Mon 5 Dec 2011
Jim Winship on the Youth of El Salvador
Posted by Bert Kreitlow under Seminar Guest , Uncategorized[19] Comments
The small country of El Salvador has played a big role in the life of Professor Jim Winship from the UW-Whitewater Department of Social Work. As a young man fresh out of college, Dr. Winship dwelled in El Salvador as a Peace Corps volunteer. He continues to return regularly, currently researching the youth of El Salvador, looking at the drawings they produce, the dreams they hold, and the effects of immigration. One recent product of this research, funded in part by a Fulbright grant, is a documentary entitled “Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador.”
Professor Winship is also involved in a new web 2.0 format called digital storytelling. Here are some examples of that genre, including the second story called “From Arnoldo,” which is a reflection on salvadorans and his time in the Peace Corps.
The legacies of the civil war in El Salvador from the late 1970s to the early 1990s are still visible to Professor Winship in the work that he is carrying out. Those times of trouble were also one of the few times when U.S. citizens paid attention to the country, one of the smallest in the Western Hemisphere. There are still resources available about the country and the period of war, such as this Web page by the Public Broadcasting System.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Today we heard from Professor Jim Winship about adolescents coming of age in El Salvador. He spent two years working with the Peace Corp in El Salvador where he lived with a host family and experienced firsthand living with less privacy, without running water and by washing his clothes in the river. He left El Salvador before the Civil War broke out in 1978, lasting through 1992. He was able to return under the Fulbright Program and teach social work in the capital city, perform additional research and create a documentary. In 2005 he worked on another documentary entitled Difficult Dreams that focused on coming of age in El Salvador. It outlined several causes of the nation’s poverty such as: natural disasters (two major earthquakes, a volcano eruption and hurricane Mitch), the civil war, structural inequality, drop in coffee prices, high unemployment rate and gang violence. In the documentary he addressed how the youth today are thought of as the lost generation because they are not contributing to society, and how there needs to be a switch to fostering a generation of hope. Many young Salvadorians have dreams of becoming artists, architects, teachers and scientists, but often don’t have the money or resources to pursue those goals. However, many also turn to gangs because they feel discriminated against by their families and desperately seek validation, support and attention. There are many challenges facing the youth of El Salvador today. There are not enough schools, many parents force their kids to work instead of attending school, and many areas don’t have classes higher than third grade so there is no opportunity to further their education. Education is important because it is able to change views and mindsets while teaching values.
He also discussed how the demands of consumerism lead to the disintegration of families. Many parents are forced to work several jobs to make ends meet and thus don’t have time to spend with their kids. Migration to the United States in search of the American Dream pulls parents away from their kids, so many grow up without knowing their parents and having a positive influence in their lives. Youth unemployment is approximately seventy percent higher than the national average; so many 15-17 year olds plan to go to the United States in search of the American Dream. Since they are often unable to find work in El Salvador, even after completing high school and a college degree, they end up joining gangs or working minimum wage jobs in the United States. Pathways to the future include a need for newer and better technology to create jobs, organizations that provide training and re-integration into society so individuals can start their own businesses and find jobs, programs that promote youth talents and send them abroad to strengthen their education and return with more skills, strengthened teaching conditions by increasing teacher salaries and creating better facilities.
He also discussed the problem of gangs in El Salvador. They started as a result of unintended consequences, where many came to the United States as refugees, formed gangs to protect themselves from other gangs in their communities, were deported back to El Salvador for violence and continued to engage in gang activity because they didn’t know any other way. Governments have tried increasing force and promoting prevention strategies, but the situation continues to worsen with gang activity erupting all over the country at any time. As we discussed in class while discussing poverty in Latin America, the majority of gang violence occurs in areas with a lower socioeconomic status. In those areas, the lack of attention, support and resources provided by the family often leads to youth searching for those necessities in alternative places like gangs and drug abuse. After hearing from professor Winship, I am curious to know if adolescents coming of age in other countries of the world face similar hardships and how those areas compare in terms of severity.
