Salvadoran Youth and Popular Theater

one of my friends articles just got published about here experience doing popular theater work with Salvadoran youth and the survivors of the massacre of La Quesera. M
Check it out:

We rode through the rural communities of the Bajo Lempa in a white pickup, picking up the survivors one by one. Maria. Elsa. Irma. Luisa. Lencho. Chici. All clamored into the back of the truck, chatting about this and that, their laughter filling the sweltering air around us. We were going to listen to stories that no one should ever have to tell: testimonies from survivors of the massacre of La Quesera, a brutal attack by the Salvadoran Army which took the lives 600-800 innocent people, mostly women, children and elders.

I came to El Salvador as a volunteer with Art Corps, an organization that places artists in residence with Central American communities. Art Corps’ mission is to share art as a tool to engage participation and raise awareness of social and environmental issues. Using theater to restore historic memory affirms the dignity of personal experience, enables people to view their lives in new ways, demonstrates compassion and social nurturing, and draws people closer as they witness their common humanity. It is a model for building empathy and peace in a fractured world. For the survivors at Quesera, their families, and their supporters, popular theater opened a space for the community to remember together, to heal and commit to creating a world where this would never happen again. Read more here

This article will also go up next week on another site that is excellent for coverage of Latin American politics http://upsidedownworld.org

If you feel moved to support the project financially, there is great need
for they have a goal to tour the production nationally but no existing
funds.
Contact the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America and talk to
Sean: sean@fssca.net or (512) 388-7957

For those who are familiar with Salvadoran history, Rufina Amaya, the sole
survivor of the massacre of El Mozote just passsed away.

May this work serve to restore historic memory and dignity to all those
who have fallen. May it help to create a world where it never happens
again.

much love,
aryeh


I believe the world is beautiful
and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.
- Roque Dalton