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Continuing the Living Water Legacy
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e
are blessed by the leadership of Arlene Schaupp, who
each year leads delegations to our partner community in
El Salvador.
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El Salvador has suffered through terrible storms this year. South Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Voices on the border, and other organizations are working to bring relief to the area. We have a page dedicated to hurricane information. Click here to visit that page. |
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Plastic shacks provide temporary shelter today. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed by this earthquake. Although they had originally agreed to allow displaced families to live on their vacant land, wealthy landowners refused to allow these shacks to remain, forcing families to move into the rubble of the city. How quickly people forget the words of Oscar Romero, who cried out for justice for the poor! |
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| Members
of the 2000 and 2001 delegations marched and worshipped with thousands
of people from El Salvador and around the world as they remembered Archbishop
Romero. |
 Foto Nelson Dueñas - El Diario de Hoy, El Salvador |
 Foto por Carlos H. Bruch - El Diario de Hoy, El Salvador |
Archbishop Romero was killed in 1980 while performing a Mass. His killing sparked rage in the long-suffering people of El Salvador, launching a long civil war that took over 75,000 lives. Today, Archbishop Romero, a hero and martyr for the poor of El Salvador, is on the fast-track to sainthood.
We were also blessed to be able to attend a smaller service in honor of Archbishop Romero on the 25th. Listen as we sing together "Señor Ten Piedad" (with Real Audio) |
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Thousands
of people marched in 2001 to once again celebrate the life of Oscar
Romero. Our delegation was thrilled to take part.
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We continue to work with Paul Darilek, leader of the Living Water project, originally made possible by the fund-raising efforts of Stan Grams. The woman here is in charge of adding chloro to the water each evening. "Before the well, our children had 35 cases of severe diarrhea a month. Now, we have one!" |
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After this year's devestating earthquake, water became more of a crisis than ever. Here we have a member of our delegation standing in front of a water tank brought in to help the people in remote regions of El Salvador. Your donations help make all this possible! Click here to visit the Living Water web site. |
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Virtually all of the Living Water wells survived the terrible earthquakes. These wells and tanks bring water right into the town of Communidad Octavio Ortiz, with spigots at the Children's Center, the Community Center, and the Health Care facility. |
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We always receive a special welcome when we arrive in Communidad Octavio Ortiz, the whole town comes out to welcome us. This music group is led by Lito, a self-taught musician who trained the rest of the group. They even wrote a special song, "Hermanos Solidarios" just for us! Listen to the song with Real Audio! Communidad Octavio Ortiz was originally called La Canoa. The Palo Alto Weekly wrote a story about La Canoa in 1995 when another delegation visited there. Read the story! |
| Octavio Ortiz was a priest, killed by the death squads. At one point, it was illegal for anyone to carry a bible in the streets of El Salvador. |
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During
each delegation visit, one of the most special times is the "Celebration
of the Word." We worship together until after it is dark. In 2000,
Vida Kenk helped with translations throughout the delegation. We sang
by candlelight - listen to the music with Real Audio. |
| Mario, the President of the Directiva of Communidad Octavio Ortiz, spends a lot of time with us (Arlene Schaupp shown) letting us know about the progress and stumbling blocks of surviving after Hurricane Mitch and the earthquake. |
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We danced and sang into the evening with new and old friends. In 2000, John Bayer proved to be the "Pied Piper" of Octavio Ortiz, getting all the children on the floor. |
| Of course, John had to do something new in 2001! Here he is as a clown doing magic tricks for the kids (thanks to Brian Weinstein, youth extraordinaire from 1st Pres who taught John a few tricks!). |
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Of course, Arlene Schaupp (who supplied the clown costumes) got into the act! |
| In 2000, the boys watched from the side for a while, but even they could not resist joining in on the fun! |
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During each delegation, each of us stays in the home of one of the community families. The hospiltality and love that were shared with us filled us with joy. The stories of hardship and tragedy filled us with sadness. The lack of bitterness or anger filled us with faith. The people of Communidad Octavio Ortiz have much to teach us and we have much to learn! |
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Speaking of teaching... A Biology Professor from San Jose State and a grade school teacher from Communidad Octavio Ortiz were destined to become family during this trip! |
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