Dear Friends and Family,
This message will tell you about the incredible trip we took last weekend, Dec. 8,9. We thought we had a van arranged for Saturday but on Friday night we discovered the contact person had NOT been able to do it. "What did can we do?" he asked. Fortunately I had a business card from a driver we had used last year, and the contact person called him. Fortunately he was available!
We drove north very near the frontier with Honduras to Perquin, which was the center of the revolutionary efforts during the civil war. There is an interesting museum there and the guide gave us a lot of background information, from the guerilla point of view, of course. The war only ended 15 years ago so the events and effects are still fresh in everyone's mind.
From there we went to El Mozote, the site of a massacre that happened 25 years ago. There was an impressive memorial celebration honoring the 1300 people who died. The plaques state 'woman's name,' 'man's name,' 'and 5 children,' etc. There is a "Garden of Innocents" near the church for over 120 babies and children that were discovered in a common grave. One woman hid and survived so a lot of the stories depend on her memory of what happened. She just passed away this year. The celebration included traditional folk dances by groups from Guatamala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. There was also a very energetic African type of dance by a young group from Nicaragua. The young people loved it, but the older people looked a little less appreciative of the suggestive moves the young men and women used. It was all very interesting to us.
So the next story will talk about our last week in the workshop.
I hope all is well with each of you!
Daphne
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