CONSTRUYENDO ESPACIOS

INTEGRALES PARA EL BIENESTAR AMBIENTAL

Constructing Integrated Spaces for
Environmental Well-Being
April 2011
www.ceibaelsalvador.org

Come to El Salvador!
July 2-10- Open Delegation organized by Dallas Jesuit Highschool.
July 29-Aug 6. St. Thomas Aquinas Youth Group, Indianapolis IN
$700 PLUS airfare email ceibaelsalvador@gmail.com if you would like to join!
 TOSHIBA

JUBDI
Beth has been working with the
youth group of El Sauce since Oc-
tober 2010. Nearly 20 teenagers
in the community have an organi-
zation with a name they chose-
Jovenes Unidos Buscando Desar-
rollo Integral El Sauce-United
Youth Searching for Integrated
Development El Sauce (JUBDI).
JUBDI started with a few English
classes taught by Beth in October,
and has slowly become part of
national networks. 3 boys (Tomas,
Tito and Henry) attended the Na-
tional Volunteer Campout run by
the Salvadoran Secretary of Youth
in Dec. 2010. One young man,
Tomas (16) is in training with NGO Plan International to set up and run a local youth radio station
in nearby Santo Tomas. Tito (19) was chosen to attend the “Encuentro Centroamericano de Inter-
cambio Metodologico” in San Antonio los Rancho, Chalatengango as part of the Red MARACA
(Network of Youth Community Art in Mesoamerica). Tito learned about the coup 'teat in Hondu-
ras, learned how to dye shirts with indigo, acrobatics and more.
JUBDI also wrote their own project for violence prevention, which CEIBA sent to the Armando
Paz competition. JUBDI’s
idea is to have a “Tournament
for Peace,” and discourage the
attraction of joining a gang by
running free and fun soccer
and softball tournaments
(fingers crossed that JUBDI
gets the grant!) (Project
Value=$4928.60)

JUBDI will also be hosting

the youth group of St. Thomas
Aquinas this August and has
been watching historical films
such as Romero to brush up on
their historical memory
CEIBA also showed Avatar to
generate conversation about
war, Quien Dijo Miedo to talk about the coup ´teat in Hondruas, and will be showing Sin Nombre
next week to discuss the reality of migration for youth.
La Casa de la Solidaridad-
is an exchange program run
by the University of Santa
Clara here in San Salvador at
the (Jesuit) University of
Central America. Each se-
mester, nearly 25 students
from colleges in the USA come to study at this alternative, social justice program (www.scu.edu/casa).
Betsy Purner, Community Coordinator for the program this year, and Santa Clara Alum (’10) teamed up
with Beth Tellman to figure out how to source organic vegetables from Santiago Texacuangos to the Casa
Program. We hope the relationship between the community of Santa Maria de la Esperanza and the Casa
will help students become more aware of Salvadoran agricultural issues, and the people of Santa Maria
have a little more income for their families. See page 5 to learn more about this project.

Firefighters in Action from Spain- Bomberos en Acción España

(http://bomberosenaccionongd.blogspot.com/) have a one- year pro-
gram of advanced disaster preparedness training for 40 adults in Joya
Grande. The beneficiaries of the program are the members of the Com-
munity Commission of Civil Protection Mercedes formed one year
ago. CEIBA has been invited to train with the community, and we are
the NGO to evaluate the project for the firefighters based on the disas-
ter drill set to take place this May. The firefighters have signed up to be
volunteers in future CEIBA projects, and we have been brainstorming
together the possibility of launching an advanced water rescue training,
since Joya Grande is set right on lake Ilopango.

