Teosinte

History of WEPI
Historia de WEPI

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE COMMUNITY OF
TEOSINTE, EL SALVADOR

Teosinte is a remote village of 250 people in the northern mountains of the Department of Chalatenango, El Salvador. It was completely destroyed in 1981, during the war, by the Salvadoran Air Force. The few survivors fled, and the village lay abandoned in ruins until August 17, 1988. On that day, a group of 300 Salvadoran refugees courageously returned from exile in Honduras to reconstruct the village. They had fled El Salvador in the early 1980s after half their family members had been killed by the Salvadoran Armed Forces and its death squads.

Arriving in the midst of war, they returned with just a change of clothing, and a few sticks of furniture to a village in ruins, which had neither housing, potable water, sanitation system, electricity, telephone service, nor even a passable road. Teosinte lies six miles and four rivers (with no bridges at that time) from the last town to which there is a road.

The people organized into teams to achieve the tremendous work of reconstruction. By the end of the first year, they had: planted and harvested their first crops, everyone in a relatively solid reconstructed adobe or mud house, potable water flowing into four locations in town, started a health clinic, hand-repaired the six-mile road by hand with pickaxes and shovels, and started a school, despite the fact that the highest-educated adult had only a fifth grade education!

I, Sylvia, had the privilege of living and working with the people of Teosinte during their first year of reconstruction. I arrived in October 1988, two months after the people had arrived, and stayed until November of 1989. It was the richest experience of my entire life, and the people taught me a multitude of things, among them, hope for the world and that anything, even one's wildest dream, can be achieved through community and political organization and hard work. I joined two other internationals, Alice Linsmeier of Wisconsin and Terenzio Cavaliere of Milan, Italy. We came to do general accompaniment, as the people returned to a war zone, with all their names still on death squad lists to be assassinated. The people organized international accompaniment as a protective measure, with the thought that international witnesses might deter capture, torture, imprisonment and assassination. It did not matter whether or not we had any particular skills, because our main job was to make sure the invading Salvadoran Armed Forces knew we were there and watching their every move. In my case, I also did medical care and teaching of health promoters in the village. Alice worked with the team that started the school and with the pastoral team. Terenzio worked with the town council, the school and helped with infrastructure projects, such as potable water.

I had to return to the U.S. at the end of 1989, as the money I had saved had run out and my family had an urgent problem and needed me to return. I did not want to leave this community of profound teachers, but since I had to, I decided that I would always work with the community on projects they wanted me to work on. Upon return, I was joined in this work by my long-time friend, JoAnne LaFleur. One thing led to another and we founded Women's Empowerment Partnership, with the help of Ken Goyer and David Atkin (David is a nonprofit attorney and wrote our 50l.c.3 application). And, we were fortunate to have Betsy and Susan join us as well. I am forever indebted to Betsy for having made my experience possible in Teosinte. Betsy and her former husband were directors of CRISPAZ (Christians for Peace in El Salvador), an organization that placed volunteers in communities in El Salvador. I went as a CRISPAZ volunteer.

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	History of WEPI Historia de WEPI		Letter from Sylvia
	The Scholarship Program La Programa de Becas		Elderly Assistance
	The Stove Project La Programa de Estufas		Health Support Team