Every voice counts

EVERY TIME YOU LISTEN TO A NEW VOICE, AN OPPORTUNITY OPENS TO LEARN ABOUT A STORY THAT COUNTS

EVERY TIME YOU LISTEN TO A NEW VOICE, AN OPPORTUNITY OPENS TO LEARN ABOUT A STORY THAT COUNTS

Writting: Daniela Raffo

Edition: Steven Araujo, Majo Beza, Daniela Raffo, Gloria Raskosky & Zoila Recinos

Translation: Lindsay Weller

Text Review: Steven Araujo

Photography: Roberto Anaya

Editorial Design: Efraín Caravantes & Contextos

The works featured in this book were created by different artists for the silent auction “Artists x Stories”, made by ConTextos in 2021.

In 2021, ConTextos hosted a Silent Auction called “Artists x Stories” featuring salvadorean artists. This book highlights some of their work.

This book features the work of: Carmen Elena Trigueros, Gerardo Gómez, Wilber Salguero, Carlos Párraga Cañas,Abigail Reyes, Antonio Romero, Gabriela Novoa & Rolando Monterrosa.

Additional artist as part of the project: José Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Lazo Tablas, Tomás Carranza, San Canessa, Anzora Sandoval, Walterio Iraheta, Ronald Morán & Hugo Rivas.

The interviews included in this book took place in 2021.

This book was printed by Imagen Gráfica.

Assembly by La Menta del Gato. San Salvador, El Salvador, March, 2023.

EVERY TIME YOU LISTEN TO A NEW VOICE, AN OPPORTUNITY OPENS TO LEARN ABOUT A STORY THAT COUNTS

When Tony tells ConTextos’ story, he often explains that he and I met in college. In winter 2010, I was a masters student, and he a Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Six months later, ConTextos received our tax-exempt status, and in early 2011, we launched in four public schools in El Salvador with the goal to transform the educational experience from rote, mechanical learning to environments that fostered students’ curiosity, criticalthinking and dialogue.

The organization quickly expanded from schools into incarceration and detention, embracing an innovative, trauma-informed approach to foster healing, vulnerability and reflection. At the time, that shift was considered out of the box and risky, but Tony never wavered in his support of ConTextos’ staff’s and leadership’s vision. He championed our expansion into Chicago, challenging us to imagine what transnationalism can be, as an organization, as collaborative leadership, and as structures for governance.

Tony has led ConTextos from a tiny, unfunded start-up to a multimillion dollar transnational organization. He has helped navigate shifts in international law and local policies; led during political uncertainties and a global pandemic. Through these years, we have suffered the grief and loss of loved ones and participants, the joy of new babies and new opportunities. We have grown together. He has helped me grow. So here are some of the teachings that I carry in culture and practice:

• Always end a meeting asking “what keeps you up at night?”

• Embrace agility: there is strength in flexibility; growth is not linear. “You’ve been here before.”

• An Atta-Boy (or Atta-Girl), and a shoulder to lean on are invaluable. Sometimes the best leadership is just listening.

• Don’t be ashamed of tears or frustration. Allow your feelings to be hurt for a moment and then get over it.

• Behind every great man is a great(er) woman… Terri Hanson and Tony Barash are a team. And we’re all better off when they are on our team.

• 5pm is the perfect time for a martini!

Tony and Terri. You are so loved. You are so appreciated. You have left an indelible mark on the thousands of people ConTextos serves, the dozens that we employ, and personally, on me and Ezra. I and we love you so much. Admire you so much. Appreciate you so much.

Tony Barash has helped navigate shifts in international law and local policies; led during political uncertainties and a global pandemic (...) We have grown together

“ConTextos’ work is not transactional. ConTextos’ work is generational.” Tony Barash, said 1,000 times and every time true.

Salud. L’Chaim. Cheers. Abrazos.

Debra Gittler, Co-Founder

We have grown together

Zoila Recinos, Co-Founder & Program Director

For this reason I would like to dedicate a few words of thanks to Tony and Terri, and to all the people who have served on the ConTextos Board.

