A Blog is Born
Welcome to my second attempt at maintaining an online journal. There is a very specific motive guiding this particular attempt. I am going to El Salvador in six days. I will be working on an "internship" for two months in Berlin, El Salvador with a group known as the Pastoral Team. That is basically all I know so far. This blog was created as a method for me to quickly and easily keep my friends and family informed about my adventures and discoveries in El Salvador without sending obnoxious mass-emails... at least any more than the first.
Tomorrow I am meeting with Kathy (whose son will be working on the same "internship" with me) and who is very involved in working with the mission delegations to El Salvador. We are going over a few details... although I have a sense that there really aren't many more details to be discussed.
Here is a brief history of my involvement with this internship.
August 2001: I traveled to El Salvador as a member of a mission delegation from my church, Heartland Presbyterian (From Clive, Iowa). This delegation was special because it featured the first of the youth delegates including Jane Ferrell, Grant Brinkmeyer, and myself from Heartland and a young woman from Indianola, Iowa. We stayed in Berlin in the house where Paul and I will be staying this summer. Although, after four years I have heard that it has changed dramatically. This week-long experience planted a seed in my mind about doing international social justice work and learning Spanish so I could return and actually speak with my own voice to the people who made such an impact on my life.
September 11, 2001: WTC attack. I had seen what an impact the American government had had on the government and military in El Salvador and what horrible things the civil war had done to the country and especially its people. It was on this day that I realized how responsible we are as Americans for the changing of the world. In my opinion, many of the changes we have induced are not ideal--in fact, they suck. This realization brought with it a sense that those of us who are Americans but do not agree with some of our country's actions are responsible for changing perceptions of our nation by doing good in the world.
November 2001: I fell in love.... with Knox College. As soon as Knox and I met I knew it was the place for me and that it would allow me to pursue a path of education that would take me back to El Salvador; and alas it has.
June 2004: After four terms of Spanish classes and two years of Knox College Education behind me I began to make plans for this internship. I had been excitedly mentioning the possibility of this internship to my minister, Mark Davis, and to Bill Fischer who led my delegation years before. Both were supportive and excited for me to return. Mark and I discussed possibilities for what I might actually do in El Salvador before we proposed it to Reverend Bob Cook from the Des Moines Presbytery who lives and works in Berlin with the Pastoral Team.
September 2004: My mom, Barb, traveled with a delegation to Berlin. It was an amazing experience for her personally, and she helped organize some very preliminary arrangements for the internship with Rev. Bob Cook. Finally, I sent an email to Bob and to some members of Companeros, a local organization that is involved with mission work in El Salvador. (The two people whom I emailed at Companeros mentioned it to their sons, Paul and Brad, and now I have two internship buddies!) So, at this point Bob said "ok!" and I was off! I began looking into getting a Richter Grant from Knox in order to cover the expenses and to get some academic credit.
December 2004: Bob Cook was in the area on one of his frequent returns to the U.S. and met with Paul, Brad and I at the Mahler's to discuss logistics. We heard about our options of work to do (tutoring English in elementary or high schools, working in a clinic, or working with a Non-Government Organization--NGO-- doing preventative health care in the rural communities), as well as what we need to expect as far as expenses, rules, etc. We were all extremely excited by this point.
March-May 2005: I was approved for a Richter Grant with great help from Dean Stephen Bailey, I was advised on what I could do academically with the internship and experience by my advisory, Nancy Eberhardt and my independent study professor, Chad Broughton.
June 5, 2005 (Today): I am six days from departure, I have been approved for a Richter Grant, for an independent study for academic credit, and all I have to do now is get there (and pack and read and study my Spanish).
Tomorrow I am meeting with Kathy (whose son will be working on the same "internship" with me) and who is very involved in working with the mission delegations to El Salvador. We are going over a few details... although I have a sense that there really aren't many more details to be discussed.
Here is a brief history of my involvement with this internship.
August 2001: I traveled to El Salvador as a member of a mission delegation from my church, Heartland Presbyterian (From Clive, Iowa). This delegation was special because it featured the first of the youth delegates including Jane Ferrell, Grant Brinkmeyer, and myself from Heartland and a young woman from Indianola, Iowa. We stayed in Berlin in the house where Paul and I will be staying this summer. Although, after four years I have heard that it has changed dramatically. This week-long experience planted a seed in my mind about doing international social justice work and learning Spanish so I could return and actually speak with my own voice to the people who made such an impact on my life.
September 11, 2001: WTC attack. I had seen what an impact the American government had had on the government and military in El Salvador and what horrible things the civil war had done to the country and especially its people. It was on this day that I realized how responsible we are as Americans for the changing of the world. In my opinion, many of the changes we have induced are not ideal--in fact, they suck. This realization brought with it a sense that those of us who are Americans but do not agree with some of our country's actions are responsible for changing perceptions of our nation by doing good in the world.
November 2001: I fell in love.... with Knox College. As soon as Knox and I met I knew it was the place for me and that it would allow me to pursue a path of education that would take me back to El Salvador; and alas it has.
June 2004: After four terms of Spanish classes and two years of Knox College Education behind me I began to make plans for this internship. I had been excitedly mentioning the possibility of this internship to my minister, Mark Davis, and to Bill Fischer who led my delegation years before. Both were supportive and excited for me to return. Mark and I discussed possibilities for what I might actually do in El Salvador before we proposed it to Reverend Bob Cook from the Des Moines Presbytery who lives and works in Berlin with the Pastoral Team.
September 2004: My mom, Barb, traveled with a delegation to Berlin. It was an amazing experience for her personally, and she helped organize some very preliminary arrangements for the internship with Rev. Bob Cook. Finally, I sent an email to Bob and to some members of Companeros, a local organization that is involved with mission work in El Salvador. (The two people whom I emailed at Companeros mentioned it to their sons, Paul and Brad, and now I have two internship buddies!) So, at this point Bob said "ok!" and I was off! I began looking into getting a Richter Grant from Knox in order to cover the expenses and to get some academic credit.
December 2004: Bob Cook was in the area on one of his frequent returns to the U.S. and met with Paul, Brad and I at the Mahler's to discuss logistics. We heard about our options of work to do (tutoring English in elementary or high schools, working in a clinic, or working with a Non-Government Organization--NGO-- doing preventative health care in the rural communities), as well as what we need to expect as far as expenses, rules, etc. We were all extremely excited by this point.
March-May 2005: I was approved for a Richter Grant with great help from Dean Stephen Bailey, I was advised on what I could do academically with the internship and experience by my advisory, Nancy Eberhardt and my independent study professor, Chad Broughton.
June 5, 2005 (Today): I am six days from departure, I have been approved for a Richter Grant, for an independent study for academic credit, and all I have to do now is get there (and pack and read and study my Spanish).
posted by Ashley at 12:31 PM
5 Comments:
Have fun. I am more than certain it will be an amazing experience. Be safe as well and I look forward to the updates. Much love!
Welcome to the world of blogging . . . again! I hope you have an awesome time during your stay. I'm definitely looking forward to keeping up with your blog.
Oh Ashley, I'm totally going to make an Argentina blog! You rule! Thanks for the couch!
oooh ashley, my hero! You have put so much work into this and you are a perfect fit! Good job, and all I can do is hope that I will continue on in your footsteps :) I can't wait to see how the summer goes through the blog..keep laughin!
~Steph R
Um, yeah, just for clarification, I have NOT been to the women's prison here in Iowa. And my visit to the one in Berlin was very brief. But I was fascinated especially by Bob Cook's comment that he "Doesn't ask anymore" what the women are in prison for.
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