Sports Save Lives

We received the news that Mauricio Funes, President of El Salvador, will begin a draft into the military for kids ages 16+ that are at risk of falling into gangs. He will begin this program looking for 5000 recruits in 25 counties that are most effected by gangs.

I’m concerned that we are falling back into the days when the army would stop buses and pull “strong looking boys” off the buses and send them off to the military barracks (“you are in the army now”)....without even contacting their families.

What set of criteria will they use? What constitutes a potential gang member? Someone with a tattoo or a piercing? A kid who is just hanging out on a corner?

When will this "solution" spread to places like Guarjila? How many of our kids will be taken away as they will be judged to be a potential public safety problem? (I’m sure a few of my hockey players could be judged by authorities to be a threat to society)

This news motivates me more to create the new Tamarindo Center where we will engage kids 24 hours a day if necessary. Sport can change a life!

As all this news comes in, our “kids” continue to prepare for a series of hockey exhibitions in San Salvador and a date with the Guatemalan National Inline hockey team. (Margaret Miller and the students at St. Francis have been so generous, helping us get new skates for our players).

What we do may seem small and insignificant, but sports are a powerful tool. I know that it can pull kids off the street at night. I know it can keep them away from a joint, a bottle, or a needle. I know it can motivate kids to aspire to greater things. I know it can make a kid that hates himself find self worth.

So when it’s night time in Guarjila and the authorities are in search of new recruits, let them follow our kids to the Tamarindo. Let them see what can be done. Let them know that kids at risk have an alternative to a military barracks, a penitentiary or the cemetery.

Please pray with me today for these kids in El Salvador (the one’s that look good, and the one’s with tattoos), and let’s pray for the resources to build a new Tamarindo Center. These kids need us.

With great thanks,

jg

Pray for Fr. Dean Brackley, SJ

Friends,

I just received a note about Fr. Dean Brackley, SJ, who was diagnosed
with cancer in his liver. Dean is a Jesuit priest at the UCA who came here in
1990 after the murder of the Jesuits at the University. What good thing can’t be said about him? What hasn’t he done?

He is theologian...writer....spiritual director....retreat
master...pastor...inspiration...public speaker...community
organizer....priest...friend. He is so many things to so many people.

He will be receiving treatment here in El Salvador and his doctor says he can be treated. I know that cancer isn’t a death sentence. I know that Dean will continue to
be a witness to life and to love, as he has done so year after year (in El
Salvador, the South Bronx, and other places).

I ask that our Tamarindo Community around the United States pray with
Dean....for holy indifference, as St. Ignatius would say, “... not
preferring health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to
humiliation, long life to a short one.” May he be given the grace to
continue his witness and to be given the strength to deal with
whatever special circumstances that may come his way.

With Confidence We ASK

Last night we reflected on the persistence of a woman. She had a sick daughter and went to Jesus and begged for his help. The companions of Jesus felt that this women was very annoying and they wanted to send her off. Despite the difficulty, she kept asking. Eventually, her cry was heard and her daughter was healed. It's a beautiful story about the persistance to keep asking.

Jaime said that he felt that the beauty of the story was that she wasn't asking for herself but for her daughter. It made me think of Fr. Dean Brackely who is struggling with cancer and writes to all of us to pray for the people of Somalia.

Then Luis brought up the story of our very own Dr. Carlos Alfaro (who is an orthopedic surgeon). When scholarships were made available to study abroad to study medicine, Carlos went everyday to the office where the scholarships were being administered. I don't think the secretary liked him (nor the scholarship committee); he couldn't even get in the door. But everyday he went; and everyday he was told, "NO". The first year went by and he was rejected. The second year he continued - this kid went everyday. He asked and asked. Finally, the director granted him the scholarship (he probably just wanted to get him out of the country at that point)! Because he persisted, today he is a doctor.

So what's the point here? Under this tin roof (our crumbling Tamarindo Shop), we have the confidence to ask for help... we need God and each other. We are not deterred by difficulty, failure, fear, trouble. We are like that woman who kept asking. We will keep asking... and keep working, keep loving, keep creating, keep giving.



.

Thoughts on Mediocrity

Yesterday at 5:30am, our hockey team loaded the truck with bags of equipment, sticks, goals and all other necessary "stuff" we need for our workouts. It's not easy moving a whole hockey team for a trip to the city, but it's something we do every week because we want to play and we want to get better. By 6:20am, with all our gear loaded, we filled up our bus with players and managers and we were on our way to San Salvador's National Sports Palace for practice.