When I enter our “Once Upon a Time” Library, I see a picture that is representative of us for a thousand reasons, the most important of which is because it depicts what we do and how we started with libraries, books, and reading for pleasure. That painting, part of an auction we had a couple of years ago, was bought by Tony Barash and he gave it to our staff as a gift. He is not just any anonymous buyer, he has been a cornerstone in our trajectory because he has accompanied and advised us while following his passion for social justice and education. The painting also makes me think and reflect that our libraries are a true work of art.

The painting shows a group of students in a library filled with books. It takes me back to when we started with two libraries. From their positions on the ConTextos Board of Directors, its members have known how to respect, lead, question and accompany us. For this reason I would like to dedicate a few words of thanks to Tony and Terri, and to all the people who have served on the ConTextos Board. They have all been coming to El Salvador for more than ten years to visit schools, communities, insertion centers and prisons to get to know personally the people we work with.

Thank you for your altruism, your passion for education and literacy and for helping our heartfelt communities grow. Today we have new spaces for action, new populations to accompany and we have the confidence to continue moving towards an increasingly challenging future and remembering constantly that our work is transgenerational. On behalf of the staff of ConTextos El Salvador and myself, I thank you for all you have done for our country.

Once upon a time

Poema por ConTextos El Salvador

Yo vengo de las visitas a las escuelas en la zona alta de Chalate, soy de las que manejan de madrugada y soy el viaje de la carretera a Usulután para encontrarme con jóvenes.

Vengo de cargar libros y muebles para bibliotecas. Soy la escucha activa del maestro y la maestra que promueven el respeto por los derechos humanos de sus estudiantes.

Soy la escucha de docentes en las montañas.

Soy el olor del café alegrando las mañanas, vengo de las sonrisas y los abrazos en el portón de la escuela.

Yo soy lenguajes diversos en universos complejos y constantes. Soy transparencia, autenticidad y sueños posibles.

Vengo de conocer y convivir con poblaciones estigmatizadas; de llorar al escuchar una autora contar su viaje al norte.

Vengo de historias de resiliencia y valentía compartidas por familias que agradecen un espacio seguro y que reconocen su poder transformador.

Soy de voces apagadas que resucitan a través de la lectura, la escritura, la escucha y el diálogo.

Yo vengo de compartir almuerzos llenos de anécdotas con mis colegas en las mesas de pic nic.

Vengo de abrir espacios para que las voces de la niñez y adolescencia sean escuchadas; de acompañar incluso desde la virtualidad.

Yo soy el abrazo de quiénes deciden intentarlo por segunda vez. Ese abrazo que nuestros jóvenes necesitan para saber que todo estará bien.

Soy la que lee miles de sentires a través de post its, rostros, gestos y opiniones. Soy quien cree en el poder transformador de las historias.

Vengo de escuchar las voces profundas de corazones jóvenes que gritan en el silencio. Soy historias poderosas.

Yo soy de las que creen en la escritura como terapia creativa y curativa. Y de las que saben de la belleza que habita en los atardeceres.

I come from visiting schools in the upper Chalate region. I am an early morning drive and I am a road trip to Usulután to meet with young people.

I come from carrying books and furniture for libraries. I am the active listener of the teacher who promotes respect for the human rights of their students. I am the listening attentively to teachers in the mountains. I am the smell of coffee brightening the mornings, I come from smiles and hugs at the school gate.

I am diverse languages in complex and constant universes. I am transparency, authenticity and dreams that are possible.

I come from knowing and living with stigmatized populations and from crying when listening to an author tell her journey to ‘the north’.

I come from stories of resilience and courage shared by families who are grateful to have a safe space and who recognize its transformative power.

I come from muffled voices that are resurrected through reading, writing, listening and dialogue.

I come from sharing lunches full of anecdotes with my colleagues at picnic tables.

I come from opening spaces so that the voices of children and adolescents are heard and from providing accompaniment in the virtual world.

I am the embrace of those who decide to try a second time. I am that embrace that our young people need in order to know that everything will be alright.

I am the one who reads thousands of feelings through post-its, faces, gestures and opinions. I am the one who believes in the transformative power of stories.

