We checked out of our hotel this morning around 10:30am and moved to Hotel Posada de Angel. Once we got settled into our rooms we started our historic tour for the day. We began at Palacio Municipal, which is the San Salvador City Hall, and had lunch shortly afterwards at Cafetería Tin. We were joined by the family we will be building for and a few Habitat officers (Yosabeth, Julio, Carolina, Ale, and Katy). The family is actually a young couple in their late twenties who want to move out of their current house made of plastic and live in a stable house of their own, but they don't have the funds at this point to do so. Their names are Habraham and Yancy Barahona, and they were joined by Hamraham's aunt and uncle, who wanted to help them begin this journey by building with them. Habraham and Yancy were accepted by Habitat because they have a strong desire to work for their house and really would like to get married and begin a family of their own. They've been together for ten years now but still haven't been able to move out and get married. They hope having a stable home will help them build their dreams. They've been very patient in waiting to become accepted. Normally the process takes two weeks before the construction of the house begins, but they have been waiting for four months. Finally, they have a group of volunteers to help them begin their build. Much like my build in the Philippines, we will be constructing the foundation of the home. We aren't sure what this entails yet, but my guess is that we will be doing similar tasks such as mixing concrete and digging holes. Habraham and Yancy said they are eternally grateful to have us here to help them and hope our experience is something special and memorable. Of course they said all this in Spanish since they don't speak any English, but we have me and a few other Spanish speakers and translators to let the rest of the group know.
The next excursion of the day was our visit to the Catedral Metropolitana, which is the principal church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. It is an incredibly cherished cathedral because it serves as a monument and worship place for the late bishop Óscar Romero. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture. In 1980 he was assassinated during a mass. At his funeral there were countless people attending to pay their respects, but there were also others who didn't believe in his teachings. Gunshots broke out in the crowd and bystanders went into a panick. It is said that at least 44 people died at the mass after the shots had been fired and a stampede broke out. Sometime after this tragedy, people finally found peace. The Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed that ended the civil war in 1992 and the cathedral hosted an enormous celebration. Today, the tomb of Romero can be found in the basement of the cathedral. It attracts many visitors, including past visits from Pope John Paul II and President Barack Obama. We had the honor of learning about seeing this fascinating piece of history in person.
Our next cathedral visit was to Iglesia el Rosario. When we got there it was closed, but we were able to receive entry after one of our Habitat officers told the security guard why we were in the country. The cathedral was first built in the eighteenth century but caught fire and was later rebuilt in 1962. Today it has one of the most recognizable architectural designs. It's decorated with concrete walls with arched windows inside the temple stained with rainbow-colored glass. The view inside is breathtaking, unlike anything I've ever seen in a church before. We were able to walk around to get a closer view of the windows, the altar, and the Stations of the Cross.
After the cathedrals, we visited the Monumento a la Memoria y la Verdad in Parque Cuscatlán. It's a monumental granite wall that signifies the importance of remembering those who died during the civil war. On the wall there are nearly 30,000 names engraved of those who were either assassinated during the war or disappeared and never found. An estimation of 75,000 people were actually killed during this time. The names engraved were those that were collected from family members and friends from 1992-2009 when the wall was finally constructed. While I was admiring the wall I came across a little girl who began talking to me. She had been essentially abandoned by her parents who were ignoring her and her siblings at the park. She was only four years old and she was so precious. Since she couldn't communicate with many others in the group because she didn't speak any English, she came to me and started talking to give herself some company. She told me she had been sitting by her tree all day playing with ants. Her parents were about 50 feet away and didn't even care to notice she had wandered off. I felt so bad when I had to leave, but I explained to her that I was with a group called Habitat for Humanity and was there to construct a house in her country for a deserving family in need. She understood for the most part, but she didn't want to have to say goodbye. Just talking to her for ten minutes had already made a huge impact on me, so I can't imagine how I'll feel when I grow my relationships with the family we're building for and other kids in the neighborhood. They always seem so willing to converse with you and want to play whenever they get the opportunity.
Our last stop of the day was at the Mercado de Artesanías, which was a local market where people would come to sell their art and other crafts, mostly handmade. We only had an hour to explore the different shops, but I bought a few things before we headed back to the hotel for the night. Once we arrived back we had a two hour orientation followed by dinner. We learned a lot about each other's interests and motives for choosing to participate in this Habitat build. Some people have been on builds before, but for many this is their first time. I'm excited to begin building with all of them because they are such an incredible group of people and are all talented in their own unique ways. I find it amazing how everyone has come together from across the United States to construct this home. We have volunteers from Wisconsin, New York, Kentucky, and Georgia who have all put in their time and dedication to come out here. I'm sure tomorrow will be a great experience; I'm looking forward to building, learning, and creating memories with all the new Habitat enthusiasts I have just met on this trip. I can't wait to begin!
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