Stories - El Salvador

El Salvador María Isabel Figueroa
from Trauma Healing and Transformation
Chapter 5, pp. 200-201

María Isabel Figueroa wept as she walked the labyrinth taped to the floor in the communal center in El Salvador. Four times she walked the ancient pattern until her tears stopped flowing. Then feeling great exhaustion, she laid down in the center of the labyrinth and fell sound asleep for the night. When she awoke early the next morning, she described how she felt deep peace and consolation for the first time in many years. Somehow the labyrinth as a healing tool had helped María Isabel to integrate, heal, and transform the painful memories and suffering of the twelve-year civil war in El Salvador where over 75,000 people were killed or disappeared. María Isabel had been secretary to Archbishop Romero before his assassination in 1980. Often under death threat because of her work for justice and peace with base communities, she was forced to flee to the countryside. María Isabel once said to me, I know I have survived so much violence so that I now can be a part of the healing process with my people. Like me they need to learn how to release and heal the years of bloodshed and trauma. The memories are still within her, but they no longer haunt her. Through all she has experienced she is able to see the wisdom and the growth of her own heart and soul. And she now desires this healing and transformation for her people.

María Isabel shared that she recently created her own labyrinth to use with Salvadoran groups. She asked for help from some of the street gangs. They sewed large pieces of canvass together to form the base of the labyrinth. Over several weeks the gangs painted the labyrinth paths with bright rainbow colors, like those of the seven chakras. María Isabel is now using this labyrinth with grassroots groups who likewise wish to heal from the years of violence. For María Isabel the labyrinth provided a means to unblock and release energy of past memories; center and nourish the core energy and the natural intuitive wisdom; heal and transform wounds into wisdom; and heal and empower the person and the community.

Capacitar El Salvador Team
from Trauma Healing and Transformation,
Chapter 4, p. 93

One of the great causes of traumatic stress is secondary trauma found often in caregivers who are deeply affected by the work they do to help others. The teams and staffs I work with in many places in the U.S. and in Latin America are very committed people, mostly women, who feel deeply the pain of others. Many have been taught to give to everyone else, without caring for themselves in a balanced way. Controlled by strong inner messages of family, society, or church, they feel guilty or egoistic if they take time to care for themselves. Learning to take time each day for onself and to have a healthy respect for one's boundaries and limits is essential to avoiding burnout and secondary trauma.

The Capacitar El-Salvador team tries to practice what they preach. Mercedes Escobar, María Isabel Figueroa, Leonor S·nchez, and Nancy Meyerhofer, OSF, have learned to take time apart from their busy schedules to care for themselves and for each other through spiritual practice and bodywork. The four women, along with a psychologist, run the Capacitar Wellness Center based in Suchitoto, the main town in a former war zone of El Salvador. Besides working with the many people who come to the center for help, the women also travel by foot, bus, or truck to many poor villages and settlements in the countryside, to do educational outreach. They share holistic healing practices with many families deeply affected by the war of the last decade, by domestic violence at home, and by the continued daily violence in the streets. Shortly after the team opened the center, there was a tragic bus accident in the community that killed seven youth and one adult, and injured many. The team was able to respond quickly to the emergency, helping the grieving families and the injured. One pregnant woman who was on the bus when it lost control and flipped over three times, that same night gave birth to her baby, a lovely girl, whom they named Milagro, the Miracle. There are many miracles for the team in the midst of the poverty of the people. At times the work is overwhelming because of the lack of resources and the woundedness of so many people. The team agrees that without their own personal commitment to stay balanced, centered, and clear, it would be very difficult to continue giving for the long haul. The Capacitar Wellness Center has become a place of peace, nourishment, and healing for many in the local community.

First Capacitar Regional Conference - El Salvador
Newsletter, Summer 2001

Twenty-six Capacitar team members from six countries gathered in El Salvador in July for the 2nd Central America Regional conference. The El Salvador Capacitar team hosted the conference in Suchitoto, where the Capacitar Wellness Center is located. The conference had originally been scheduled for February 14-17 in the town of Candelaria Cuscatl·n. It was postponed when funding was not secured in time. This proved providential as the second large earthquake struck El Salvador on Febuary 13 when conference participants would have been gathering. The earthquake destroyed Candelaria.

The conference was planned by an international committee comprised of Nancy Meyerhofer, osf, of El Salvador, Gladys Lanza of Honduras, Carmen Garcia of Guatemala and Capacitar International Coordinator, Joan Condon. Conference activities were selected to fulfill the goals set at the first Regional Conference: to share experiences and cultures, to develop leadership and team building skills and to visualize and plan for the future in the region.

Integral to the conference were Capacitar practices such as body work, Tai Chi, and ritual. The conference opened and closed with a ritual and ritual was part of each morning. The conference closing ritual was especially powerful. Each person had been asked to bring earth from their country. On the final evening, conference participants gathered in a circle with a ritual altar, which included a bowl, in the center. Each person approached the bowl while telling what their offering of earth represented, then poured their earth into the bowl. See page 1 photo of Sylvia Cayetano of Belize. After everyone had made their contribution, the soil was mixed and each person then dipped into the bowl for part of the mixture to carry home as a symbol of the interconnectedness of all peoples and the special interconnectedness of Capacitar.

As part of the activities, teams from each country — Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, and the US— shared their work experience. El Salvador spoke about their response to the earthquakes when they worked with rescue teams, children, health promoters, and teachers and in four refugee camps. Honduras emphasized that they work through-out the country through women's, indigenous, and human rights organizations. In Guatemala, there are several distinct programs with union women, with mental health workers and with the recovery of historical memory project. In Belize, the work is through the National Women's Commission. Chiapas is just forming a team that is presently receiving training. Capacitar US explained the international network and how we decide where Capacitar will work.

The closing day of the conference focused on visualizing and creating the future. Participants explored their own individual leadership gifts and the gifts that they and their team could bring to a regional collaboration. The conference then set goals at both the country and regional level. At the country level, Capacitar members will form a national team in countries which do not already have one and will work to strengthen both the new teams and the ones already in place. Each country also committed to a yearly Capacitar gathering, something which Honduras already does.

The goals set for the regional level include: compiling and distributing a directory (already completed); encouraging the interchange of materials, experiences and formation; publishing a regional bulletin every six months; convening a regional gathering every two years; holding regional workshops on specific themes (the first is early 2002 on trauma); and, forming a regional coordinating committee to assure the goals will be met.

The regional coordinating committee was selected and includes representative from each country. Nicaragua, whose representatives could not attend the conference, will be invited to choose someone for the committee.

Participants judged the conference a success. People were able to share on both a personal and professional level in the spirit of Capacitar. They returned to their countries with a feeling of solidarity across borders which was symbolized by the closing ritual of the mother earth.