VMM Retreat 2014

This past week, we journeyed just down the road to La Garnacha for Volunteer Missionary Movement's annual retreat. We spent four days with the other missioners who work in Managua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, as well as with VMM's director and local coordinator. We've been plugging along here in San Nicolas at work and Spanish-learning and friend-making for three months now, so this retreat was a much-needed respite.

During our time in La Garnacha, we did some self-reflection workshops, ate a lot of beans, did a little hiking, spoke a lot of English, and just generally got to know our fellow missioners better. They are a great group of people doing really important work all over Central America, and even though we don't see them all regularly, it is good to feel that we are all working for the same overarching cause, under the single banner of VMM. Therefore, we think that we owe them an introduction.

Kelsey and Erika, Centro Cultural Batahola Norte, Managua, Nicaragua

We see Kelsey and Erika fairly often because they are the only other missioners living in Nicaragua. Because they live in the south and own a feline (and because we are a little obsessed with Game of Thrones right now), we like to pretend that they are the Lannisters. But they are actually quite pleasant people.

Kelsey and Erika both teach English at the cultural center in their neighborhood of Managua, an innovative organization that emphasizes the arts and social justice within the local community. Erika and Kelsey also work with some of the programs at the center dealing with women's issues and violence prevention. You can check out their blog here: http://bataholavolunteers.wordpress.com/

Bethany, Katy, and Tommie, SHARE, San Salvador, El Salvador

Bethany, Katy, and Tommie have worked at SHARE for varying lengths of time, but they are all fluent in Spanish and very passionate about their work. SHARE is an organization that struggles, in an overall sense, for human rights and social justice for the people of El Salvador.

Bethany works a lot with the victims and families of victims of the Salvadoran civil war of the 1980s, among other things. Katy coordinates the delegations that come from the United States to support SHARE's different programs, and Tommie works with SHARE's “literacy brigade” to increase literacy in El Salvador. All of them help out with the various protests against human rights violations that seem to be common in San Salvador. You can learn more about SHARE on its website: http://www.share-elsalvador.org/

Pieter, CAPAZ, Quetzaltanango, Guatemala

Pieter is a gregarious Dutchman who has worked in Guatemala for 20 years. He lives in Chiapas, Mexico with his family (including grandchildren!), and makes a 6-hour commute to work in Guatemala.

Pieter is especially cool because he actually founded the organization CAPAZ. He helps educate indigenous Mayan farmers about how to properly raise and care for their animals – an effort that improves both their income and their diet. CAPAZ also teaches classes on alternative energy systems. Here is CAPAZ's website: http://www.fundacioncapaz.org/en/

Footnote – checked off of our 2014 to-do list: hiking to the Cerro Apaguaji. It's only two weeks into January, and I've already done it twice – once with our friends Nidia and Fatima, and once during our VMM retreat. It's a steep climb, but from the top you can see all the way to Honduras, and on the way back you have a chance at a free bunch of kale from the fee-collector, who also happens to have an abundant garden!