Children at Lidia Coggiola School in El Salvador pose with puppets donated by Loyola students.
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
connect with the lives of Salvadoran children now, and this little girl in particular? As a psychologist who has spent his professional life focusing on issues of abuse, violence, and trauma, I knew that young children are rarely as ready as this child was to seek comfort in the arms of a stranger unless they are victims of abuse and neglect at home or in some other way have been traumatized. The school’s director confirmed my suspicions. Her father is a gang member who abuses the little girl and her mother. Although more than four decades separated their births, Alfredo Prieto and this little girl did have something in common. I felt compelled to make some gesture toward healing what
seemed to me to be a cycle of abuse. At that moment, I felt I could make a small start by donating to the school the money I would be earning as an expert witness in the Prieto case. I learned that the school has a program to promote literacy among the children and their parents (about 60 percent of whom are illiterate), but that the school did not have a library. I decided to use the money to create a library in the school to support its literacy program. Although this individual act may be insignificant in the big picture, I feel that “re- turning” this money to El Salvador is a tiny step toward helping to fix what was ruptured decades ago. And it won’t stop there. With IPM’s assistance, I am exploring child protection resources in El Salvador to help the little girl I met and her family. I have also organized a group of Loyola students to work with IPM and myself to “adopt” the school in El Salvador and to help it grow and prosper. I returned to Zaragoza
in October to deliver puppets and books donated by Loyola students and to present a workshop for teachers on trauma, deprivation, and child development. The second step will be our efforts to raise mon- ey so that the school can restore its lunch program and afternoon classes that were suspended this year because of budget cuts. I can’t change Alfredo Prieto’s trajectory or the domestic and
political strife in which he was raised. But I can perhaps offer some of my resources to a struggling little girl in his native country and to other children like her. I consider this to be a great blessing.
HOW YOU CAN HELP • Loyola’s Children of Zaragoza Project has adopted the Lidia Coggiola School in Zaragoza, El Salvador. The preschool, kindergarten, and after-school program serve a very poor community that suffers from gang violence and has no running water. We have pledged to share our bounty this holiday season and are asking our friends and family to contribute so the children of Zaragoza can eat a healthy lunch and the school can remain open in the afternoon.
Donations can be made electronically at
www.ipmconnect.org.
Click on the red “donate” button, designate the contribution to “other,” and specify “Solidarity in Education.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80