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CIS
Colonia Libertad
Avenida Bolivar 103
San Salvador, El Salvador
Centroamérica
Tel/FAX: +503 2226-5362
cis_elsalvador@yahoo.com
La Loma Builds with Help from CIS Delegations
One of the first of 22 latrines under construction in La Loma
La Loma is a community that lies on a long ridge stretching south from the town center of the Municipality of of of of of of of Comasagua, in the Department of La Libertad, El Salvador. I visited the community with Leslie Schuld, the director of CIS (Center for Exchange and Solidarity) on January 24, 2008. We were in the company of a delegation from the Canadian group, Rainbow Hope for Children, www.rainbowhopeforchildren.ca.
It was my second visit to the community. I had visited in March, 2007, with the CIS Rutilio Grande delegation. For a report on that delegation, see here, http://www.cis-elsalvador.org/delegation_report_2007.htm. CIS has now sponsored 4 delegations to La Loma. There was a second delegation in July of 2007 of St. Anne’s Parish, Books for Peace and Somos Hermanos, and a third in November 2007 by Caravan of Hope and Somos Hermanos. The trip along the ridge on the narrow road by truck, then either horse or mule for the last kilometer, remains the same—an hour and a half of gorgeous scenery of the steep hills and Pacific views of Comasagua.
Once again, the community greeted us warmly, pleased to share their progress and eager to plan further advances. We met with about 50 community members, many of them children, as the community council President, Adrian Martinez, updated us on the latrine project and the planned school.
The latrine project, sponsored by a grant from Rainbow Hope for Children, was well underway. The organized community of La Loma, 20 families, was working hard hauling block, sand, and mortar from a newly constructed drop-off point on the road from Comasagua to La Loma, by horseback and by human effort.
The community showed us the new school site, at the site of the old school that had been destroyed in an Army attack and massacre in 1980, and expressed their willingness to get started on it. It is close to their charter tree, and to their homes, a key for attendance and security. It was agreed that Rainbow Hope for Children would finance the remaining portion of the school materials financing, when the community could guarantee that the government would provide teachers.
There was also discussion of how to develop a water source for the community. Currently, the women of the community have to make a three-hour roundtrip trek down the steep slope to a water source below and carry water to their families. It would be possible to develop a source of water within La Loma and power it with a solar water pump to create a clean water supply, given resources. The community will also have to furnish the school and get school supplies—the work continues.
Two La Loma community members. They told us about their normal work day, which begins at 5 AM with a hike for water, carried on their heads, one of numerous water trips during the day. They also prepared three meals, cleaned the house, cared for the children, washed the clothes and gathered the wood.
On June 13, 2008, La Loma will commemorate the victims of the massacre of June 13, 1980. It was on this date that 9 members of La Loma were killed right in the heart of the community and many more in the area surrounding.
I spoke with a man of 36 years who was orphaned on that day: both of his parents were killed in the massacre. He only remembers the deep boom of the bombs today, and feels the loss. He told me during that period the Army considered it illegal to be present in La Loma, and punished anyone they found there with death. While it is true that there were La Loma people who joined the armed resistance, it was the civilian population that paid the price. There are many without brothers, sisters, parents, cousins. La Loma lost a generation during the civil war and is now trying to heal the wounds, remember the fallen and rebuild in a new century.
We had a lunch of shrimp soup, avocado, rice and beans, tortillas with much talk and fellowship.
After lunch, we hiked about two kilometers out the ridge toward the Pacific with community organizer Rafael “Lito” Vazquez, to the La Loma church. We passed an enormous ceiba tree that marks the municipal boundary between Comasagua, and another spot where three university students were killed and from where the army took aim at fleeing civilians.
This ceiba tree marks the boundary between the municipalities of Comasagua and La Libertad. Pictured are Adrian, members of the Canadian delegation and Leslie Schuld of the CIS.
We made the trip back in the afternoon light, and on the road we passed a truck carrying bases for the latrines. We wondered at the work it would take to haul those by hand and horse to their destinations. It is clear that this community is ready to pull itself up by the bootstraps, if it can just get the supplies.
The La Loma community is also eager to employ solar, wind and recycling technology as possible. The latrines are dry latrines that will create composting material for fertilizer. There is one solar panel working today, a pilot project of the office of the Mayor of Comasagua. The Mayor, Danilo Ramirez of the FMLN, has committed to outfitting each house in the organized community with a solar panel in coming months. We met him when we arrived at the town center, and he also pledged to get the commitment for teachers to Rainbow Hope for Children soon. “What would be the point of building a school and not providing teachers? We will get it done for the children.”
CIS would like to acknowledge and thank the four delegations that have visited La Loma. Each has contributed greatly to the community project of reconstruction and new development in La Loma.
On our way back to the town center of Comasagua, we had to pull to the side to allow this truck carrying latrine bases to pass. We learned later that shortly after, the truck broke down, which would have blocked our passage back, for a time. In the distance is El Peñon, a rock outcropping that spikes above the landscape.