The University of El Salvador- UES (http://

www.ues.edu.sv) departments of Agronomy and Lan-
guages has approved 2 partnership projects with CEIBA
for students to complete “social hours.” These services
hours are a mandatory requirement to graduate from any
Salvadoran university. Our agricultural engineering vol-
unteer, Jose Maria, is designing in irrigation system for
the community of Santa Maria de la Esperanza. We will
use his plans to fundraise with the community to imple-
ment the system to grow vegetables in the dry season to
sell to the Casa program (see page 5). Our second UES
volunteer, Marvin Gutierrez Cortez, a long time collabo-
rator of CEIBA, is majoring in English and French. He
will teach English to teenagers in Joya Grande who can-
not afford to go to high school. See page 6 for more in-
formation on how to support his project.
 Municipal Commission for Civil Protection, Santiago Texacuangos.

CEIBA has a seat on a re-

gional committee for dis-
aster prevention, mitiga-
tion, and response for
Santiago Texacuangos. We
are the only local NGO
working in the area, and
our contribution of local
knowledge and connec-
tions to local leaders and
conditions will be a great
contribution to the com-
mission. Other members
of the commission include the mayor, the police, and the local health clinic. CEIBA can also
be a watchdog for aid distribution during disasters, now that we are a legal member of the
commission, whose charge is also to distribute aid during disaster. Our first activity (April
13th) is to train all 40 schools in the region (30 rural and 10 urban) to develop their emer-
gency school plans. CEIBA’s specific responsibility in these workshops is to teach human
rights, disasters, and El Salvador’s Civil Protection laws.

New Published Research on Santiago Texacuangos!

Beth’s study on community resilience in Santi-
ago Texacuangos has finally been published!
UN University Institute for Environment and
Human Security published the report in its
journal SOURCE. Read the article for FREE
at this website!
http://www.ehs.unu.edu/article/read/source-152011

The Grant We Almost Got…

CEIBA was finalist in the Kansas University “Community Tool
Box” grant competition. While we didn’t get first prize (and
therefore didn’t get the $$), KU featured us as a “Community
Innovator” finalist. They even made us this lovely website:
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/out_of_the_box/finalists/
communityinnovatorColectivoCEIBA.aspx
 Solidarity for Local and Sustainable Nutrition

- project founders Betsy Purner, Mercedes Monge, and Beth Tellman

General Objective: To implement an irrigation system for
the production of organic food in Santa Maria de la
Esperanza for the commercialization to the study abroad
program in the UCA “Casa de la Solidaridad”

Specific Objectives: 1. Adaptation to climate change for the

producers of Santa Maria de la Esperanza by way of an irri-
gation system to regular water for cultivation instead of de-
pending on climate shocks which will be more frequent in
the future.
2. Food sovereignty for families in Santa Maria de la
Esperanza who will be producing their own food that will
both reduce costs for the family and increase healthy diets for the families’ nutrition.
3. To create an economy of solidarity between the community of Santa Maria de la Esperanza and
the students from the United States participating in the study abroad program “Casa de la Solidari-
dad”, who will buy the products at a fair price and form a strong relationship with the community
by sending two students every semester to learn about the community, help with the process, and
encourage solidarity.
Population Goal: Ten families in the community of Santa Maria de la Esperanza. Five of the pro-
ducers are elderly men and five are women, two of whom are single mothers.
PROJECT STATUS----NEED IRRIGATION~ $6,000
Already sold onions and green beans to the Casa BUT farmers need irrigation to consistently produce! So
CEIBA is currently designing irrigation system with a volunteer agricultural engineering student from the
National University of El Salvador, Jose Maria. We hope to find international cooperation to support the
project before October 2011. Know of a school or church that would like to support this project?
Email: ceibaelsalvador@gmail.com

Meet Our Farmers!

Rosita, 40

Rosita the a single mother of eight chil-

dren. She is originally from Morazan
and moved to Santa Maria in 1988. She
works in her house taking care of her
children. She learned about gardening
from Mercedes but struggles to produ-
ce consistently for a lack of water. She
enjoys to grow her own food because it
costs less and is healthier than buying
from the market.
Beth will be in Indiana May 23,24, 30, 31 and June 1-4 and would LOVE to talk
about El Salvador at your school, church, or home.
Beth will be in the North California Bay Area May 25-29. Have an event idea?
Contact ceibaelsalvador@gmail.com

You come to El Salvador!