I come from listening to the deep voices of young hearts crying out in the silence. I am powerful stories.

I am one of those who believes in writing as a creative and healing therapy. And I am one of those who knows the beauty that dwells in sunsets.

Voces comunidadestejiendo

Héctor Morales, Teacher

In schools, the reading habit has always been a weak point

In this context appears ConTextos. “In schools, the reading habit has always been a weak point and we had a dream of improving that - says Héctor - and how better to do so than with an institution like ConTextos that, not only provided books, but also provided technical assistance and teacher training, which is what is needed in a school”.

In the Educational Center, book exhibitions were held, parents were involved, a project was implemented for each High School student to teach three people to read, shelves with books were put up in different areas of the Center and they created the Book Cart and every Friday, Héctor Morales handed books out in the classrooms.

Ten years later, the project is still well maintained and "there are many students enjoyed having a complete, attractive and meaninful library experience", says Héctor.

Books changed the community. it is now a community whose members come to study riding their bikes through narrow sand roads.

El Zapote Canton Educational Center was one of the first schools where ConTextos started working. It is in the western part of the country, in a tropical rainforest near the estuary and the sea. Almost all the students arrive there on bicycles.

Héctor Morales began teaching there in 2003 and was its director for 11 years. He always kept an open mind to new ideas so that his students would have more opportunities.

During his tenure, the baccalaureate (secondary school) was created, a soccer school was set up that broke the myth that everyone beat “El Zapote”, ‘tempate’ bushes were planted and he worked to protect the mangroves that make up a vital ecosystem in the area.

Many students have enjoyed a complete, attractive and meaningful library experience

Gladys Sigüenza, Partner From the Beginning, Ministry of Education

And that way of training led the teacher to think about her own practice

They lead us to develop language skills and reading comprehension with high levels of criticality, creativity and taste for literature

The conditions were that the schools provided teachers who were committed to learning and were easily accesible, since we provided them with weekly or bimonthly training. “We had as an example the Cantón El Zapote Educational Center with its director, Héctor Morales, which had excellent community support”. The only problem was the school could only be reached by canoe.

But they went anyway.

Debra Gittler, ConTextos Founder, saw the work and said “this school inspires me”. That word stuck with Gladys.

“El Zapote”, as it is abbreviated, and the Centro Escolar Caserío San Jorge, Cantón San Ramoncito, were the first two ConTextos Schools.

Debra and Gladys met in 2011 when a new government was beginning in El Salvador and the Ministry of Education was implementing a program called “Let’s Go to School”, whose axis was community integration. At that time, Gladys Sigüenza was head of Technical Assistance for the Ministry in Ahuachapán and had more than 380 schools under her charge. ConTextos only needed two to start their project.

“I liked what ConTextos did - says Gladys - because in addition to providing books, they trained teachers. And that way of training was reflection-action; it led the teacher to think about her own practice”.

Gladys also liked the quality of the books. “Well thought out, attractive -she says- they lead us to develop language skills and reading comprehension with high levels of criticality, creativity and taste for literature”.

Still today, ten years later, she continues to read and use the story “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle for her work.

We do not sell books, we share knowledge

For nine years, Doris Robles has been the librarian at El Zapote School. This educational Center is reached by a dirt road and Doris enters through the back door after crossing a clearing. In front of the school is the estuary: the place where the sea meets fresh water.

When Doris first took on the responsibilities of a librarian, she didn’t even like to read. Later, she was one of the main promoters of the “Bibliobus”, a broken down bus that was placed at the school’s courtyard. Now, with the help of two students, the library travels the dirt streets on a bicycle with a cart carrying books.

The “Bibliobus” cart was devised by a teacher in 2015 and still makes its rounds. It has a sign that reads “we do not sell books, we share knowledge”.

Doris says that all she does from the library is to change lives and not just that of children’s. “I have a lady who has been around since the “Bibliobus” began - she says - and now that she has a hard time reading, she browses the images or her small granddaughter reads to her.” Doris also tries to bring her books with large print.

There are several elderly readers who, when they see her arrive with the cart, ask her for books about nature, fish, and plants. She shows what she has brought them and leaves some books for them to read.

