El Salvador solidarity project opens the eyes of tcnj participants

After one year of planning and arduous fundraising, 11 TCNJ students visited El Salvador last June as part of the El Salvador Solidarity Project. Last month, those students, all members of TCNJ’s Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL) Program, shared their experiences abroad with the campus community in a multimedia presentation.

The project, inspired by a similar program that Boston College participates in, is named for its purpose of building respect and mutuality. By experiencing firsthand the differences and struggles of the people of El Salvador, the students hoped to gain a better understanding of the country’s culture. Additionally, the group hopes that the experience would incite future projects of “transnational activism”, said Mary Lynn Hopps, director of WILL.

“There was solidarity with [the people of El Salvador] as we worked to build an international community,” said Kari Osmond, a junior women’s and gender studies major, who is co-vice executive chair of WILL. “We came not as tourists, but as friends.”

The group visited significant historical and cultural sites, met with leaders from several of the country’s most prominent activist organizations, and volunteered assistance at various locations.

The trip was an eye-opening experience, according to Eliana Reyes, a senior communications major and the other co-vice executive chair of WILL. “The lessons that we learned in El Salvador cannot be articulated. We learned how to value and appreciate the blessings life has given us. We learned how to work as a cohesive unit to accomplish a task. And we learned that life and love can be found even in the poorest places,” Reyes said.

The planning process began back in January of 2006, when Executive Chair Ashley Reichelmann, a senior English/secondary education/women’s and gender studies major, learned that Hopps’ daughter, Laura, had studied and worked abroad in El Salvador as part of Boston College’s El Salvador Solidarity Project. The WILL executive board wanted to bring the program to TCNJ, contending that traveling abroad to El Salvador would afford valuable experiences and the opportunity to exercise and further develop leadership skills.

The group raised about $22,000 collectively in order to go on the trip. “This was an unbelievable feat in and of itself for young college students,” said Reyes.

The group met weekly to strategize fundraising. Efforts included a letter writing campaign to family and friends, dance workshops, odd jobs, and even a pie throwing contest.

"It began as a small idea that we were never sure we could accomplish,” said Reyes. “It was more like a dream that had somehow developed into a reality as our fundraising efforts succeeded.”

The group has adopted a new mission of spreading awareness and fundraising to assist El Salvador. The students plan to sponsor clothing and food drives, develop scholarship programs, support family sponsorship programs, and perhaps help in the construction of a water well to provide clean water to several villages. The group also announced its hope to make the El Salvador Solidarity Project a regular program that could enlist students across the disciplines since so many fields of study are needed to develop effective strategies.

To close their presentation to the campus, the group recited a quote from El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero which they felt reflected their goals: “We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We play foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.”

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