July 2-10- Open Delegation organized by Dallas Jesuit Highschool. $700 PLUS airfare email friendsofsan-
tamaria@gmail.com if you would like to join!
July 29-Aug 6. St. Thomas Aquinas Youth Group, Indianapolis IN (one or two spots left-this delegation is
youth focused)

Keep posted on the blog for updates/changes, and email Beth if you would like to host an event! (may
23,24 and June 1-4 in Indy; May 25-31 in San Francisco Area). We will be selling coffee, t-shirts, and jew-
elry and accepting material and monetary donations.
Email contact for direction on venue details (tentative)
May 25 San Jose Peace and Justice Center , CA(mdmooney@gmail.com) 7pm
May 27 Santa Clara University,CA (jparchie@scu.edu) 12pm
May 27 Santa Cruz, CA (House of David Decosse- ddecosse@scu.edu) 7pm
DATE TBA VMM Fundraiser at St. Pius X Parish Indianapolis (moranfam@gmail.com)
June 3rd Inner Peace Yoga Center Indianapolis (ctellman@comcast.net) TBA
June 4th St. Thomas Aquinas Church Indianapolis (rzkaranovich@sta-
indy.org) rice and beans dinner after 5:30 pm mass Paintbrushes
Computer paper
MATERIALS TO DONATE (email beth for
more detailed list)
EMERGENCY SUP-
ANY ART SUPPLIES PLIES
Give to directly Beth or Mail to
7257 Dover Ct
Poster paper Flashlights
Indianapolis IN Crayons Batteries
46250 Play-do Matches
Glue Raincoats
ANY OFFICE SUPPLIES Tape Rope
Used printers, computers, camaras, Scissors Nalgenes/sig bottles
Hydration salts Small shovels Backpacks
Whistle Burn Crème First aid supplies (band-
Lifevest aids, gauze, liquid soap
Rubbing alcohol
 How much did the children’s emergency committee
en el Borborllon remember?

A LOT. 4 months after the completion of CEIBA’s first chil-

dren’s emergency committee, we enacted an program evalua-
tion (written by future volunteer Fred Sanchez and funded by
the Brebeuf Mom’s Association). We played pictionary and
charades to test the children’s memory of keywords. We asked
children WHAT each item in their emergency backpack was
used for. And we got their feedback on what was their most
favorite and least favorite aspects of the program. Finally, the
kids designed public service announcements on what to do in
situations of Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruptions, Floods and
Landslides. Check out these hilarious commercials on our
YouTube channel (ceibaelsalvador) and the blog.
The children’s expressed (almost universally) that their FAVORITE part of the program was being able to
help others. Every single child had a story about using their first
aid skills and kit to help their family. Nicole, 6 years old, proudly
told me that when her mother cut her hand while cooking, Nicole
washed the wound, and made a bandage with cotton and tape.
Rodrigo, 8 years old, told us he couldn’t believe how well the burn
crème worked when we used on his father’s arm after a bad burn.
The rainy season has yet to begin, which will be the true test of the
children’s skills. However, at least in a minor accidents around the
home, these kids get an A+.

HELP US TRAIN OUR SECOND CHILDREN’S

COMMITTEE IN LA MARMONERA
We need your small donations, your big donations, your grant
writing suggestions, and children’s raincoats at the back of your
closet (see list of material donations). DONATE NOW ONLINE
@ www.friendsofsantamaria.blogspot.com

OUR SUMMER VOLUNTEER!

