Your Encounter & Theme

Every Encounter organizer and participant wants to know what they will be seeing and doing while in El Salvador. This section is designed to help you understand how CRISPAZ sets up your itinerary and to give you the information you need to fill out the interest sheets and communicate to our staff your wishes and interests for the trip.

All CRISPAZ El Salvador Encounters include visits to martyr sites, grassroots organizations, a rural community, as well as speakers on history, politics, economics, and more importantly current issues as well as a time for shopping for fair trade crafts and cultural activities. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will incorporate these activities into your schedule with your input on special interests and requests. This will form the core of your itinerary. If your group or individuals in the group have requests for speakers or have a particular interest in one of the areas of your core itinerary, please let us know and we will happily do what we can to schedule with those interests in mind.

We give special emphasis in all of our Encounters to the voice and experience of the poor and marginalized of El Salvador. Taking our inspiration from Monsignor Romero, we want to give voice to the voiceless. We encourage you to address with your group your level of interest in meeting with people who also represent more powerful groups and other sectors of society. It is our desire to provide for your group the opportunity to learn from various political, social, economic and religious sectors according to the interests of the participants. But, because your time in El Salvador is limited it isn’t possible to hear a variety of perspectives or see a variety of approaches to every topic you learn about. Your interest surveys will help us understand your priorities.

In order to understand the priorities of the group, we ask you to choose a theme on which to focus your Encounter. This will allow you to deepen your understanding of a particular area of interest and see more than one group or organization who is addressing the issue. Some of the basic itinerary activities can be planned in such a way as to tie into your theme as well if you want to further deepen your understanding of a topic.

If not, the basic itinerary activities listed above will be your general overview and your theme will allow you to deepen understanding on that topic. As the organizer, you can either set the Encounter theme, looking for participants who are interested in that topic or, once you have a group together, reach consensus on the interests of the group and focus theme. Either way, we ask that you communicate to CRISPAZ what you would like the theme to be at the same time that you send in your deposit to reserve your dates. CRISPAZ will send you a reservation form in the initial inquiry packet. Please send this form with your deposit payment.

YOUTH :

CURRENT STRUGGLES, FUTURE HOPES

Participants would have the opportunity to interact with Salvadoran youth in several settings which may include youth centers, programs or cooperatives, parish youth groups, and public schools. The group would also have the chance to interact with youth living in at-risk communities, homes for street children, women’s organizations, environmental projects, human rights groups, and universities.

CHURCH OF THE POOR :

MEMORY OF THE MARTYRS

While all Encounters are designed to build solidarity with the marginalized of El Salvador, this theme focuses on a deeper understanding of the churches and communities that have adopted the preferential option for the poor and the inspiration of the martyrs.

ABOUT:

CRISPAZ is a faith-based organization dedicated to building bridges of solidarity between the Church of the Poor and marginalized communities in El Salvador and communities in the US, Canada, Australia, and other countries through mutual accompaniment.

CRISPAZ is a 501(c)(3) © 2013 Copyright © 2019 CRISPAZ – All Rights Reserved