The Mayor & Me

CHALATENANGO, EL SALVADOR - There I am posing with the mayor of Chalatenango, Dr. Jose Rigoberto Mejia Menjivar.

We were in town for a graduation ceremony of a women's cosmetology school. The Airline Ambassadors group we were travelling with presented new sewing machines to some of the women.


This beautiful small village offered us some fascinating views of everyday life in a far-flung area of El Salvador.



The graduation ceremony was extremely interesting, but good god was it HOT in there. It was the closest I came to having a heat stroke on the whole trip.

The ceremony began with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of El Salvador, then a tape recording of their national anthem.

I would later find out that many of the graduating women had made their outfits especially for the occasion themselves. You don't see people who make their own clothes much anymore in the U.S. We Americans mainly depend on Chinese adolescents to take care of that job, which is pretty much the case no matter where you shop.

What struck me about these women was their attitude. They were humble and gracious. After the free new sewing machines were handed out, one of the ladies stopped and spoke to us gringos sitting in the front row. Speaking to us in english, she said, "Thank You" to every damn one of us.

It was a beautiful little moment, but I felt sort of guilty. I don't know who in our group rounded up these free sewing machines, but Michele and I didn't. We had only brought kids' clothes to hand out on this trip. These wonderful people in El Salvador need so much more than just kids' clothes. I know that now, and I'll remember it when I come back.

We have so much money and resources in America, and one big lesson I took from this trip was how ridiculously easy it can be for us to answer someone else's prayers.