FRED SANCHEZ, SCU ’07, who majored in economics and is now getting
his masters in International Development Education at NYU AND interning
for UNICEF. Freddie got a grant to come down and volunteer with CEIBA
for 6 weeks this summer! CEIBA is really excited to get Freddie’s hands
dirty with community work here in El Salvador and absorb as much of his
grant writing knowledge as possible. To make Freddie stay even better, sup-
port his Triathalon so that CEIBA can replicate its Children’s Disaster Pre-
vention Program while Freddie is here so he can help us write more grants
and improve our methodology! Donate here:
http://goquests.com/go/m/fundraiser/view/Support-Disaster-Risk-Reduction-in-El-Salvador

FRIEND US ON FACEBOOK!
CEIBA El Salvador is our new facebook name! Friend us!
We also have a new email: ceibaelsalvador@gmail.com
 DONATE NOW to make Food Security a reality!

Vladimir Jimenez, CEIBA’s agronomist, is now working for CARITAS as his paid position.
However, he wants to continue to follow through on the organic agriculture project from
last year as a volunteer. CEIBA’s intern from the National University, Jose Maria, will help
Vlady plan workshops, and visit the vegetables plots twice a week.

DONATE NOW to make Food Security a reality!

Project Beneficiaries: 16 families
Community Beneficiaries: Shaltipa and El Sauce

BUDGET
ITEM COST
Seeds 200
Materials 150

Educational Materials 50
Transportation for Volunteer 900

TOTAL $1,300

Teaching English In Joya Grande

Marvin Gutierrez, a faithful CEIBA volunteer and
an English student at the National University, needs
to complete an internship to finish his bachelor’s
degree. He wants to teach English to the youth of
Joya Grande who don’t have the chance to go to
high school. DONATE NOW to support Marvin’s
education and the youth of Joya Grade.
Objective: To motive students of the community of
Joya Grande the importance of English in their edu-
cational process.
Project Duration: 5 months
Beneficiaries: This project will benefit more than
300 hundred youth from the community of Joya
Grande.
BUDGET
Item Cost
Educational 108
material
Bus fare 250
TOTAL 358
 Civil Protection
Law Workshops in
Schools
CEIBA’s first task as a mem-
ber of the Municipal Commis-
sion for Civil Protection was
to give workshops to 40
schools on the Law of Civil
Protection. This law explains
the structure of El Salvador’s
disaster prevention and relief
system, outlining human
rights in disasters, how to de-
nounce negligence crimes if
certain government officials
hoard aid etc.
We gave the workshop along
with a representative of Plan
International, and the munici-
pal representative for Civil
Protection. Thanks to the Bre-
beuf Mom’s Association, who
donated the necessary $$ in
order for us make copies of
popular education materials
for each participant.
Legalizing Joya Grande’s Fisherman
I
t’s good to have a lawyer on your team. Fisherman from Joya
Grande called CEIBA
for frantic help as po-
licemen began to take
away their most beloved
asset, their fishing boat. A
group of fishermen in the
nearby town of Apulo told
police that Joya Grande’s
fisherman did not have li-
censes, in hopes that Joya’s
fisherman would be pre-
vented from fishing, leav-
ing the competition wide
open for Apulo. For the
first time ever, police began
to demand fishing boat li-
censes and take away the boats of fisherman who didn’t have the legal
license. Most boats in Joya Grande are handmade canoes, and thus do not
have a legal receipt with which to claim title. In addition, nearly all the
fishermen are illiterate, including several who could not even sign their
names on legal documents, using their thumb print as signature. CEIBA’s
lawyer, Jonathan, helped 35 fisherman get their licenses at cost ($8) con-
trary to other lawyers who wanted to charge the fisherman $40 a piece!
The fisherman now have their licenses, thanks to CEIBA, and are once
again putting food on the table for their families.
Legalizing CEIBA
We have fi-
nally put in
our papers
for person-
eria juridica,
or legal
status here in
El Salvador
(this is akin
to 501-c3
status in the
USA). Hope-
fully we will be Fundacion CEIBA by this July! The founding members
on the charter include over 20 community leaders as well as some of
CEIBA’s most faithful volunteers. When we achieve “Foundation”
status, we will have a generally assembly meeting to elect our board of
directors. New legal status will give CEIBA access to grants here in El
Salvador, an important step in making CEIBA sustainable since grants
can be written in Spanish.
 Violence Prevention in Joya Grande