When Doris leaves they ask her, “When will you be back?”.

Doris goes by every 15 days. And this little part of the work sums up mischievously, as if she were a salesperson: “Since we started, there hasn’t been a single day that we haven’t sold. We always sell, even if it is little, but we always sell”.

Doris says that all she does from the library is to change lives and not just that of children’s

Doris Robles, Teacher

Mario says that the story began in 2011. He was training with a scholarship in Texas when Zoila Recinos, co-founder of ConTextos, wrote to tell him about this new NGO. “And it fit like a glove - he says - because my community action program, upon my return focused on community libraries schools”.

In 2012 they opened the library with books in one of the school’s hallways. The students arranged the 500 books in the corridor each morning and they put them away every afternoon. Later, the library moved to a closet space, then to a small classroom and then to a larger one.

Mario –who cannot stay still- started a digital reading project. “Mrs. Irma and Maritza helped me a lot”, he says. So much so, that they procured a donation of kindles for the school.

Mario Quintanilla, Teacher

To find the place, you can ask for the school or for “Teacher Mario”.

“Oh yes! Professor Mario! Go straight down this street and then to the right”.

That is how you get to the Caserío Lotificación San Antonio School Center, in Las Delicias in Sonsonate.

That is how you get to one of ConTextos’ libraries, which teacher Mario Quintanilla has taught reading, writing and drawing for ten years.

I have seen the commitment that teachers have towards the library

Students arranged the 500 books in the corridor each morning and they put them away every afternoon

Today the library is already part of the school plan so it receives school funding and the grades are organized to have time for reading and writing once a week.

The achievements are tangible.

“I have seen the commitment that teachers have towards the library and I have seen how oral skills have developed in the students; they are critical, analytical and if they consider that something is not right, they raise their hands and start a dialogue”.

“Yes, maybe that’s the word, I’m in love with ConTextos” she says.

Lorena Lima is an English teacher and since she saw a ConTextos’ presentation, she pushed until her school, Salvador Martínez Figueroa School Center, located in Texistepeque, Santa Ana, became part of ConTextos’ network of school libraries in 2015.

“I wanted to meet them but I also wanted them to meet me,” she says.

She began to follow ConTextos on social media and to participate in their book and wine meetings until she applied for a library.

Lorena Lima, Teacher

I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring something different to my school

Lorena says that from ConTextos she learned to be self-sufficient and to develop sustainable projects

“I wanted to get more and more involved because I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring something different to my school”.

Lorena not only promoted the library but also taught ConTextos’ program “I am an Author” for three generations of students. In this program, each person writes and publishes a book with a personal story. Sessions begin when students are in eighth grade and continue through ninth grade.

“One gets so involved in the writing process! –she says- you learn each story because drafts are being made and you are suggesting changes ”. During these encounters, trust is built, and the group becomes united. There are stories about the death of a relative, changes in the household, best friends, and even extortion.

Lorena says that from ConTextos she learned to be self-sufficient and to develop sustainable projects. At her school, the library does not have a librarian: the teachers take care of it during recesses and there are volunteers who provide maintenance. Teachers bring their students to the library and very often, older students will read to the little ones.

“These young people - says Lorena - are developing their leadership, they feel that their work is worthwhile and the little ones see them as an inspiration”.

What else can you ask for in a library?

Colato, Teacher

stops learning loses the privilege of teaching

“I teach a child in first grade whose mother was my student. And that’s where I start to think this school is not mine. Surely, one day I am going to leave, and it will belong to the community. We have to take care of it”.

Professor Luis Colato is a teacher and a Language and Literature graduate. He has worked at the “Caserío La Joya” School Center in Torola, Morazán for 15 years. This is a rural school of 46 students with only two classrooms located in one of the poorest municipalities in the country. The area is surrounded by overwhelming vegetation.

Colato is from the town of San Miguel which is about two hours away by car. Therefore, from Monday to Friday, he sleeps there,

Luis

Whoever

If

us.

behind the school. “Here I have a hammock and a bed, if I get bored of the hammock, I move to the bed”.

