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Community to Community:
Collaborating for Healthy, Peaceful and Just Societies
2007 DGH General Assembly
October 25 – 31, 2007
Centro Loyola, San Salvador, El Salvador
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Over 160 people came together at the DGH 12th Annual General Assembly in El Salvador to meet others working to advance health and human rights, to have fun and re-energize themselves to continue working for social justice around the world. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, we were able to bring over 90 people from DGH-accompanied communities in El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala, to come to the General Assembly to learn from each other and support one another.
All sessions were conducted in Spanish. We were fortunate to have Advisory Council member Susan Greenblatt procure a donation of interpretation equipment and organize a team of volunteers to perform simultaneous interpretation for all plenaries and breakout sessions during the conference. (See the GA agenda.)
The auditorium was always at full capacity and there were active question and answer interchanges. This was the first time that the diversity of those participating in DGH work represented in large numbers in one place to exchange ideas and share experiences.
Two evening cultural events were held. We admired theatrical skills of young adults from Santa Marta, expressing their views of trans-cultural influences through skits and dance. A group of children (below ten years of age) from Morazán delighted us with indigenous dances, complete with grinning faces and colorful costumes.
Before and after the Assembly, we made trips to each of two communities in El Salvador that DGH has accompanied for many years. In Santa Marta we saw the new Greenhouse, Health Clinic and Rehabilitation Center with its program Espacio Mujer, geared to support women and relieve their stress. We learned more about the university scholarship program, an important link in helping the youth stay in El Salvador rather than migrate north to the US, as so many feel forced to do now.
The trip to La Estancia also found us received with much enthusiasm and, of course, good food. Campesinos por el Desarrollo Humano (CDH), DGH's partner organization in the community, offered an extensive program with more cultural dances by children of the kinders, presentations by CDH members who explained the history and administration of their organization, educational programs and their current goals to meet community needs. We walked to see the new bridge that crosses the Torola River, built through funds from Spain, and constructed by community worker teams—the same as the first bridge DGH helped build in 1995.
After continuing the next day to El Mozote, a village where 1,000 inhabitants were massacred by the Salvadoran Army on December 11, 1981, and the Museum of the Revolution, it was possible to better understand the struggle that has taken place in El Salvador and other Latin American countries. We gained a better sense of why and how the struggle continues to this day, fueled by the human resilience that is pervasive in these marginalized communities. Indeed, we are privileged to be working side by side with them.
With almost 85% return rate, our evaluation forms had very positive comments, affirming how important this time together was and asking for future gatherings.