December 5th, 2011 at 11:41 pm
In our class we have been discussing many aspects of Latin America, but especially prevalent this semester is the topic of immigration. Sonia Nazario analyzed the effects on women and children migrating away from their native countries. Jazmin Castellanos spoke of what assimilating to life in Whitewater, WI has been like for her, her family, and many immigrants around her. But Professor James Winship brings a new angle of study into our classroom. He studies the natives of El Salvador who decide not to leave, and the education, career, and social prospects to which they are exposed. His interest in El Salvador was sparked on a two-year Peace Corps Volunteer mission beginning in 1970. There he worked and lived, and grew to love the humble home he shared with multiple adults, children, and animals. After returning to the US, he did not venture back to El Salvador until 28 years later in when he was hired for a teaching position involving social work. This being his area of expertise, he enjoyed it greatly. Professor Winship began researching independently and created his first documentary. He returned regularly for several weeks out of the year, and in 2005 decided to rededicate himself to another documentary. This time Winship brought his son, and videography was his specialty. Together they conducted over 40 hours of interviews, and once this was completed, they poured over their material, allowing the story to begin to take shape. This documentary “Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador” gives a voice to the youth of El Salvador. It explains how, for years, adults have criticized the youth of being lazy and violent, and also brings to light the fact that the majority of these young adults are never given a chance to be anything else. Each official and adult leader expresses the same concern: their parents do not give them enough love and attention because of their laborious and time-consuming jobs, and they are not presented with many (if any) opportunities to succeed at a professional career. These two issues have been a main catalyst in the steadily rising gang activity. If children do not receive enough love and attention from their parents, they look for it elsewhere, and they find acceptance and belonging in the ranks of gang membership. This has lead to violence beyond belief, and some believe it is even worse than the violence of the civil war decade. Professor Winship’s desire to understand and help the youth of El Salvador is very admirable, and restores much hope in the goodness of humankind. I could see from the way he so passionately spoke about this issue that it has been close to his heart for many years, and that he will continue to pursue the expansion of opportunities for Salvadorian youth for the rest of his life.
One question I have for Professor Winship is: What was the standard of living like for Salvadorians compared to people living in other Latin American countries?
December 6th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Dr. Winship spoke to us about his experience and current research in the small Latin American country of El Salvador. His first experience was as a Peace Corps worker living there for two years. For him, it was a very intense experience. For this reason and others such as the civil war that lasted from 1978-1992, starting a family, having a job, etc., kept him from returning. Over thirty years later, he finally returned in 2005 on a Fulbright Scholarship to stay for 6 months teaching Social Work in the capital city of San Salvador. He is primarily interested in youth in El Salvador and the challenges they face. Dr. Winship along with the help of his son and others, made a documentary called Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador to illustrate these challenges. The documentary showed us that the youth of El Salvador have dreams much like our own. They want to go to school and have a career, get a good job so they can have a decent life. Dr. Winship mentioned the terrible income inequality in this country. Therefore one very difficult challenge is money. Most don’t have enough to continue their education past the sixth grade or they have to quit school and find a job to help support their family. Sometimes they carry the weight of supporting the entire household with the little money they earn. A man named Jesús Reyes Flores said he never really went to school. He had to stay home and work in the fields to help support his family. Another challenge is the lack of attention of parents. Typically, the father of a family will leave to go to work in the US and the mother and children stay behind. The mothers can sometimes have 2 jobs, so they have little time to spend with their kids. When the father sends for his kids to come to the US the same situation Enrique went through with his mom is repeated in these situations. The father has been gone for years and when the children reunite with him they question his decisions and ask why he left. The idyllic scene of the happy family is far from reality. Since these kids don’t get affection and attention from their parents they will turn to gangs for that love and attention. Gangs are a huge issue in El Salvador. Rosario del Tránsito left her family for a gang. She felt her family was holding her back and didn’t pay enough attention to her. Typically the leaders of the gangs are deported Salvadorans from the US. They are dangerous gangs and El Salvador has one of highest murder rates with 100 deaths per 10,000 people. So, these youth are left with few options in life. Their futures are full of uncertainty. The “American Dream” is seen as the only opportunity for some young people or staying and working with their families. Questions: How is the government addressing their social issues? How strong/effective is their political system in being able to execute social reform?