He says that when ConTextos arrived, the organization was well received.

“We had so much support in different methodological strategies. “You see, in language, even teachers make mistakes - he says - we want to tell the students to read but the teacher, sometimes, does not want to read. ConTextos came to push us”.

“And as someone once said we, as teachers, have to be reading constantly because whoever stops learning, loses the privilege of teaching”.

What would I like to see inside the library?

And what would I like to see happen in it?

We want to tell the students to read but the teacher, sometimes, does not want to read. ConTextos came to push

We invite you to write or draw based on the following prompt

I could create a library for a school, I would like to…

Where are we going today?

Las Anonas School Center is located at the foot of the mountain. It has two classrooms, a yard, and 21 students… However, it is missing a library.

The principal and only teacher is Encarnación Martínez, whom everyone calls Chon, organized the community to assemble a ConTextos library for the tiny school.

One morning, mothers, fathers, students and ConTextos staff walked down a two hour by foot trail with furniture, carpets, puffs and books.

Chon gave up the principal’s office so that the library could be installed there.

He set up his desk in a classroom. From there he accompanies his students and whenever there is a break, he sneaks to the library to read.

Miriam Argueta & Maricela Romeo, Community Members

The library is a treasure

Miriam Argueta had just prepared and set our food for her husband and, as she passed the Henry Ortiz School Center, the principal stopped her. Juan de la Cruz Ramos Guevara invited her to participate in the ConTextos’ leadership training for the library. Miriam said yes, but she also said “if I like it I’ll stay, otherwise I’ll go”.

Ana Maricela Romeo was also invited by the director. Maricela walks one and a half kilometers to take her son to school. Juan de la Cruz suggested that she become a librarian’s assistant, so that she would not have to wait outside for her son until the end of school daily to go back home together.

Now these two moms are inseparable, they arrive every day at 7:30 a.m. to clean the library, tidy up the tables and at 8 o’clock they enthusiastically receive the first group of students who arrive to read.

The library is a treasure.

Some teachers tell their students that if they finish homework quickly they can go to the library, and then they hurry. “And the little ones - says Maricela - have a lot of fun and when the teachers tell them ‘let’s go to the library’, they feel wonderful”.

Miriam and Maricela have everything in order: they have already arranged the books by theme, the toys, and on the walls they posted the reading schedule for the different grades and small signs inviting everyone to read.

- Did you ever imagine being librarians?

- No, no, no, they respond laughing.

When it’s Friday and they know they don’t come back until Monday, Saturday and Sunday turn out to be very long days.

And the little onessays Maricela - have a lot of fun and when the teachers tell them ‘let’s go to the library’, they feel wonderful

Walter Tadeo, Teacher

We have been supporting the project from day zero until now

- Can you let me know when we get to Río Chiquito? He said to the bus driver.

- Who are you going to see?

- Don Walter

- The one with the books?

Walter Tadeo is the librarian at the Cantón Río Chiquito School Center, located in San Ignacio, Chalatenango, an area filled with pine trees that has a cool climate. ConTextos installed a library there and trained teachers as well as the community. “We have been supporting the project from day zero until now,” he says.

Before the pandemic and quarantine, in Río Chiquito all grades had one hour of reading during class and the young people took a book home and met on Thursdays to discuss it.

Children and adolescents have been more excited about books and readings. Perhaps they were unaware of how fun reading can be because no one reads anymore

The house-to-house reading program had also been implemented. “There are some people who sometimes don’t even know how to read, so there you go”, says Walter, who reads aloud, with enthusiasm, with pauses, imitating animals.

He also visits classes to read in the absence of another teacher.

Ever since the library opened at the school “children and adolescents have been more excited about books and readings. Perhaps they were unaware of how fun reading can be because no one reads anymore; everyone does it on the internet in Google”, says Walter.

Now the library is divided into classrooms because an initial education class was enabled there. We find books even in the Director’s office, as classes resume after the pandemic and quarantine, reading is also resumed.

With the reading project in the classrooms, Río Chiquito won the Golden Mango Award, a recognition that ConTextos gives to teachers for their innovative projects that transform the reality of classrooms.

