experiences and best honor the people I got to know. GSBF provides me with an opportunity to continue to expand my interactions with the world, learn from those beyond my immediate sphere of influence, and move forward in action.