Rio Grande II

This is the second in a series of our accompaniment with the vulnerable people of the Rio Grande San Miguel Basin.

Oikos Solidaridad held the second meeting of the 18 communities that reside along the Rio Grande San Miguel on February 21. We met in a different pueblo, a site centrally located. Approximately 37 residents attended, many new faces; many from the first meeting were absent.

Again the meeting was an hour long. Guillermo from Oikos lead the meeting and invited participants to express their comments. During the meeting Guillermo asked the leaders of the community directivas present to come forward so all could identify them, one woman and four men.

The action plan developed to send a delegation of 10 leaders to the government ministry in San Salvador Monday February 28. The group’s goal is to meet with the Ministry of Civil Protection and then invite the Minister to the area for a tour of the river basin.

With this phase of the plan presented and accepted, the meeting ended.

From the meeting site we drove deeper into the Parada communities, stopping to view a shrimp farm in Santa Rosa and getting a bag of freshly caught shrimp to cook at home. The farm was a project of the government to employ veterans after the civil war. It’s a huge area, waist deep water, next to an estuary. The tide was coming in and gushing water flowed through narrow channels bringing fresh sea water into the farm. The manager took us to his home and showed us his recent catch, a 12 foot, 500 pound crocodile that had been eating the shrimp and fish.

We couldn’t get out there fast enough! We then headed even deeper into Puerto Los Flores. With the tide coming in, it is obvious that most of Puerto Los Flores is a tidal basin. Some homes and sections of the road are above water level in this dry season, but the rest of the area is a lowland swamp. Debris and trash float on the surface; the area looks like a floating landfill.

It’s highly populated and why anyone would live or remain here is a mystery to us. We have seen homelessness, hunger, poverty, city ghettos, but we think this is the worst yet.

It’s dusk when we reach the city of Puerto Parada. It’s a little port with shops that are closed for the day, it’s getting dark, some people are milling around. The local ferry is pulling in to the port from the island in the estuary. It would be great to stop and take some pictures but Guillermo says it’s too dangerous - we have to keep moving.

We end the day with pupusas and beer in Usulután. We decided to continue in accompaniment with the leaders of Parada and will travel with them Monday to visit with the government minister. They are delighted that we will remain in accompaniment with them.

David y Nancy
To read the first of the series go to: http://oslcslinde09.blogspot.com/