Jimmy wrote his book “The Sardine Can Scale” in 2020. He remembers that the sessions of “Soy Autor/I am an Author” began on August 8 and ended the first week of February 2021. He finished writing the book and exited the Quezaltepeque prison on February 4th. He had spent 13 years and 4 months in prison. Today, on the outside, he is more afraid to return to that place than to run into people who might want to take his life.

Jimmy, Author If I had kept doing the same thing I wouldn’t get anywhere

Creemos en el poder transformador de las historias

When I wrote the book, it’s like I had taken a stone out of my backpack,” he says, “and even though there are more (stones), it was heavier than the others.

To write a memoir in the “I am an Author” program, first you have to choose a topic. At first Jimmy thought about telling a story of danger that he had lived, but chose to talk about his childhood. He had a stepfather who beat him until he was too tired to continue. He spent a lonely childhood; his mother seemed to love his siblings more than him.

The title of his book is an anecdote from his childhood.

One day at school, the teacher asked the students, with the help of their parents, to make a scale. Jimmy made a scale on his own. And without any help, he opened two cans of sardines with a knife and connected them with a string using his yo-yo and a hook.

When he brought it to school, he felt ashamed of his work and some of his classmates made fun of him.

The teacher saw the completed projects and began to ask whose they were.

The teacher gave the class a 9 out of 10 for their work, but Jimmy received a 10 because he had done it alone. He ran out of the classroom crying.

“When I wrote the book, it’s like I had taken a stone out of my backpack - he says - and even though there are more (stones), it was heavier than the others”.

Writing also helped him to find common ground with others, those who participated in “I am an Author” ended up talking to people they believed to be enemies.

“It helped me a lot -a lot! I would like to go back in time but with the mentality that I have now, because if I had kept doing the same thing I wouldn’t get anywhere - he says - I would have stopped doing a lot of stupid things and instead do things that I didn’t do, because I missed several opportunities”.

He made amends with his stepfather, would like to meet his teacher again and, still, when he reads or remembers his story he feels a lump in his throat.

Chayito, Author

It helped me a lot to free myself, to have the inner peace that I need it

Chayito, as she is called, wrote her book in 2019. “I wrote it on the floor,” she says. She hugs her bag, she has always carried one everywhere she says “when I was a child, I even felt that it was a friend”.

Chayito was locked up for nine years in the Women’s Prison and later moved to the Izalco Farm, during her “phase of trust”. There she wrote “My Sleeping Bea”, her story and the story of her daughter.

“When ConTextos arrived, at first I said ‘no, what for?’ - she saysI’m sure those folks just want to know about everyone’s private life. I was so skeptical that the first day of school I asked them if they were a system or what? ”.

But Chayito, who is one of those “who are not allowed”, began to loosen up when the sessions of “I am an Author” began.

“You learn to value yourself, to express what you are experiencing. It helped me a lot to free myself, to have the inner peace that I needed because I felt bitter. And there I began to relate my book”.

Chayito is a single mother and began to try to make ends meet in an “ inadequate way”, she says. She needed to support her children, so that they would have what she did not have. She did it until one day they came to arrest her at her house.

When she was in Jail, Bea, her daughter, went to see her. Chayito told her that they had taken her to a police examination and she had been identified.

“She hugged me, bit my ear, kissed me and said ‘I love you mommy’, ‘I love you too’ I told her, but I didn’t think that was a goodbye”.

Her other children were the ones who later broke the news: her Bea had committed suicide. She was 14 years and 8 months old. Her children asked her to have strength. A lot of strength.

Alex wrote his book “Hero” in June 2017. He did it at the Centro Penal de Apanteos during nights, in his bed, after receiving the “I am an Author” sessions. “Although there was total overcrowding, night time provided a very solitary space - he tells - I had my 80-centimeter space and I stole a little bit of light with a mirror. In that little bit of light that fell on my mat, that’s where I wrote”.

You have problems, but the joke is that you find the solution

The book is dedicated to his father, with whom he was angry and did not speak to for almost 10 years. Of those 10 years, Alex spent 8 in prison.

