Friday March 26th with the COO community

A very full day! After meeting with the Women's Committee to learn about economic, health and social projects it runs, we traveled to the office of the United Communities of the Lower Lempa (ACUDESBAL). Communidad Octavio Ortiz, where we are staying, is one of 29 farming communities on the east bank of the Lempa River that banded together after the disastrous Hurricane Mitch in 1998 to lobby the government to complete flood control levees. A quarter of the missing levees are now done, and work continues. In the meantime a huge number of other projects have begun, from agricultural efforts aimed at improving diets and nutritional sovereignty, to mental health outreach to address the legacy of the war and recent issues such as the chronic renal disease plaguing hundreds of people in the region. As a returning delegate, this visit is especially inspiring because each time I see that the capacity of the United Communities to design, fund and implement projects that improve the lives of local people has grown. It's also apparent that sustaining these benefits when projects are done or funding runs out is a challenge. Nonetheless, the organization is mature enough that it has drawn several local residents that have finished college back to work there -- an inspiring achievement indeed. Helping to build and strengthen this capacity has been one of the primary activities of Voices on the Border (http://www.votb.org/), our partner NGO.


After visiting a piece of primary forest (one of the few remaining in El Salvador) near the Lempa River that ACUDESBAL is attempting to have assigned protected status, we returned to COO for a coed soccer match. We finished with a community-wide 'celebration of the word' (a form of Mass with lay leaders), many kind words and thanks for our visit, and a dance with live cumbia music performed by one of several COO bands. It was a very good day.

Chris