THE PROBLEM
This past January, a young man,
20 years old, was shot on the
beach of Joya Grande at 10 p.m.
by a growing cell of MS-13.
This infamous gang, La Mara
Salvatrucha, spread rapidly in El
Salvador at the end of the civil
war (80-92), when the US de-
ported large numbers of Salva-
doran immigrants who were no
longer protected by refugee
status. The gang has rapidly
spread in an opportunities vac-
uum marked by high rates of un-
employment, low access to education, and increasing poverty in a post Cafta and dollarized
Salvadoran economy. Joining a gang becomes the easiest way to mark your identity and
make money.
MS-13 has never been a problem in Joya Grande, but Hurricane Ida exposed hundreds of
Joya’s youth to MS-13 in the violent communities in which they were sheltered- Shangallo
and Ilopango. One of the social scars of the disaster has been the growth of a nascent MS-
13 cell in Joya Grande. Violence prevention and working with youth is KEY to keeping
Joya the safe community it always has been. So CEIBA ran a youth diagnostic to ask them
what THEY want, and what THEIR ideas are for violence prevention, and we sent these 3
projects to the Organization of America States (OAS) for potential funding…

THE SOLUTION
Resources have limited the ability to organize
youth in Joya Grande, but all the same Joceline
(16) worked with Carlos (18) and Dinah (20) to
write 3 violence prevention projects in Joya
Grande to send to the Armando Paz contest. One
project, “Life Colors: Painting with the Youth of
Joya Grande” written by Carlos, alumnus from
our Painting therapy program, wants to implement
a 6 month spray paint school for violence preven-
tion in Joya Grande (Value=$4,294). The second
project, “Youth are rights”, written by Joceline, is
a program for youth to learn about their rights in disasters, in the workplace, and on the street.
(Value=$4437.07). The third project, “Mythical Pinatas, Cipitillos to the Rescue” is written by
Dinah, who wants to teach other girls in Joya Grande how to make piñatas so they can start a small
business. (Project Value =$4012.45) If the projects do not get selected for funding, CEIBA will
search for other potential doners!
 Items Total
Gas $ 789.00

Communications (Website, cellphone mi- $ 69.95

nutes)
Workshop Materials $60.00

Vehicle Maintenance $ 1072.42

other $ 177.77

Total Spent $ 2168.54

Total Cash Available $ 489.00

DONATIONS IN KIND
January-April
Organization Item Value
VMM Beth’s Stipend $2,000

PSJ-ICCO 3-day Youth Workshop for Tito ~$500

Plan International 6 Month Radio Workshop for Tomas ~$1,500

Casa de la Solidaridad Transportation-Santa Maria Irriga- ~$200

tion Project
VOLUNTEERS Civil Protection Workshop, Chil- ?????
dren’s Workshop, Project Develop-
ment, Accounting
TOTAL TOTAL ~$4,200

Simulation of “How a landslide Works” with Children

from El Borborllon, Joya Grande.

