When you first meet Selena you notice the sparkle in her eyes, if you look a little closer you can see a girl wiser and more mature than most her age. In many ways Selena Romero is like any other 13 year old girl I’ve met. She likes to hang out with her friends, play basketball, listen to music and loves fashion. She always makes sure her earrings match her shirt and spends more than enough time fixing her long dark hair before school. What you don’t notice right away when you first meet Selena, is that she uses a prosthetic leg.

Last year after complications from thrombosis (a severe blood clot), Selena lost her left leg. Doctors were forced to amputate above the knee after severe damage due to oxygen loss from the clot. She spent just over three months in the hospital recuperating and several months in physical therapy. After receiving continued peer support from Dimas Gonzalez, outreach worker for the Red de Sobrevivientes, she was determined to get back to life and finish the school year with her friends.

Selena received a prosthetic leg from the Red de Sobrevivientes just four months ago. They say that children learn fast, they bounce back, they’re resilient. In Selena’s case nothing could be more true. She practiced for hours every day with her new prosthetic leg until she was strutting like a model on the catwalk. She doesn’t use her crutches anymore and hasn’t sat in a wheelchair since the day she received her prosthetic leg. She started playing basketball again with her friends, and two months ago she picked up her old rusty bike and re-taught herself to ride.

“I fell a lot and scratched my arms,” she said, “but now its easy. I ride to school everyday and can still beat my little cousin in a race.”

Selena will be in seventh grade this year. She is excited about going to middle school, her favorite subject is math, and she aspires to be a medical doctor one day. A typical teenage girl with a very special personality trait. Selena is a survivor. She took the trauma from her amputation and turned it into motivation

Red de Sobrevivientes is giving people the tools they need to improve their lives. Just three weeks ago, Cruz Almendarias received economic assistance in the form of a new table saw. A talented carpenter by profession, Cruz has been crafting furniture for years. He has been working for other businesses in town, but now with his own tools he can begin to work from home and has dreams of opening his own workshop in the near future.

Cruz Gaberti Almendarias working with his new table saw Arcatao, Chalatenango Department, El Salvador, Photo by: Carolyn Ramsdell, July 2009

Cruz Gaberti Almendarias working with his new table saw Arcatao, Chalatenango Department, El Salvador, Photo by: Carolyn Ramsdell, July 2009

“This new machine is more than a new tool,” Cruz said, “its independence.”

After participating in a series of courses about accounting and small-business management from the Red de Sobrevivientes, Cruz said he feels ready to take the steps necessary to open his own workshop.  The Red de Sobrevivientes began working in Chalatenango just last year and has helped form an association of persons with disabilities so they may begin to advocate for inclusion of disability rights at the municipal level. Red de Sobrevivientes outreach worker, Dimas Gonzalez, has been working with Cruz and other survivors in the area also providing peer support, medical referrals, and job training courses.

As a guerrilla fighter during the civil war, Cruz lost his right leg just below the hip to a grenade explosion. He says his disability does not make him any different or that he has less than anyone else, it just makes him appreciate more what he does have. Today Cruz is happily married with two young children and helps care for his nephew.

As an integrated part of the Red de Sobrevivientes’ many ongoing projects, the NGO is assisting people in rural areas to improve their living conditions. As survivors become part of the growing network of people with disabilities in their area, they commit to doing community service projects, attend local advocacy workshops, and help provide peer support for one another.

The Red started working in Ilobasco just over a year ago. They are now assisting more than 45 people in the surrounding area, several of whom expressed to me that they had felt neglected and left behind until outreach worker, Armando Fabian, began to visit them in their homes.

Along with other programs, such as; health, social empowerment, and economic opportunities, the Red supports survivors most in need with basic repairs to their homes, as well as much needed relief in the form of food, medical supplies and/or furniture. This is the story of one couple and the improvements the Red is helping them make to their home.

When I met Isidro and Francisca last week, their hospitality and openness left a huge impression on me. They are both a little camera shy, and admitted to being embarrassed by their living conditions. I hope this short video does them justice and captures the kindness, warmth and gratitude I felt from them that day.

CLICK on the link below to watch video

To Keep Out the Rain

In a country where 49% of the rural population lives below the poverty line, realities of the campo (rural areas) can seem drastically more difficult for someone living with a disability. These past two weeks I have been traveling with La Red de Sobrevivientes’ outreach workers to visit survivors in their homes. As we rode busses and moto-taxis, walked through valleys, crossed rivers, and climbed into the back of pick-up trucks to get from place to place, everywhere I looked I saw obstacles for people with disabilities. The dirt roads and cobblestone streets make it nearly impossible for someone in a wheelchair to get around, doorways are too narrow, and there are no ramps. In many cases when someone with a physical disability needs to get to town to for meeting or visit the doctor, friends and family have to carry him/her in a hammock. The lack of accessibility in the campo makes it that much more difficult for someone with a disability to live independently. Sadly, in many cases people are confined to their home.

