March 12 Reflections

42 days after returning from El Salvador, it is preparations, preparations, preparations.

With the reality of moving into the new community in El Salvador comes the responsibility of what will our presence add to the community and each of the 30 BASE families. When we arrive, our starting point is to begin discussions with the leaders and community residents to become aware of their needs. What are they looking for or expecting of us? Many of the older residents can’t read or write. Younger moms drop out of school to start families. Often times the men are working far from home.

If the women want to start a micro business, they need to learn to read, write and develop math skills. If the community wants to organize the youth into sports, technical skills or gardening, where do we get the materials to begin? If they want to start a chicken project, do we start with a chicken or an egg?

And for Nancy and me, how do we prepare ourselves to be able to meet their expectations. Nancy and I have started visiting the West Bend Library to identify books to read in many categories. The subject matters are many due to not knowing what the community will identify as their common needs. Yesterday we met with Kandi O’Neil to learn of resources stored on the shelves of the 4H. We hope this will be another major resource for us.

David y Nancy