Suchitoto is truly an oasis of El Salvador. The pueblo is
simple and beautiful. My life is very different here then what it was before in
the capital. Although I am teaching music and art, my students continue to
teach me things that cause me to reflect upon my life and my passions.
This week a student shared with me she will be leaving for
the US. I met her about three weeks ago when I went to her school and
introduced the class that Centro is offering. She came the following day with a
group of her friends to sign up for piano. The following week she was so
excited to start with lessons she came an hour early. I was teaching my art
class so I invited her to paint with us. She really liked the class and so she
signed up to continue with art too.
Last week she invited me and the other volunteers to come to
their school for a fundraiser, where the teachers sold typical Salvadoran platos
of pan de pollo and enchiladas. I saw my group from piano and girls from my
other classes. As we said hello to all the girls, she came up to me and said, “I
am so happy you came. I didn’t think you all would come.” I responded, “But of
course, we would love to support you and your school.” Her beautiful smile then
came as it normally does, then we chatted for a while longer while we waited
for our food.
Today she came to classes and like most of my students these
past few weeks started asking me lots of questions about where I am from, what
countries have I been to, what I am studying and so forth. When I shared with
the girls in my art class that I am studying Peace and Justice, she responded like
most people, “So you’re going to be a lawyer?” I chuckled and said, “No, not
exactly. My major focuses on injustice that people experience and promoting their
human rights and dignity. For example, I work a lot with the Immigration
Movement in the states, because migrants do not have laws in my country to ensure
their human rights are respected.” Later she shared with me that later this
week, she would be leaving for the US. My heart broke in that moment. Here was
this beautiful fourteen year old girl drawing with me in art class, who after
today I would not see again. Even in moments when she would share her grand
smile, I could see a sadness and pain in her eyes to say goodbye to her life
here. Her friends in art and piano all told her how they didn’t want her to go,
and yet this sort of despidida for them felt all too familiar.
In Suchitoto, a large number of families have family member
who has left for the states. In the canton El Sitio, I go to teach music at in
the school Fridays, only one out of about a hundred families does not have
family member in the US. It is very common here when children are about 14- 16
their parents will send them to the states. Another one of my students shared
with me during our first piano lesson together her friend had recently left for
the US, he is only 15.
There are many reasons for migration: war, violence,
poverty, hunger are a few of the major factors. The poverty of El Salvador has
continued to cause many people to migrate to the US in hopes of a way to support
their families. El Salvador struggles with a mixture of these complexities poverty
and violence being the strongest forces. The poverty of El Salvador effects
many people and is manifested in various realities, and as I said, “Cuidate” to
my student today she reminded me of this immense complexity.
My time here constantly leaves me reflecting about my involvement
with Immigration back in the US. I understand this subject is highly controversial
and political, but my hope in sharing this story with you is to provoke a
deeper contemplation as to why people would ever leave their country, especially
children-like this girl at 14 years old. Immigration is more than a political
discussion or proposal for reform; it is a daily reality for people all over
the world.
I feel extremely blessed
to have known my student leaving now, and many Salvadorans in their sufferings
with migration. To walk with them in this painful reality, where families are
separated by miles and fronteras because the lack of options create only one to
survive- to leave everything you know and love of your own country for another.
I know when I return to the US and continue to fight for the dignity and rights
of migrants; I will not just be walking with those present in the US but
holding their families in my heart. Forever I will carry their stories,
memories of their faces and smiles, and this is something that no amount of
migrant oppression or lack of political reform can eliminate. Love is greater
than boarders. Solidarity does not have boundaries. And I will never forget
her, because every time I say cuidate she will be presente.
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