December 7th, 2011 at 12:26 am
Professor Jim Winship has dedicated a large part of his life to the country El Salvador. El Salvador is the smallest landlocked country in Latin America, but nearly 25% of the population has migrated to the U.S. Jim Winship’s interest in El Salvador began when he joined the Peace Corps after graduating from college in the sixties. From here, Dr. Winship did social work throughout El Salvador, but left in 1972 due to civil war conflicts.
As a result of the Full Bright Program, Dr. Winship was able to go back in 2005 five to continue his social work. He also began researching and co-teaching throughout Salvador. He produced documentaries about his own research and about the troubled youth. It was a great opportunity to visually see the culture and understand El Salvadorians through Dr. Winships work. It was easy to see that Dr. Winship possesses a passion for the work that he does.
Most of the focus of Dr. Winships presentation came through his documentary “Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador.” The message of the video was seen through a number of personal interviews with young adults pursuing their own dream. It seemed that no matter how much they studied, poverty would always be an obstacle for most young Salvadorians. There were also a couple of reactions from successful Salvadorians, who were contemplating the reasons and solutions for poverty. Gang affiliation is also a concern for people in El Salvador. Kids and even adults face pressure to join Gangs. Dr. Winship touched on the issue that the youth doesn’t receive enough attention from their parents, and therefore, look to gangs in return. As a result of gangs, El Salvador has the second highest murder rate in Latin America.
In contrast to Enrique and his journey to America, El Savador’s teenagers make the immigration to America solely to support their families, not for reunification with a loved one. The youth in El Salvador tends to give up on pursuing education because they feel like they can live the “American Dream”. They are confident they can make it there.
Dr. Winship’s presentation successfully enlightened our class to the world of El Salvador. Again, it was a great opportunity to learn from someone who is so credible on his topic. I do have a couple of questions: How difficult was the adaptation to a completely different lifestyle in El Salvador? You explained how you still become nervous walking at night due to living in El Salvador. Did you encounter any confrontations or muggings throughout your time in El Salvador?
December 7th, 2011 at 1:02 am
Jim Winship came into our class on Monday, December 5th and talked about El Salvador. He told us how he lived in El Salvador from 1970-1972 when he worked for the peace core and he said he went back to El Salvador in 2005. Now he goes to El Salvador 2-3 weeks every year. He estimated that 1 million Salvadorans live in the U.S. and only 6 million people live in El Salvador. After he gave an introduction he showed us a documentary that he and his son had made on one of their more recent visits. In the documentary they showed interviews they had with a lot of people in El Salvador and they also gave some facts. In the documentary they also talked about some of the problems people in El Salvador face. One of the problems that Salvadoran families face is keeping their families together because of migration to the U.S. and the parents or other family members working two jobs to make ends meet. Another issue people in El Salvador have to deal with is the high rate of unemployment. Although the number of college students doubled from 1992-2000, jobs are still hard to come by even for people with college degrees. A lot of kids don’t continue their education because they plan on going to the U.S. and the ones who get degrees and go to the U.S. end up doing low end jobs. Another problem in El Salvador is gangs, because of the low unemployment rate kids get bored and join gangs to take up their time. A question that came to me during his presentation was “What was the most important thing that he has learned or realized during his time in El Salvador?”. This presentation relates t o our current events that had to do with gangs in Latin America.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:14 am
During the same time golf balls were first being hit on the moon, Jim Winship was in the peace core. Jim told us that he first went to El Salvador when he was right out of his undergraduate studies. He would help out in the slums, by teaching social work to underprivileged people. The point of his visit was to talk about dreams and how they affect people the same, but the means of being able to accomplish that dream, highly varies. Many of the children in El Salvador have dreams of becoming a successful business men, scientists, writers, etc, but most will never be able to afford these studies.
