{"id":17083,"date":"2016-12-12T13:32:38","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T19:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=17083"},"modified":"2016-12-12T13:32:38","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T19:32:38","slug":"a-story-of-war-and-survivial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2016\/12\/12\/a-story-of-war-and-survivial\/","title":{"rendered":"A Story of War and Survival – From El Salvador"},"content":{"rendered":"

Que triste, se oye la lluvia (How sad, the rain is heard)<\/span><\/i>
\nEn los techos de cart\u00f3n (On the cardboard roofs.)<\/span><\/i>
\nQue triste vive mi gente (How sadly my people live)<\/span><\/i>
\nEn las casas de cart\u00f3n. (In the cardboard houses.)<\/span><\/i>
\n~Refrain of the song \u201cCasas de Cart\u00f3n\u201d by Marco Antonio Solis, prohibited during the Salvadoran Civil War<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, November 29, Spanish IV students had the opportunity to hear firsthand from two survivors of the Salvadoran Civil War about their experiences, after studying this conflict and its social impact in depth through artwork, documentaries, and censored songs from the time period. In this Q & A session conducted completely in Spanish, students (and other members of the IMSA community, such as Dr. Torres<\/strong>) asked guest speakers Se\u00f1or Jos\u00e9 Alvarenga<\/strong> and Se\u00f1or Douglas Reyes<\/strong> questions about their childhood, the living conditions, the social impact of civil war, child soldiers, the terror inflicted by the army and government, and the loss of innocence and a normal life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Spanish IV teacher Se\u00f1ora Lily Barcelona<\/strong> explained the intent of this event: \u201cWhen studying civil wars, we have a tendency to categorize between two groups. Part of the purpose of this unit is to push students to contemplate what happens to those who are caught in the middle and the consequences of war for families and children.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This was echoed in the words of other students, who strongly felt the impact of this event. Sandra Dragan (\u201818)<\/strong>, a Spanish IV student, said, \u201cI don’t think I truly comprehended the degree to which [the people of El Salvador] suffered. After last night, however, talking in person to two people who survived the war made it all much more real to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Se\u00f1or Reyes\u2019 illustration of how life truly was during this time period painted the reality of a war-stricken country and the children caught in between: \u201cWhen I was 8 years old, I would be too scared to step in the streets for a fear of bombs from helicopters, army soldiers, ambulance sounds, and the bodies…It was a time period where innocents were massacred, when voices were oppressed or shot down with bullets, and basic human rights were violated, a time when I was just a kid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Years have passed and the government has changed, but the country is still at war with innocent people suffering to this day. As Se\u00f1or Alvarenga said, \u201cThe government passes, but the hunger stays.\u201d <\/span>(Original quote: \u201cEl gobierno pasa, el hambre queda.\u201d)<\/span><\/i> When asked about what we as students, we as a nation, can do to help the situation in El Salvador, both speakers asked us to spread our knowledge <\/span>(nuestra consciencia)<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the end, Se\u00f1or Alvarenga explained his vision of a harmonious society, brought together with knowledge and respect for each other: \u201cIt\u2019s the only way to prevent something like the war from happening again. I\u2019m amazed by the diversity of students here, people with origins from India to Russia, learning about <\/span>la guerra civil salvadore\u00f1a<\/span><\/i>. This is what gives me hope for a future\u2015<\/span>esperanza para el futuro<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Que triste, se oye la lluvia (How sad, the rain is heard) En los techos de cart\u00f3n (On the cardboard roofs.) Que triste vive mi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314,"featured_media":17085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1019],"tags":[2664,2663],"coauthors":[2601],"class_list":["post-17083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-imsanews","tag-spanish","tag-world-languages"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17083"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17156,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083\/revisions\/17156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17083"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}