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El Salvador

ACT Dateline El Salvador 0106: El Salvador community celebrates old harvest tradition with new sense of gratefulness

By Nuria Badilla Arroyo, ACT International

San Lucas, El Salvador, November 15, 2006--Many cultures around the world have a time set aside each year for communities or families to gather and give thanks for what they have. Some of these traditions are celebrations that occur around the time of the harvest. One community in El Salvador was especially thankful this year as members gathered to share in work and in a meal - to celebrate the harvest again, after their supply of food was cut off last year during Tropical Storm Stan.

On September 13, the community of San Lucas, located on the border of the Tazula River in El Salvador, celebrated "la atolada." La atolada is an ancient tradition of pre-Hispanic origin in which the community makes a cream soup from fresh corn (maize) to celebrate the beginning of the corn harvest.

On that morning, the members of the community, which is located in the municipality of Cuisnahuat, arrived early at the meeting place. They picked tender corn and proceeded to divide up the work. One person was in charge of grating the corn, another started the cooking fire, and others brought the other ingredients needed to prepare the soup and other corn dishes that would be served that day.

There were many reasons to celebrate that day in San Lucas. On October 2 last year, the Salvadoran government had declared a state of emergency. For two consecutive weeks, it rained hard, without letting up. Tropical Storm Stan was the third storm to hit the country during the year. In the storm's wake, 77 people had been killed, 71,461 people were forced from their homes and into temporary shelters, and crops had been totally destroyed. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the losses totaled US$355 million.

The biggest impact of Tropical Storm Stan was not on the country's gross domestic product (GDP), which dropped about 2.5 percent, but on campesinos (farmers) and those people in most need. According to ECLAC, in the agricultural sector alone, losses were approximately US$48.7 million, the biggest effect of which was felt among subsistence farmers. According to a 2004 United Nations Development Program report, approximately 43 percent of the population of El Salvador lives below the poverty line.

Much of the affected population lost their crops and, therefore, their means of support for the entire year. A large part of El Salvador's agricultural economy is based on subsistence farming; families reap enough from each harvest to meet their annual food needs. Typical Salvadoran farming families eat tortillas and beans for their three daily meals, and, if they are lucky, sometimes they also have a small piece of cheese or rice or an egg.

To assist families in re-establishing their food supply, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) El Salvador program distributed seeds for various crops as well as fertilizers to families in different parts of the country in May and June this year. LWF is a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, and its assistance to farmers was supported by ACT members around the world through ACT appeal LACE-52, issued in response to Tropical Storm Stan.

In addition to the farming supplies, farmers received technical advice, which made it possible to improve and share experiences about their crops.

After a few months, the first results of the farmers' new cultivations were seen. Throughout the year, tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, chili peppers, beans, and corn was harvested.

On the morning of their celebration, in addition to sharing the work, the San Lucas community "shared bread together," which for Salvadoran campesinos means corn. They divided the food that had been prepared among all the tables, and all who were present shared in the meal. No one lacked a bowl of cream corn soup, corn on the cob, or a "rigua," a sweet corn tortilla.

Although they enjoyed all the good food that day, their focus was to celebrate the harvest and the food they would have for the months to come. And despite the poverty, their harvest this year was better than what Tropical Storm Stan had left them.

Nuria Badilla Arroyo is head of communications for the Lutheran World Federation Central America program, a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.