Writing the book during the program “I am an Author”, is a process of several sessions and halfway through Alex became emotionally blocked, he felt a lot of pain and did not want to continue. Then he thought he would never be able to talk about it and knew that if he wrote it, the message would be better understood.

Above all, his father would understand it.

Four years after he wrote it, Alex gave him the book. They were already talking to each other, however, they did not open up with each other and did not say everything they needed to share. His dad opened it and when he saw the first page he told Alex “I have to read this on my own, it’s too strong”.

Alex rereads his book from time to time and chooses the part where he wrote about the advice his father gave him. His father had left for the United States when he was three months old. “My dad was a teacher -he says- I once had a problem and he told me ‘it’s like in mathematics, you have problems, but the joke is that you find the solution. And all those problems have a solution. It’s the same in life”.

Alex says that when he was a kid he didn’t understand it, but now he does and he gave it to him in his book.

I had my 80-centimeter space and I stole a little bit of light with a mirror. In that little bit of light that fell on my mat, that’s where I wrote.

Alex, Author

Amelia, Outreach Center Leader

I call it love of the community

The Nejapa Outreach Center (CDA) is small with an entrance floor of earth, it has very few rooms. Nevertheless, it is there, free for the whole community, there is homework club, crafts, computer science, music, school reinforcement and family circles. There is even a library! And there is Amelia Marroquín, who has run that center for seven years and is its only employee. All the other people who teach are volunteers. “I call it love of the community”, she says.

Amelia works at the CDA, has a second job, a son and studies Psychology at night.

Before the pandemic, ConTextos held eight family writing sessions in Nejapa in which 25 women participated, Amelia was among them. “It was very interestingshe says - because the mothers were learning how to educate their children with positive language”.

What is said here stays here. And that routine allowed us to open up

One of ConTextos’ training sessions routines is “What is said here stays here and that routine allowed us to open up”.

“The mothers,” Amelia says, “began to bring out everything they felt: ‘what happened at their house,’ ‘how difficult their childhood had been’, or ’the fact that having so many children has not been easy.’

The routine was installed. Today the moms who need help come to talk to Amelia. In confidence.

“I think that children need attention and that the roots are their parents. If we are not able to reach the parent, we are not doing anything for the children”.

During the sessions, when it was her turn to write, Amelia dedicated all her words to her son.

Eduardo, Outreach Center Leader

It was like rewriting history. It gave me the chance to reflect

He was detained months before his 18th birthday, first he was in jail where one day “I was as low as the center of the earth”, as he says in his book. Where he had to see his mother in distress and felt her face drop with shame when she visited him for the first time. From jail he went to the Insertion Center. Three years were waiting for him there without him knowing. After a few months, the option of studying while inside appeared and he opted for Social Work. He told his mom about the possibility and she supported him. He decided to study. Eduardo graduated from Social Work and works at ConTextos. He is a Youth Trainer.

He was detained for 2 years and seven months. He was released early...

“The only thing I didn’t like were the things I made my mother go through. Otherwise, I feel like I won: I have a career, I got to know a lot of people, I gained experience, I have a job”.

Perhaps it helped that he studied a university degree within the center. Perhaps it also helped that the judges who gave him his freedom read his book. They know his story.

Eduardo Navarrete is 25 years old. He is from Nueva Concepción, Chalatenango, located in the north of El Salvador. He is an author.

He wrote his book “Stubborn Disobedience” when he was 19 years old and was at the Center for Social Insertion in Ilobasco. He doesn’t read it very often but he remembers writing it in one night, without thinking. It was just a book but a lot of things were going on in his head.

“It was like going back, from the beginning, when I started to derail myself, like at 13 years old. It helped me remember the whole process, how I got along with my mom and how suddenly everything changed.

It was like rewriting history. It gave me the chance to reflect: see how I was becoming, how I got off track and where I was at that moment”.

The only thing I didn’t like were the things I made my mother go through

Vicky Martínez had already started college when she finished at the Insertion Center, “I had already reconsidered my actions,” she says. She tells her story in her book “Our Future is in Our Hands’ , which helped her very much.

