(Written by Rachel Dunlap) On June 20th, 2018, Sister Cities was invited to speak at a rally on family separation by our kind neighbors, NPR-12, after their guest speaker unexpectedly cancelled. Mario and I obliged. It was my first day in the office, and being notoriously bad at public speaking AND Spanish, I was nervous. […]
Hi, I’m Rachel. This summer, I have been presented with the great opportunity of volunteering with US-El Salvador Sister Cities. I am in El Salvador to improve my Spanish and am currently enrolled in the Zulma Tobar School for Students Who Can’t Speak Spanish Good. Language aside, I am interested in the importance of solidarity, […]
“What I learned in all of these places, from dozens of people we talked with, was when Salvadorans leave their communities and families on a perilous, uncertain journey to Mexico or the United States, they do so not just for the chance at a better life, but oftentimes to save their lives and the lives […]
The Madison-Arcatao Sister City Project (MASCP) and the delegates that visited El Salvador from June 4th to June 11th gave an interview about the reality they witnessed in our country on June 20, 2018 to WORT FM. Jonathan Solari (Planned Parenthood), Marc Rosenthal (MASCP), rep. Christine Taylor and Fabiola Hamdan (Immigration Affairs Specialist) discuss […]
(En español abajo) I am now ten days back from the recent Guajoyo-Austin delegation trip. And though back into a routine here, I find myself thinking often of the visit and the wonderful people of El Salvador. I am very thankful to Mario Guevara, of U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities and Lurvi of CRIPDES. The […]
(En español abajo) One of the participants in the last Austin delegation wrote the following: I was in El Salvador from June 29-July 5 with a four-person delegation representing the Austin Chapter of a grassroots organization called US El Salvador Sister Cities. We spent three days in San Salvador and three days in […]
Analyzing the link between social justice education and student activism, Doris Santoro publishes the following article, where she talks about, among others, Hannah Arendt’s theory in the following terms: Thinking is the antidote to banality, as it challenges the previously accepted and well-worn ideas of the past. The places where thinking is encouraged and fostered […]
(EN ESPAÑOL ABAJO) The Austin delegation visited the community of Guajoyo. Jennifer Long, Sheryl Sherman, Miriam Fiorentino and Robert Gibbons had the opportunity to accompany the water committee and see how water springs have or are drying out. They are relying on a secondary pipe to fill the tank that benefits approximately 3200 people […]
Yesterday there was a protest outside the building housing Senator Collins’ office, demanding she take action to stop inhuman “zero tolerance” immigration policies. Our very own Dennis Chenoy was one of the speakers and he had the following to say: Despite the Trump/Sessions immigration fiasco roller-coaster, careening from one form of human rights abuse […]
(En Español abajo) In 1988, Peggy McIntosh wrote the following: “My Schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will. My […]