Security, college, robots 'n' more

Hi everyone --

Life in El Salvador continues at the usual pace, though the security situation in the country has worsened from an already deplorable starting point. May was the bloodiest month here since the end of the civil war 23 years ago, registering 622 homicides. Previously, March of this year had held this title, with 482 killings. Analysts attribute the rise in the homicide rate to the gangs' response to the government's increasingly heavy-handed anti-gang tactics. The more aggressive the government, the more brutal the gangs.

My site remains as of yet untouched by the violence epidemic, and it's unclear why. There are numerous small, rural towns with similar characteristics (economic, social, geographic, etc.) that have been infiltrated by the gangs and are subject to their practices of extortion, aggressive recruitment of teenagers, and intimidation of the local population. No one can be sure if it's simply a matter of time until one or more gangs establishes a presence here, or if my community possesses some unique safeguard against this scenario. This uncertainty contributes to the widespread fear and distrust that partially characterize the national mood here.

Info session at the ITCA

As far as work goes, my proudest undertaking of the last month was a trip to the capital that I led for my high schoolers to tour a university campus. In a survey I distributed to them earlier this year, almost all indicated a desire to pursue tertiary education after graduating from secondary school. When I informally polled them on whether they had ever set foot on a university campus, I discovered that none had, so I resolved to give them this experience. My thinking was that an in-person visit to a university would enable the students to conceptualize the possibility of tertiary education in a more concrete way.

The university that received us–the Instituto Tecnológico Centroamericano (ITCA)–was wonderfully gracious, professional and informative. The ITCA employee who coordinated our visit pulled together the directors of various degree programs within the institution, including gastronomy and restaurant management, auto repair, and electric engineering, each of whom gave a presentation describing their specific area of study. The information session was followed by a tour of the institution's neatly-manicured campus and lunch in the campus cafeteria, which is run by pupils in the gastronomy and restaurant management program. Overall, the campus visit was eye-opening for most of the students, and I hope it will help some of them define their medium-term priorities and navigate the decision that awaits them as they near their high school graduations.

Students after our campus tour

Remaining on the topic of university education, an observation I make is that nearly every university student I meet in this country is studying something practical and immediately applicable to the labor market; engineering, marketing, business administration, medicine, education and English seem to be the most common choices. This contrasts heavily with my personal experience, coming from a liberal arts background where intellectual exploration and the cultivation of critical thinking skills are emphasized more than learning a specific body of information within an area that translates directly into particular jobs.

The contrast between my experience and what I perceive to be the Salvadoran experience makes perfect sense when taking into consideration the state of the Salvadoran economy and the incentive ecosystem that it creates around a prospective university student. In a country where formal-sector jobs are incredibly scarce, one would be foolish to study political science and human rights as I did, if those degree programs even existed (which they don't). This is not to say that the small number of Salvadorans with degrees in such disciplines as anthropology and literature are necessarily doomed to a life of unemployment, but it is to say that to obtain a degree in a liberal arts field represents a significantly higher risk in El Salvador than it does in the United States. The freedom I had to pursue a liberal arts education with the confidence that it wouldn't prove financially ruinous was a luxury of having been born into middle class circumstances in a rich country with an incredibly complex and dynamic economy.

Who needs PCVs when kids can
learn from robots?

To shift gears and briefly summarize a couple of my other activities, I'll say that another recent highlight was Skyping into two high school Spanish classes in suburban Los Angeles to tell the students about Peace Corps and El Salvador (part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer is sharing about Peace Corps and your country of service with other Americans). This was a wonderful experience and I was impressed by the complexity and thoughtfulness of the students' questions. Also, the gourmet café project has really gotten off the ground and my counterparts and I are hoping to open up shop before I finish Peace Corps in September. Furthermore, with a USAID grant I acquired some robotics equipment to support a technology education program at the school in my site. This is a fun, interactive program that I was happy to support. Lastly, I have begun advising a woman who just opened a small food store on sales and marketing strategy, as well as internal management. I'll elaborate on this project in my next post once I have a better sense of where it is headed; we're currently facing some roadblocks involving her health that could stop the store project in its tracks. Lastly, a week ago my site received two new Peace Corps Volunteers who belong to the Youth Development project within Peace Corps El Salvador. Back in September, I initially recommended to Peace Corps that it send a Youth Development Volunteer to my community and later got my community to execute the process of applying for a volunteer, and it is great to have not one but two finally here and eager to serve the community.

In my spare time, I am continuing to lay the groundwork for my post-Peace Corps relocation to the Twin Cities by networking via phone and internet, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

I'll conclude with this picture of cows crossing the river in my site. Interpret it as you please.