Jonathan Velasquez, Colectivo CEIBA, teaching human Betsy Purner, Casa de la Solidaridad, interviewing far-
rights in disasters to teachers and students from 40 scho- mer Jorge from Santa Maria for the Food Solidarity
ols in Santiago Texacuangos. Project.
 Friends of Santiago Texacuangos
Tim Muth Share Foundation Castleton Family Dentistry
Nate Funkhouser and Family Mrs. Laura Hall’s Sixth Grade Homeroom and Kennedy Family
Janine Sheppard K-8 Students of St. Peter’s Catholic School in Amy Fisher
Felipe Witcher Kansas City, Missouri Mike and Annie Martin
abby reed Catherine Ford Bob and Karen Dietrick
crs Xavier College Preparatory School, California Emily Pollom
sawyer greenberg Janine Sheppard the Pollom Family
diane white Cathy Plump Inner Peace Yoga Students
tom counsell The Caponi Family Linda Hegeman
CEIBA indy trip The Knapp Family Wynn McShane
notre dame delegation Janie Shumaker
connie tellman The Ravizza Family the Sapp Family
janine sheppard Margaret Waters the Brumleve Family
Counsell Family Myles Minton Allie Dunne
Grace Nixon Ashton Easterday Pat Flajole
Angulo Family Denise Kolenz Megan Raimondi
cathy oliveri The Altemeyer Family Betsy Purner
Justice Clark in honor of Isaiah Clark Brebeuf Jesuit Teachers skander and tracy nasser
Shealah Easterday The Angulo Family meredith swinehart
Laurie Redelman Alexis Mielke shelece easterday
Catholic Relief Services Katherine Gerlich katherine gerlich
SACDEL Richard Belcher martha lehman
Voices on the Border Victoria Shelton nicholas sanchez
ariel wong Kimberly Coppin anna kolhede
marisha Wickremsinhe Brian Belcher olivia amadon
Brebeuf Immersion Group The Belcher Family nick klinger
Robyn Caponi Emma Cordes jesuit community brebeuf j
jefferey greenberg Katie Power
Dave Graf/ Power of Touch esuit preparatory school
Catherine Melfi
N. Karen Deming nicholas sanchez
john hawn
Patrick Schweiger julie walker
Tom Laughner
Grace Nixon g paul peterson
Marta Langland
Mary Lynch david decosse
Jill Weaver in the Honor of Kristin Froehle
emma jehle
Bridget Kosene Chris and Dale Collins allison stohl
Anonymous French Woman
Bill Easterday Family lara brandstetter
Anmu Tsipical
kimberly carbaugh
Leah Winnikie Jim Forest mallory schwarz
Patients of Dr. William Tellman
Lisa Enright mary wolf
Linda and Clarence Hirsch alicia quiros
Jenna Knapp
Valerie Gies Emory Lynch ronald mead
Katy Erker eddie alexander
Seton Institute
Francesca McKenzie maria eduarda cardoso
CARECEN SF
Tay House Christian Community New Orleans mandy sobrepena
Hariharan Dhandapani
Sam Baker allison rausch
Leslie Gray
charlotte karney
The Coffee Emporium at Xavier University, Cinnci- Sadie Beauregard john hawn
nati
Adrian Sandstrom laura redelman
Ruthelen Burns
au soleil healing inc.
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Frances Loberg
jason parry
Notre Dame University SOA Group
Ashton Easterday mandy liebscher pearson
Toby Capion
Cheryl Dieterly kyle ozawa
Froehle Family
Mr. and Mrs. King John Marrin
rachel blanton
Beth Tellman Anne Schaufele
Carley Knapp
Jennifer Frontkowski Olga Kudinova Joe and Liz Kulesa
Paul Knapp Nana and Papa Tellman Lauren Trout
Parvaneh Angus The Hupomone Fund
Carrie Clark
Kira Harvey Maggie Hargrave
Michelle Bezanson
Carol Counsell Jim Lochhead
Erin Schlitts
Allison Ford The Tellman Family
Thomas Counsell
Becky Dieschbourg Michael Tellman
Billy Sladek
Michelle Reilly Matt Tellman
kimmanleyort.com
Mary Ann Wallace Carol Crenshaw
bradley coffman
Markus Schaufele Stafford and Clara Pile
Bud Frutkin
Erin Whinnery Tessa Brown
Jennifer Moyano
Elizabeth Fatout Lauren Rossi
Christopher Wahoff
Julie King The Sullivan Family
Jaclyn Dittrich
Marta Petersen Joeseph Heithaus
Leslie Garrison
Brain Bird Debbie Sahm JL Kato
Amanda Skinner The Mancher Family Brebeuf Moms Association
Christopher Proctor Tessa Weston
Katherine Gerlich
Diane Mcneely Natali Rodriguez
The Jesuits of the University of Central America
Connie Tellman Shintaro Doi
tony capion Janine Sheppard various anonymous families...

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING EL SALVADOR