Armando and Jose (both amputees) walking through Guacotecti to visit another survivor

Armando and Jose (both amputees) walking through the rual village of Guacotecti to visit another survivor

Through the Red de Sobrevivientes’ three main programs (health, economic opportunity, and social empowerment) they are building a network of support for people with disabilities living in rural areas. One priority is improving basic living conditions. Many times the Red will deliver building materials, or basic furniture such as a bed, so that a home can be made more accessible and/or livable for someone with a disability. In some of the more extreme cases when a person is found in very poor living conditions, the Red will help a ‘basket of goods’. Sometimes providing basic food staples or helping someone get running water to their home has to be the first priority.

Improving living conditions is not just about providing tangible materials such as food and shelter. The Red is dedicated to improving lives by empowering people and giving them the tools they need to take control of all aspects of their life. Through the health program the Red is not only providing peer support to improve self-esteem and morale, but connecting people with resources and much needed medical consultations. By assisting a survivor get a new prosthetic, crutches or a wheelchair, the Red is not only helping someone be more mobile, in many cases they are opening up a world of possibilities and a newfound independence.

Armando and Jose discussing a prosthetic leg adjustment needed by a member of the Ilobasco Association of Disabled Persons

Armando and Jose discussing a prosthetic leg adjustment needed by a member of the Ilobasco Association of Disabled Persons

The economic opportunity program is assisting survivors with job training and helping them to improve or start a small business. In many cases all that’s needed is a little motivation, improved bookkeeping skills, or start-up in the form of materials. The Red is very conscious about not giving ‘hand-outs’. They want to ensure that survivors take ownership of their projects by investing time, money and labor into their businesses. There are also other program guidelines such as participation in skills training courses and giving back to the community by volunteering. In one community I visited a group of seven survivors (all amputees from landmine explosions during the civil war) the men had begun working at the school as part of a community service project. Volunteering their time and obtaining the materials to repaint the school, fix broken desks and windows, and clean up the grounds. They have enjoyed giving back to the community so much that they have plans to help start a garden at the school. One of the men told me it fills his heart to be able to give to his neighbors. It’s empowering for the group to be able to give back, especially when many times before the community didn’t recognize their worth.

The social empowerment program is one of the more dynamic ways that the Red is enabling people with disabilities to change their own lives. Through the methodology of peer support, community associations of persons with disabilities are being formed in every department where the Red works. The associations are receiving training from the Red about community organizing and policy advocacy. Associations advocate for their rights at the local municipal level. One priority of the social empowerment program is to ensure that disability rights are being acknowledged and integrated into local politics. If a new medical facility is going to be built by the mayor’s office, the association will ensure that it’s accessible to persons with disabilities.

All three of the Red’s programs are focused on empowering people, ensuring their rights are being recognized, and carving a path to accessibility and independence. They are not only helping people survive with a disability, they are giving them the tools to thrive.

Driving onto the Monterrosa Military Barracks will without a doubt ignite a surge of emotions for most Salvadorans. A regal statue of the infamous commander stands ominously just beyond the entrance of the base. Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Monterrosa was the military commander during the civil war and leader of the notorious Atlacatl Battalion. His name alone has been plagued with a vehement connotation.  Last week, the Armed Forces of El Salvador, in coordination with the Ministry of Health and several national and international NGOs, hosted a comprehensive medical campaign at the Monterrosa Military Barracks in the department of San Miguel.  The services offered brought a refreshing and hopeful sentiment over the barbwire-lined walls surrounding the barracks.

The medial campaign was established by the Military Disability Support Unit[1] just last year to provide integrated health services to injured war veterans and their families. Many injured and disabled veterans that live in rural areas don’t have access to proper medical facilities, and transportation to a military hospital can be extremely difficult. That is one reason why these campaigns are so well received. They bring a form a relief and an array of much needed services, absolutely free of charge, to some of the people that need it most.

free dental services

Disabled Veterans and their families can receive not only medical attention such as; clinical consultations, eye exams and dental work, but they also have access to other much needed services such as; prosthetics repairs and adjustments, psychological consultations, free legal services, and even career counselling. The campaign in San Miguel was the seventh of its kind this year and provided care to more than 150 veterans with disabilities in the area. Every month the Unit visits one of the 14 different departments in El Salvador.

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Juarez serves as the Director of the Disability Support Unit and is also the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Survivor Network[2]. Lt. Col. Juarez has many aspirations for the future of the medical campaign and is proud to be involved with the Survivor Network.

The Survivor Network and its dedicated team of outreach workers have been instrumental in helping connect disabled veterans with the newly offered services, Juarez said. It’s the outreach workers who are in the field connecting with the survivors on a personal level. They not only provide peer support, but play an active role in connecting people to the services and assistance they need.

Lt. Col. Edwin Juarez

“This work is important to me,” Juarez said. “For me, my career is no longer just about military service, with my duties come a moral responsibility to humanity. To be an example of professional ethics and to help the people who need it most, is invaluable.”

Juarez entered military school in 1984 at the age of 17. His country in the midst of a civil war, he graduated as a lieutenant officer in 1989. Juarez began his military career as a commander in the infamous Atlacatl Battalion where he served for two years before the 1992 Peace Agreement was signed. His specialty was once infantry. Today Juarez uses his military rank and compassion for others to support his fellow countrymen through public service.