During his first visit, Jim stayed for about two years until 1972, and then never returned until 2002. He says the reasons he did not return for such a long period of time were the fact that it was an intense experience, and there was a civil war in the country. He said there are about one million Salvadorians in Los Angeles. Many of these people send money back to their families in El Salvador, which accounts for 15% of the total GDP of the country. Since 1992, there has been a rise in the education given, but living conditions are still very hard. For economic reason many children are not even able to get an education and must get a job to support their family. Jim’s main point was that many of these children’s talents just get wasted, because they cannot afford the utilities and costs of furthering their education. I believe Jim was trying to tell us, do not take your education for granted and never give up on your goals.
One question that occurred to me during the presentation was; who would hire these young children of 6 or 7 years old? The presentation related to in class material, because it dealt with poverty and affection. We have been talking about how poverty is a major problem for many Latin American countries. We have also been talking about how affection from a parent truly affects children in Latin America. This was an informative presentation and I liked the video.
December 7th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Dr. James Winship teaches social work here at Whitewater. He joined the Peace Corps after graduated from college and went to El Salvador for two years. He left in 1972 and didn’t go back for 30 years. He said 25% of the population of El Salvador has immigrated to the United States. People from El Salvador are the third largest group in the United States. He made a short film called “Learning from Arnoldo” about his experiences and what he learned from the two years he spent in El Salvador. He went back in 2005 for six months to continue to help with social work. This is when he started working on his documentary film. He spent over 40 hours of interviewing young adults about their future goals. Everyone that he interviewed had said that it didn’t really matter how motivated you are on getting an education it all matters on if you have enough money. He had mentioned how gang violence gets in the way of the young adults from getting an education. Winship had mentioned that in some areas no one even leaves their homes because it is too dangerous to be outside. The gangs are getting worse and this has resulted in El Salvador being the second highest murder rate in Latin America. His presentation brought to light many things that we hadn’t learned about El Salvador.
In Enrique’s Journey we saw how it was difficult for families to pay for school. They had to have at least one family member in the United States just to be able to pay for their kids to graduate from school. Also, it had mentioned how gang influence had a large effect on the children. The one thing that I would have to ask him is what is the best way to decrease gang violence in El Salvador.
December 7th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Dr. Jim Winship came into our class to talk about his travels and studies while in El Salvador. He was in the Peace Corps for 2 years, living with a family in the slums of El Salvador. He remembers specifically Arnaldo’s curiosity on the man on the moon, leading him to enter the military. Dr. Winship didn’t return to El Salvador for about 30 years due to the civil war and that he had an intense experience there. When he did return, he taught classes. His son came with the family and used his knowledge in film in order to help Dr. Winship conduct a series of interviews leading to the making of a documentary. The first young man who was interviewed caught my attention right away. He mentioned that he loved to paint; however, he would also paint to make a living. When we discussed in class how Latin American artists may create art just to sell and appeal to the public, I believe this 19 year old boy proved this theory wrong. He wanted to paint for a living but also for himself. Also, the principal mentioned that many young people are looking for love and affection, help and guidance but do not find it at home. This leads sometimes to the involvement in gangs. But I also wonder if some do not find what they are looking for at home because a family member has immigrated to the United States? The documentary did mention that men were more likely to follow the American dream in El Salvador, which doesn’t correlate with what Sonia Nazario said (51% are women and children). But I wonder if Dr. Winship would agree that if there was more money for kids to continue their education past the 6th grade, would this better the community and eventually the country?
