For the majority of students at Saint Louis University, Spring Break signified a week of no commitments, a lack of supervision and an opportunity to escape the daily stresses of academic life. Upon returning to campus after a hiatus from normalcy, students were greeted by tanned, relaxed and refreshed classmates dressed in T-shirts and ball caps, all brought back as souvenirs displaying vacation destinations.
However, for a group of students involved with social-justice ministries, Spring Break was not a relaxing retreat, but a pilgrimage to El Salvador.
Lisa Reiter, associate director of Campus Ministry and adult supervisor for the nine students who traveled south said, “The purpose of this trip is solidarity, to understand the people, their culture, their language and their history.”
Reiter also explained that the itinerary of the trip included visits to locations where martyrs were killed and trips to their tombs. In order to fully understand the cause of their death, Reiter explains that it was crucial to understand the “political and social structure that led to their death. A lot of education needs to occur in order to go on this trip.”
Senior Michael McCarthy, an active member of Campus Ministry and participant in the voyage, saw the trip as a learning experience and rewarding.
McCarthy, who has actively participated in protests against the School of the Americas in the past four years, was thanked by a citizen of El Salvador for his demonstrations. After talking more with this individual, McCarthy learned that when the civil war in El Salvador began, this woman was the mother of five children. After the war she was the mother of two; she had lost three children in battle.
“It was gratifying to see that the issues we fight for on campus have an effect on another’s life,” McCarthy said. “There is another side to the issue.”
While in El Salvador, students traveled to visit the Casa de la Solidaridad Program and met with three SLU students currently studying there.
Aside from visiting fellow classmates, the nine travelers visited Arcetao, a little village on the Honduran border where they spent three nights and four days with native families.
Chris Schaeffer, a participant in the trip explains, “This was not a service trip in the traditional sense. However, our journey exemplified the Jesuit ideals we preach about.”
