Land struggle hurts volunteers in small Salvadoran village

By Michael Moeschler

The quiet village of Guarjila, El Salvador has recently become the focus of a land feud that will affect many members of the Santa Clara community.

Located in the northern region of El Salvador, Guarjila has welcomed Santa Clara students participating in immersion trips sponsored by the university. Students visiting the area work with a local youth group called the "Tamarindos." Founded by ex-Jesuit John Guiliano, a member of the community for the last 11 years, the Tamarindos take a vow to "treat people with respect, build community, not use drugs and alcohol, not commit violence and participate in community service."

Last weekend, the Tamarindos were forced out of their community center, called "the shop," by a wealthy El Salvadoran family who owned the land.

"The 'shop' is more than a bike shop to all of us who have had contact with it during our lives," wrote Sara Sahm, an American who has lived and worked with the Tamarindos for the last six months. "It was where the formation of the Tamarindos started and has become a home and safe haven for them to develop and grow in ways they never would have been given a chance otherwise."

The mud walls and concrete floor that created the foundation of the shop were all that remained after Guiliano and the Tamarindos were forced by court order to tear down the center.

According to Santa Clara alum and community member of the Tamarindos Joe Albers, Guiliano was visited by the landowners of the area where the shop was located and told he would be arrested for trespassing if the shop wasn't removed and the Tamarindos didn't leave the area in 48 hours.

"We took everything out, most of it went to John [Guiliano's] house and other stuff to our house," wrote Albers in an email. "After taking everything out we began dismantling the shop, taking it all down and removing all the wood, roof and everything. The shop was literally left in rubble and looked like we just had a big earthquake. Many tears were shed, but we know that we will move on."

The community of Tamarindos consists of men and women ranging in ages from 11 years old to mid 20's. Junior Bruce Martinez will lead a spring break immersion trip to the town of Guarjila this year. Now with the removal of the Tamarindos and the shop, Martinez is unsure of the future of the program.

"I don't know what we're going to do now, I don't know where we're going to be," said Martinez. "We'll stay with families, but all of our activities that we're going to do down there - all the speakers that come in and the dinners with the people from the village - that's all going to be gone because the place is leveled and the land is just sitting there flat."

Junior David Zwaska visited the Tamarindo community last year. "One of the greatest things that I gained from the trip was an appreciation for the Latin American culture," said Zwaska. "It's a culture that involves a very simple living and being happy with much less."

Zwaska recalled that the Tamarindos were a religious community dedicated to the prayer of St. Francis. "On one of the walls of the shop there was a mural painted with the prayer of St. Francis," he said. "Even though Tamarindos weren't required to be religious, they followed that prayer in their daily lives."

Junior Jake David also traveled to Guarjila last spring break to work with the community. He remembers how open and giving the Tamarindo children were. "They [the Tamarindos] really wanted you to learn about their past experiences," said David. "They're high school kids just like you'd find anywhere with the same problems and joys. The kids really embodied a community of support."

Doug Sweet, an English professor who helped bring computers, tape recorders and musical instruments to the Tamarindos, is fearful that without the "shop" the community will be lost.

"Destroying the Tamarindo's 'shop' or meeting place and evicting the group from the property also destroys both the sense and reality of community," said Sweet. "In a rural location such as Guarjila, having some focal point or place where kids can meet to talk, to learn, to share, to plan for a better future is essential. I can't help but think the entire community will be significantly worse off as a result of this unfortunate displacement."

The future of the Tamarindo youth group and its relationship with Santa Clara will depend on the establishment of a new community center in Guarjila. Currently, the group is thinking about moving into an old unused chicken farm before a permanent center is built. Guiliano met last week with a type of city council called the "directiva" to negotiate a nearby piece of land to build a center for the youth of Guarjila.

"John [Guiliano] and the Tamarindos have this dream of building a center that has classrooms, a computer room, a game room and a big indoor court with lights to play basketball or soccer," wrote Albers. "The center would be owned by the Tamarindos and administered by us [Guiliano and Albers]. We would organize nightly activities, tutoring time for kids, prayer nights and so much more."

Sahm echoed Albers' sentiments. "This has been a dream of the Tamarindos for the past three years, to have an activity center where sports, studies, dramas - all activities - can take place for the whole community," wrote Sahm. "This project is something we have to believe in because it will be a place that no one can later take away from the Tamarindos in the future."

Guiliano, Albers and Sahm all plan on making separate trips to universities and churches in the United States this April to raise money for the new center. Martinez is planning several fundraising dinners as well as a concert to bring awareness to the Santa Clara community.

Although their land may be gone, Albers is confident that the spirit of the Tamarindos is far from empty. "The Tamarindos are not a place but a community of people who share so much with each other that we will move on," wrote Albers. "We will move on and be stronger."