December 8th, 2011 at 10:33 am
Our class had the opportunity to learn more about El Salvador through James Winship a professor here at Whitewater. His interest in the country began over thirty years ago while he was in the peace corp. Although he had interests to go back it took him over thirty years to return, partially due to a civil war in El Salvador. El Salvador is poverty stricken due to the civil war and other larger natural disasters including: volcano eruptions, two large earthquakes, and Hurricane Mitch. For these reasons the country has been in despair, providing minimal jobs and an increasing cycle of crime.
Mr. Winship brought light from the for mentioned tragedies of why El Salvador immigration rates are one of the top three from all countries in Central America. The numbers of immigrants that come into the United States take third to Mexico and Puerto Rico. The cycle that Mr. Winship focused was between family, education, and jobs, but inevitably the poverty.
Due to the poverty many parents in El Salvador work two jobs or have immigrated to the United States to provide money for their families. The youth is impacted by the lack of attention and affection from their parents as they get older. Children look to different outlets for guidance and in many situations only have gangs to turn to. Rosario was a 15-year-old girl who joined a gang because she felt discriminated by her own family. From the children’s actions much of youth is considered to be delinquent by adults and not credited. However it is due to this lack of faith and opportunity that lead the children to drastic actions. When children are provided with opportunities poverty prohibits them from taking advantage. Watching Mr. Winships documentary showed the youths hope and aspiration for education but it appeared in every situation the children were aware of the difficulties due to their impoverished states. Many examples were like Alejandro Castillo a young man with an interest in science who dreams to become a pharmacist. However, Alejandro’s father is sick and he needs to work to provide money for the family to live. Many of the children are aware of the lack of jobs and dream of immigrating to the United States even if it means sacrificing the education they have received to work in jobs that they are over qualified for. The national average for unemployment in El Salvador is a devastating 70%. The immigration of the overqualified youth however also removes support for the country and its needs to move away from poverty.
Mr. Winships presentation again provided us with more in depth information of our studies in class. Immigration has been a recurring discussion in class. As mentioned in class people immigrating from Central American countries is largely due to the poverty and lack of jobs. The complexities of these problems are intertwined into different issues that not only include immigration, poverty, and unemployment rates, but also involve the history, government, and education systems.
December 9th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
This presentation focused on El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, and what work Jim Winship has done with the tiny country. Jim entered the Peace Corps upon graduating from college and went to El Salvador, a country in which he said he didn’t even know where it was at first. After 2 years in the Peace Corps he left El Salvador and didn’t return for over 30 years due to a Civil War and his family being in the United States. He brought his wife and son along with him in 2005 where he made a documentary with the help of his son. The video showed interviews with Eliseo (a 10th grader whose family is poor and makes it difficult for him to attend school and to someday become an architect), Maria (a 13 year old who wants to become a teacher with the help of her parents supporting her education), and other people who have dreams of becoming someone special and important in El Salvador but struggle with poverty and gangs in their country. The topic of poverty has been talked about in our class throughout the semester (as has gang violence) and it’s a major roadblock to the youth in El Salvador that want to continue their education in order to avoid falling into gangs. Jim said that gang violence has actually gotten worse as of late, as a pattern of Salvadorians in the U.S. being in gangs getting deported back to El Salvador and continuing their “gang ways” is showing no signs of decline. In regards to the economy of El Salvador, coffee use to a huge form of income for the country (still big and important) but drops in coffee prices have hurt the country. Another interesting fact about their economy is that 15% of their GDP comes from Salvadorians in the United States sending money back to their families, which is extremely similar to what we read in “Enrique’s Journey” where Nazario said that around 20-25% of Honduras GDP came from money being sent to Honduras from the United States. After listening to Jim’s presentation and adding it to the large pool of information learned this semester, I’ve drawn a pretty simple but clear view of the countries in Latin America: the issues of immigration, poverty, violence are everywhere and that life in the United States really is a lot better for Latin Americans (as long as they’re with most of their family members). It’s so alarming everything going on in Latin America the more and more I learn about these countries and the major issues they face and that they’re all so much more than beautiful vacation destinations because most of Latin America is made up of things the average American wouldn’t want to see or take part in during a vacation or at any time in their lives.
