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<\/a>Elizabeth Day<\/p><\/div>\n
My time and experience in El Salvador continue to sink into my bones.\u00a0 How does one go about describing a profound, multi-layered, mind-body-spirit experience? I didn\u2019t know where to start. Then I was reminded of something my great uncle, poet Archibald MacLeish said: \u201cA poem should not mean but be.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 This is how I feel about El Salvador. Rather than rushing to make rational sense of it, I entered each experience with the intention of being fully present in heart, mind and spirit.<\/p>\n I was faced with many complex and conflicting realities. How can different ideologies be such a barrier to peace? How can we as a human race better understand other perspectives and mitigate unnecessary brutality?\u00a0 How can people trust a police force with a history of corruption? From whence does the fortitude come for communities to rally year after year fighting for their right to clean water? Why are some people who have so \u2018little\u2019 by the world\u2019s material standards, so full of generosity and heart?\u00a0 And what\u2019s the lesson to be learned?<\/p>\n As an educator I was particularly curious about the school system. I wondered how\u00a0 a principal could create a safe space for children to learn and teachers to excel, in a neighborhood rife with gang violence, under a government that only spends $8 a year per pupil? (Compare that to an average of $7000 spent per pupil in the U.S.) It seemed impossible to me, until I met Sister Marcos, a native of Northern Irelandwho came to run the Fe y Alegria School in 1990. At the time she didn\u2019t know any Spanish and had never been a principal. Yet she entered this school with<\/p>\n Fe y Esperanza Students<\/p><\/div>\n a determination to help those in need, to restore not just the physical safety of the school, but student discipline and teachers\u2019 professional passions as well.\u00a0 Our delegation entered Sister Marcos\u2019 school and experienced brightly colored murals, boys practicing horn instruments, girls practicing a folk dance, students laughing and going to classes, and teachers preparing their lessons. Teachers creatively use what they can locally salvage to teach, whether it be beans and corn for counting or recycled materials to construct simple science experiments. Fe y alegria was present in this safe haven\u2014and I was present too.<\/p>\n \u201cA poem should not mean, but be.\u201d <\/em>In my being, <\/em>I discovered that more space was<\/p>\n Sister Marcos and Elizabeth<\/p><\/div>\n created within myself for meaning to emerge. In being witness to Sister Marcos\u2019 ongoing commitment to her students and faculty, my own dedication was renewed as an educator. Our world at SCU is connected to her world and I have faith and hope for the future of her community and, through experiences like this, ours.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Day<\/p>\n Elizabeth is a faculty member in Santa Clara University’s Liberal Studies Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reflections on my trip to El Salvador as part of SCU\u2019s 2011 delegation My time and experience in El Salvador continue to sink into my bones.\u00a0 How does one go about describing a profound, multi-layered, mind-body-spirit experience? I didn\u2019t know … Continue reading <\/a><\/a>