Lt. Col Juarez had the look of a proud father as we toured the different medical stations at the barracks. What makes the medical campaign so revolutionary is that the availability of specialized medical services for persons with disabilities in El Salvador is almost nonexistent. With limited funding, the coordination and collaboration among local and international institutions, in addition to government and military, is absolutely essential to the success of these campaigns.

The barracks whose very name evokes so much mixed-emotion, for one day this month became an invigorating make-shift clinic with enthusiastic doctors and smiling patients. The Military Disability Support Unit is working to heal the wounds of the past by providing an invaluable service to veterans with disabilities.

Lt. Col Juarez and Jesus Martinez, Executive Director of the Survivor Network, have been working closely to find ways to expand the campaign to include not just disabled veterans, but former combatants, guerrilla fighters and civilians who have injuries or disabilities from the war.

“It would be ideal if we could find a way to provide this type of support to all persons with disabilities and all people in need,” Juarez said.

[2] La Red de Sobrevivientes y Personas con Discapacidad

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been two weeks since my flight touched down at Comalapa International Airport. We landed in the darkness with the lights of San Salvador casting an obscure amber glow into the night sky. Stepping off the plane I felt both fear and anticipation well up in my stomach. I’ve been planning for the AP fellowship for the past few months, but the weeks leading up to my departure were a whirlwind: finishing my graduate coursework in Vermont, packing up my apartment, attending the AP training session in DC, vaccinations, visas, spending some time in New York with friends, generally just trying to organize my life before embarking on this new chapter.

Only now am I finally beginning to feel settled again. After my enthusiastic introduction to San Salvador and my new coworkers, I’m more excited than ever about the work I’ll be doing this summer with the Fundación Red de Sobrevivientes y Personas con Discapacidades (The Network of Landmine Survivors and Persons with Disabilities).

I hit the ground running two weeks ago and have been extremely busy since day one: attending staff meetings and strategic planning workshops, traveling to rural communities with the organization’s outreach workers to visit survivors in their homes, participating in an educational workshop with the coordinator of the health program, and spending each day with my new colleagues learning little by little what amazing work they do for people with disabilities. The unrelenting dedication, moments of camaraderie and laughter, and genuine affection of the staff has left me with an unparalleled first impression.

Before I go into the detail of my day-to-day work with the Survivor Network, I feel it’s best to begin this fledgling Blog with a little background information…

Red logo

The organization was originally established as a network partner of Survivor Corps in 2001. Even though the armed conflict officially ended in 1992 with the signing of a peace agreement, El Salvador is a country still healing and struggling with repercussions from the decade long civil war. The Survivor Network (formerly LSN-ES) was founded with the intention of assisting survivors of the armed conflict. There are more than 70,000 survivors in El Salvador who carry with them not only the psychological trauma of war, but a physical scar left behind after the violence of a battle or a landmine explosion.

Peer Support is one of the principle methodologies adapted from Survivor Corps’ path to survivorship. Through the one-on-one support, Survivor Network’s outreach workers meet with people with disabilities who may have felt discouraged or alone in their situation. This type of support enables the person not only to heal, but to become empowered through the recovery process. By sharing their experiences with an outreach worker who has also suffered through the trauma of a disability and learned to embrace life, clients begin to find an inner-strength that sparks the transformation from victim to survivor.

The Survivor Network focuses on three distinct program areas: human rights advocacy, health and recovery, and economic opportunity. In the past few years, the organization has begun to expand their services. They not only support persons with physical disabilities, such as amputations, but are now reaching out to include people with other types of physical disabilities. Today the Network reaches 11 of the 14 departments throughout the country and has assisted more than 3,500 individuals with disabilities.

2009 has already proven to be a monumental year for the Survivors Network. In January of this year they became an independent, Salvadoran nonprofit organization. The Network is still going through a transition and learning to function as an independent organization. As they move forward, they carry with them the philosophies and ongoing support of their international partner and benefactor Survivor Corps. Continuing the struggle for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities in El Salvador, the Survivor Network will expand and increase their support of people with disabilities throughout the country. It’s encouraging to see program participants, who were once recipients of peer support themselves, are now becoming leaders in their communities and extending the philosophy of peer support and citizen advocacy to help other people with disabilities in their area.

Although their name has changed from LSN-ES (Landmine Survivor’s Network El Salvador) to La Fundación Red de Sobrevivientes y Personas con Discapacidad, their mission and vision remain the same: to be the leading organization in the promotion of social and economic inclusion of armed conflict survivors and persons with disabilities, so that they may reach their full potential and become independent.

Sunset over Mexico

Tuesday, June 9, 2009, Continental Airlines flight 854 from Houston to San Salvador flew over southern Mexico just as the sun began to set. As I gazed out the window at the fading light, I began to wonder what adventures and new experiences I would find in San Salvador. Working for Survivor Corps-El Salvador (La Red de Sobrevivientes y Personas con Discapacidades) will surely prove to be a challenging and worthwhile way to spend the summer.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when my plane touched down in the darkness…but I was prepared for whatever the morning light would bring on a new day in a new city.