When we arrived two hours later, we learned that we had been bumped from the facility for the HSBC International Table Tennis Tournament (meaning no practice for the national team yesterday). So we climbed back onto the bus and started to head back home when we were stopped by the police.

The cop wanted to know where we had gone (he saw us on the other side of the road on the way in earlier that morning) and wondered where we were headed with two hockey nets on a Saturday morning. After I explained the whole hockey-table tennis mix up, he began asking me questions: "So no practice today coach? No big deal for you right? They pay you the same if you practice or not?"

No practice....they pay the same. I was troubled by those questions he posed, and so began a morning reflection on living in the realm of the mediocre.

Obviously for that officer, what he does, or how he does it, really doesn't matter to him. Eight hours (or ten or twelve) of work are just that - hours to work, time to be filled. What seemed more important for that mediocre cop was his salary; not his performance. A good job or a bad job brings in the same result.

So the same goes for a mediocre athlete - having practice or not, training to get better, winning or losing, has little importance. Similarly, a grade of an A or a C is the same for the mediocre student. For mediocre governments or political systems - providing the basics is enough; with little room for the soul, for beauty, for creativity, for real human development. In other words, just do the minimum. Fill your quota. Do just what you have to do. Just get "it" done are the mottos of those who chose to be mediocre.

Here is the essential problem we face in Guarjila, in the rest of this country (and in many places around the world) - institutions and people who have no real investment in their jobs or how they do them. To them, a job is a job, a shift is something to "get through." The only question asked is, “What's in it for me?”

In the Tamarindo, one of our goals has to be to destroy this culture of mediocrity. Kids can't just show up here to fill their weekly obligations. A body in a seat just isn't enough. The Tamarindo isn't a "drop in center". It's a group of people, a community, committed to changing themselves, each other, their town, their country...and the world.

Here we have more than just a responsibility to show up. Here we are required to give of ourselves and commit to excellence. Here, "love is the measure," and success is equated by one's ability to be generous.

So we thank that cop for this week’s reflection point. Yes, it does matter if we practice or not. Yes, it does matter what we do and how we do it. And yes, being a Tamarindo means that we always strive to be more than just mediocre, but rather strive to give our BEST.

Peter Salazar's Reflection on the Tamarindos

Spending the last month in the constant company of the Tamarindos, I find myself thinking a lot about the true nature of what we in the States so loosely call an “organization”. Whenever I begin to tell anyone about my time spent there, I find that the only way to give them a satisfactory answer is to say that I was working (or even, I shudder to think, “interning”) at a community organization that provides opportunities for disadvantaged youth. And the people are generally happy with that explanation, and continue along their merry way with the thought that someone they know was helping the poor in a backwards, Central American country. And yet it greatly saddens me to do this, since it doesn’t even come close to being able to explain my stay. That month spent amongst you was much more than my giving my time as a teacher or organizer. The true value of those days, I have come to realize, lies in the time spent – though it was much too short – living in your midst, growing closer in friendship and understanding with people of a background radically different from my own.

As I reflect I’m forced to confront the reality, frustrating though it may be, that I didn’t complete any great or magnificent works during my month there. What work this gringo did is nothing compared to that which the conscientious individuals of Guarjila carry out in patience and solidarity every day. I realize, now, that it wasn’t my place to give and teach alone, but also to receive and learn, truly learn, what it is to live outside of myself. I hope that I may have planted a few seeds, but I am nonetheless humbled by the goodness of many in this town in the face of trials and adversity.

Before I left, I asked John a question that had been bouncing around in my head for a good part of the month, namely, why it is that he had never expanded the Tamarindo to other locations in an effort to spread its benefits elsewhere. To an extent, I think that I now understand why it hasn’t, and why the Tamarindo wasn’t a foundation from the start. More than anything else, my stay taught me what it is to live outside of myself, to be truly concerned and attentive to the needs of others before my own. This was a thing that I learned from observing the work that is done here. That’s why the label of a “community organization” just doesn’t seem appropriate. There is no faith here in the apparatus of an organization and its ability to attain funding or expand. The Tamarindo is the result of people loving and caring for people, and for that it is at the same time simpler and greater than any organization could ever become. John often spoke of the “revolution”, and only now do I think that I realize what it really means: the work of building the kingdom on earth cannot be left to a particular political or social ideology, but only to the simple and magnificent love of people for their brothers and sisters, in short, seeing the body of Christ in all of his people. This idea, not any organization, has the power to create a revolution in the world in which we live. I thank you for teaching me that, and I hope that I can aid you and your vision in the future.