“It works - she says - because there are things that perhaps I would never have said to my mother but, through writing, I can. They say that ‘the paper holds everything’ and when you write, you let off steam.”

While she was inside, the hardest thing for Vicky was being away from her family.

And for María Ticas, her mother, the nights without her were agony. She visited her every Thursday and Sunday. She left the house 15 minutes before 5 a.m. and returned at 6 p.m. because from where they live to the Insertion Center it is a three hour journey.

They had breakfast and lunch together and they participated in a family writing process.

“Since I was little I have liked literature a lot and I had always wanted to write a book, but I never imagined that when I got “there” I would have the opportunity.”

“There” is the Women’s Social Insertion Center of Ilopango where Vicky Martínez arrived in 2016. This is where she wrote her book for the project “I am an author” with ConTextos in 2018.

Vicky, Author

I had already reconsidered my actions

It works because there are things that perhaps I would never have said to my mother but , through writing, I can

They wrote poems and illustrated them with drawings and a collage. “We felt like we remembered all the moments we had lived before, it helped me feel closer to her”, says her mother. And for Vicky it was another “very nice” experience.

She left the Center in November 2020 after months in solitary confinement due to the pandemic. She went to study Legal Sciences at the University where she also studies a secretarial course. She wants other young people to be able to read her story and believe in themselves, she wants them to know that “when you put all your effort and commit to something, you can achieve it.”

If I could give something to this story’s author I would give them…

If I met the story’s author I would like to tell them…

When you put all your effort and commit to something, you can achieve it

We invite you to chose one of the previous stories, read it, see it, feel it and then be encouraged to reflect on the following prompts

As I ate breakfast, I couldn't help but ask myself the following question: "my anxiety... is it mine or does its own me? I felt that with each passing day I was succumbing to them. My head kept spinning, but I don't even know what for. I keep hearing myself, but I can't seem to listen to myself.

S. Flores, excerpt from the “I am an Author” book “Things we think about when we bite our nails”.

On that trip I saw boats, cars, buses, large ships, lagoons and a bridge in the middle of the sea; I was so happy to see them and travel with them.

My surprise was when we arrived at a river called “El Río

Bravo”. They passed us in a boat that actually looked like an old float. On that short trip they took on children I did not know but we

crossed the river together. We felt happy because we were in the country where we had dreamed of arriving.

My brother and I spoke for the last time when we arrived at the border, without realizing it.

In the past we used to fight a lot, but now the only thing that came out before we parted, after our data was taken was an ‘I love you very much’.

G.G. Family, excerpt from the chapter “Swept Away by a Tornado”, from the “I am an Author” family book “A Dark Tornado”.

“We were in the United States.”

We started walking. Suddenly we were ordered to get into some green cars… In the cars, were tall, white, very, very angry men and I was afraid of them.

R. Family, excerpt from the chapter “Between Thorns”, from the “I am an Author” family book “Butterflies among thorns”.

The next day, I was going to school and had to say goodbye to my brother and mom.

I felt like a dark cloud was passing over me. When she left, they moved me to another school, and she told me she was going to work hard to pay my tuition. The first day she spoke to me on the phone I started crying and crying. I was happy because I knew she was doing well, but at the same time I felt sad.

Two years have passed, and I still feel the emptiness, but little by little I’m getting over it...

...try to bring the whole family so that those who stay don’t feel lonely.

D. Merino, excerpt from the “I am an Author” book “A hug though the phone”.

On that trip I saw boats, cars, buses, large ships, lagoons and a bridge in the middle of the sea; I was so happy to see them and travel with them. My surprise was when we arrived at a river called “El Rio Bravo”. They passed us in a boat that actually looked like an old float. On that short trip they took on children I did not know but we crossed the river together. We felt happy because we were in the country where we had dreamed of arriving.

“We were in the United States.”

We started walking. Suddenly we were ordered to get into some green cars… In the cars, were tall, white, very, very angry men and I was afraid of them.

Family A., excerpt from the chapter “I Was a Giant”, from the “I am an Author” family book, “Like needles poking the Heart”.

EVERY VOICE COUNTS