Breaking a piñata is part of the Christmas celebration in El Salvador as it is in many parts of Latin America.

Dear Friends of MASCP,

As we celebrate over the next few weeks, tens of thousands of families in El Salvador will be missing a beloved family member because he/she is in prison. The State of Exception, in force in El Salvador since March 2022, has suspended civil liberties and led to the incarceration of nearly 60,000 Salvadorans. Some are imprisoned for vicious gang-related crimes and an unknown number of others are innocent people who were picked up because they were young, male, had a tattoo, knew a gang member, were the victim of a police quota or were just walking along.

Dominga Cordova, the head of the Directiva in Arcatao, tells us that a minimum of 60 people have left Arcatao for the U.S. or Honduras over the past year—some to avoid being arrested by police despite having nothing to do with gangs or criminal activity. We are thinking of all these young people. Their lives were twisted and disrupted by forces far beyond them. To some, it happened 40 years ago, and to others- just in the past year. We hope that they receive the justice and support they desperately need to return to their studies, work, dreams, and families.

Support youth in Arcatao this holiday season!

Your donation this year will go to The Sue and Art Lloyd Youth Development Fund. Did you know that Arcatao is one of the safest places to live in all of El Salvador? The reason is that they have been focusing on youth initiatives intently for 20+ years. In doing so, they have managed to avoid the gang recruitment that plagues so many other places in El Salvador. What an amazing thing to support! 

This year, they’ve asked us to help them remodel an office space for the Youth association of the municipality of Arcatao. The current board of the community association “April 11th Heroes” has given to the youth association a space on a free loan for five years. They need wall and floor repairs, electrical installation (there are currently none, which means no light bulbs for meetings), a handrail for security, and paint for the front wall where they have plans for a mural.  Can you help?  

If one person donates $300 we will have enough to pay for the installation of lights and electricity.

If three people donate $100 we will have enough to buy the paint.  

If one person donates $75 we will have enough to buy a door.  

If four people donate $50 we would have enough to fix the roof.

If four people donate $25 we will have enough to repair the walls.

If everyone who receives this email donated $10 we would be able to complete ALL the repairs necessary to give them a safe meeting space for youth development. The total needed for their entire project is $1383.25.  

If you donate before midnight on December 25th, you will be entered into a drawing to receive a gift certificate to Finca Coffee, the only Salvadoran coffee shop in Madison!

A sincere THANK YOU  from MASCP and from the young people of Arcatao for your contribution to the Sue and Art Lloyd Youth Development Fund! With your help, the upgrades and repairs to the Youth Association Office will become a reality!

$1000 Awarded to MASCP from Madison Public Library

There were eight applications for this particular award and MASCP was one of three that were chosen.

Our contribution focuses on the time when Madison’s Common Council passed resolution #42409 on April 1, 1986, acknowledging Arcatao, El Salvador as Madison’s very first official sister city. We are collecting stories from six people who were instrumental in that effort including sanctuary supporters, community activists, and Common Council members. In exchange for our efforts at preserving this brave and turbulent moment in Madison’s history, MPL will award us $1000. Fundraising has been challenging for us over the past few years so we are very thankful for this award and the chance to share MASCP’s beginning.

Another exciting part of the MPL’s Living History Project is that it is searchable and is connected to Recollection Wisconsin and the national Digital Public Library of America.

Our team for this project is MASCP members Joan Laurion, Barbara Alvarado, and Molly Todd. We are particularly lucky to have Molly working with us. She is a history professor at Montana State University and did her graduate work here in Madison with Professor Steve Stern, another long-time MASCP member. She continues to study sistering in Central America. She collects documents, photos, and stories from that time and has extensively published books and articles on this period.

We’ll let you know when our interviews, photos, and articles are ready to enjoy on the MPL’s webpage. Thanks again to the Madison Public Library!
 

An MASCP Greet and Meet at Finca Coffee on Jan 14, 2023

“It’s hardly a secret. Reviewers and the public have been over the moon about the Salvadoran quesadillas at Finca Coffee in Madison since the shop opened in 2019. But seriously, you need to try these!” Isthmus reviewer, Linda Falkenstein, Dec 2022.

A couple of us MASCP members will be there to visit and share a cuppa with you. We hope new and old friends will come to say “Buenas” and to support this wonderful island of El Salvador right here in Madison! We will also be there on February 11 and March 11-same time, same station.

Bethel Lutheran to Present MASCP’s Stations of the Struggle in their Formal Art Gallery

Roland Torres, a local professional photographer,  photographed this very unusual and poignant collection as a delegate from Madison to Arcatao in 2006. Many people and businesses volunteered time, services and funds to create this collection in a format that we could share with the people of Madison.

After the 1994 Peace Accords between the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and the Salvadoran government, the young people of Arcatao took on the project of painting these large spiritual pieces on the walls of the church. Each Station has two interpretations side by side-one telling the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and the other how the young people saw this station reflected in their experience during and after the war.

We had displayed the Stations after one of their Lenten services last spring and their congregants had been very interested and touched by the images.

This year, it will be available for longer and to all members of the public. We will let you know when the opening celebration will be. You are all invited!

Answer to “What’s for lunch?”: #2- pupusas are generally NOT eaten for lunch. Instead, they are eaten for breakfast and dinner… but at Finca Coffee shop in Madison, you can order them all day! Buen provecho!