Volunteering in El Salvador: The Journey There

Myles McCormick is a volunteer intern on the 3rd month of a one year learning and work placement in El Salvador. Myles works with World Accord’s partner, ADCASMUS, supporting income generation and educational projects. His placement is a joint collaboration with the World Service Corps. Myles writes periodic blog entries and tweets for World Accord’s website

As of early July, 2010, I have been living in Central America participating in an innovative internship placement. The participating four entities are: World Accord; ADCASMUS (a grassroots community development organization working with people in marginalized urban and rural areas in El Salvador); World Service Corps (a ministry of the Community of Christ which offers volunteers opportunities to serve communities in collaboration with international mission centers or other non-government organizations); and myself, Myles McCormick (a young man).

Passing through Guatemala

Leaving from Kansas City, I travelled to Guatemala City and was greeted by World Accord Program Officer Nelson Rosales for an introduction to World Accord and its partners in Central America. We then spent a day reviewing our program and recuperating from individually exhausting travels in Antigua. Early the following morning two staff from Mujeres en Acción took us to their offices in Chimaltenango. Mujeres en Acción (MeA) is an association of Maya women that promotes community development, self-sufficiency and the participation of women. MeA’s programs include micro-credit, support to micro-enterprises, community organizing, environmental protection, and gender equity with women in rural areas of Guatemala. I visited Agua Escondida, an indigenous village whose inhabitants speak Kaqchikel – they have learned Spanish as a second language, just as I have – located in the mountainous regions outside of Chimaltenango that had recently been severely affected by torrential rains.

The powerful storms transformed peaceful creeks and ravines into deadly floods that devastated their entire farming area; nearly all of their potato crop and much of their corn harvest had been either drowned and washed away or demolished by massive boulders. We then visited the mountain town of Paquip that had also been ravaged by intense and overwhelming mudslides that buried the entire village in earth and boulders, washed away the school, and left little evidence of the other buildings that had been carried away. On our arrival, there was a man washing mud off of buildings and whitewashing them, and a crew with an earthmover pushing around dirt and boulders.

On to El Salvador and ADCASMUS

Next day we reviewed progress and did some planning with Mujeres en Acción before heading to Guatemala City. From there Nelson and I caught an early bus to bear us and our (miraculously accumulating) luggage to El Salvador. We were welcomed by ADCASMUS staff members to assist us to my final destination. Finally arriving to the house and the room that I will call ‘home’ for the next twelve months was surprisingly relieving.
A week later, after a few Spanish refresher courses, and nelsons departure back to Canada, I was learning the intimate details of ADCASMUS and the Salvadorans on whose behalf they labor (despite the sometimes seemingly harsh realities and nature of this type of social advocacy).