Our Central America travel seminar has landed!

BY JOEY HAYNES

After nearly eight hours of travel from both Richmond and Charlotte, our group of eight students and two faculty  — Drs Paul Galbreath and Christine Luckritz Marquis — have safely arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador (Richmond crew pictured above)! Our CEDEPCA (Protestant Center of Pastoral Studies of Central America) guides were patiently waiting for us to make it through customs and after a few minutes of hellos, we headed to our accommodations while staying in San Salvador. We were greeted with a very warm, Salvadoran hug from our host, Sonya, and a delicious tortilla soup lunch.

The Charlotte campus crew!

Following lunch, we had our first visit to CRISPAZ, a Christian organization which works toward justice and equality in El Salvador by partnering with communities around the country to empower and create sustainable ways of living. Started in 1984, CRISPAZ brought North Americans to El Salvador to be a witness to the atrocities happening during the civil war. Francisco Mena, the current director, spoke to us about the history and current issues facing the country. We were humbled to hear the personal narrative of Francisco and his father’s transformation along the way. Hearing this story, our minds and hearts were opened to the stark reality of many people living on the margins here.

We are praying that our lives and hearts will be touched during our time here through the people we encounter and the stories we hear. We pray that we will be able to bring these experiences back and that God be with our words as we articulate what we have heard and seen.

Joey Haynes is a Master of Divinity student at Union and the youth coordinator at Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC. He previously graduated from Queens University of Charlotte in 2011 where he studied International Studies.