Love,
Peter Salazar

Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit

Companions,

At last night’s weekly Friday night meeting, we discussed the difference between winning and losing (in life, studies, work, family and sport). And it all came down to giving up or pushing through.

It was just a few days ago when I watched three women quit during a soccer game. They just stopped playing. They were behind by a score of 3-1 with a half still to play and just walked off the field.

There was something really disturbing for me about watching that happen - as if it was just ok for them to give up - as if it was out of habit - things get tough, walk away.

What was it that made them give up so easily? Was it that same voice in the heads of many of our kids who frequently give up so easily? The ones who hear: “You can’t...” “Why try?” “You must be kidding, ...” “Loser.” “You’re from Guarjila, what can you do?”

I have seen it many times before. Things get started with good intentions but then are left behind out of laziness, fear, apathy, not enough support, or lack of self-confidence. Kids quit teams; community projects are started and then just left unfinished; dreams never take root... Life goes on from a street corner, but without the feeling of accomplishment or self-love, waiting for another day to end.

So we asked the question last night - What is the difference between winning and losing? The Tamarindos’ response was: preparation, discipline, love, sacrifice, attitude, hard work. This is what it takes to be a winner.

I once read somewhere that, “The difference between the winner and the loser is the winner’s willingness to do the things the loser refuses to do.” So we refuse to accept “losing” here in the Tamarindo. We reject others’ sympathy or any excuse to not try. We reject the labels given to us like poor, disadvantaged, third world, second rate....

We decide that we won’t make excuses. We stand up. We sweat. We work harder. We study harder. We play harder. We do all that we are capable of doing to win – in school, on the field, at home, as a Tamarindo.

Like Phil Pepe (a sports writer) found on a locker room wall, “Quitters never win and winners never quit;” we refuse to quit, although sometimes the clock will run out on us, and sometimes the score will be against us. Bien. We go on. And we come back for another day as winners.

Time to Build the Kingdom

Here it is cool and “fall” like. We have had a sudden weather changeand it has been a shock to the agriculture of the region. The rainjust ended….weeks before it was supposed to. People watch as theirbeans just dry out by both wind and October sun. Life of thefarmer…..life in Latin America (live today because disaster alwayslurks around the corner). Now the weather “experts” say we will be struck with the effects oftwo hurricanes colliding somewhere, which will bring twenty days ofrain and wind. All predict disaster is coming. It is such a fear thatthe school is doing final exams next week and will close for the yearbefore the rains begin. Does anyone have experience at arc building?Does anyone know how long “300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits” is? Today my co-worker Luis Lopez left at 4:30 am for his audience withthe US embassy (it seems all journeys from El Salvador begin in thedark). A trip to the embassy is reminiscent of a trip to see theWizard of Oz. When Luis is called he will enter a room with mirrorsfor walls. He will slide his VISA application, passport and TamarindoFoundation letter (signed by our very own chairmen of the board Mr.Bud Frutkin) into a hole in the wall as a voice (the Wizardhimself?)” will begin to ask him questions. Imagine this voice coming from out of the glass, serious andefficient with no wasted emotion (like a scene from a Stanley Kubrickfilm); “What is your motive for traveling to the United States of America?” “How much money do you have in the bank?” “Do you own property?” “Who is this Bud Frutkin guy…? “ The “Wizard” doesn’t miss a trick. We hope that it will go well and wecan send him north on the 25th of October. His journey to four USstates will have five goals (with an extra three for fun): 1) invite new people to become part of our Tamarindo Community(organize local events, find new interns for the summer of 2011,discover new support in every creative way possible)2) meet and energize all of you on your home turf3) inspire much needed financial support4) enjoy the experience of being with all of you5) say thank you from all of us (for all that you do)6) skate on ice7) see an NHL hockey game8) in California visit the house of John Fogherty (Credence Clearwater Revival) The Tamarindo Community goes well with much emphasis these days oncommunity life and reflection. The work of analysis, understandingand prayer is paramount to everything that we do. We just completed afabulous theatrical presentation “The Voice of God: Calling Us”.Special effects included a chain saw, a mini forest and a lovelyperformance by David Petete as God. The central theme was ourresponsibility in “God’s Revolution”……building the kingdom. Thequestion to our community was; What are YOU doing today to build the“New Society” (change the world) ?