A questions for Jim Winship: If you weren’t researching and doing your work on El Salvador, what other Latin American country would you choose to do research on?
December 9th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
On December 5th Professor James Winship went to our Introduction to Latin America class to talk about his experiences in El Salvador. According to Professor Winship, Salvadorians are the third largest immigrant group in the United States after Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Also, he says the main reason for Salvadorians to move to the U.S. is poverty, which it has a lot to do with civil wars and natural disasters such as volcano eruptions and hurricanes.
Additionally, Professor Winship claims that poverty is one of the push factors that make young Salvadorians join gangs. Also, he argues that the main gangs in El Salvador, such as the MS and the 18, have their roots in the United States. According to him, those gangs were created by immigrants that were sent back to El Salvador. Furthermore, Professor Winship claims that most of those immigrants didn’t even know how to speak Spanish, they felt rejected by society, they lack of motivation and opportunities. Additionally, he also argues that the young generation of Salvadorians is considered to be the “lost generation” in that country. Most Salvadorinas think there is no hope for development and a better future in El Salvador because most young Salvadorians lack education.
Although many Salvadorians believe being young is a negative thing and that El Salvador has little chances to develop, it seems like programs have been developed to help young Salvadorians. According to Professor Winship, programs such as “Edúcame” are helping poor families that can’t pay for education. However, many claim that having a college degree is not very helpful because of the lack of jobs in the country.
To conclude, Professor Winship helped me to reflect about the misery that many Salvadorians experience in their country, and the grey future they are facing, which is one of the characteristics that many Latin American countries seem to share, which we have studied in our class. My only question is: how is El Salvador different from other Latin American countries?
December 9th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Professor Jim Winship, from the UW-Whitewater Department of Social Work, and coordinator of the Latin American Studies minor, visited our class on Monday, December 5th. Throughout his presentation, Professor Winship discussed both, the role that the country of El Salvador has played in his life, and a particular field of his interest, youth in El Salvador. In the year of 1970 he graduated from college and served for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador as an organizer in the mayor’s office in the capital city. He left El Salvador in 1972 and was not able to go back until 30 years later due to a civil war and his busy schedule at the University of Whitewater. Professor Winship is now able to visit El Salvador quite often as he goes back every year for three to four weeks as he teaches and trains Salvadorian students and does research on topics of his interest. During his stay in El Salvador in 2005, Professor Winship, with the help from a grant funded by the University of Whitewater and his son, conducted a research project; a documentary on a theme that had always interested him, youth in El Salvador.
The documentary with the title of “Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador” starts out by describing some of the factors that led the country of El Salvador to the inevitably poverty that it faces today. According to Professor Winship, it is because of several natural disasters, a long-fought Civil War, and free trade that the economy has been destroyed and has left the country with an unemployment rate of 70%. The extreme poverty in some places of El Salvador leaves its people with no choice but to immigrate to the United States. As opposed to Honduran single mothers, it is the father figure who typically attempts to pursue the American Dream. A common downside of immigration is its effect on family disintegration. Salvadorians are the third largest group of immigrants in the United States, right after Mexico and Puerto Rico. Dr. Winship also explained that the disintegration that Salvadorian families face after one of the parents is gone usually ends in a lack of attention towards children. As a result, children look for people who are willing to give them not only the so-desired attention but also guidance. Youths perceive education as useless because of the high unemployment rate, so gangs are usually who children turn to. In an effort to put flesh and blood on the statistics, Professor Winship’s documentary also showed multiple stories of Salvadorian youths who told of their dreams and goals but sadly, argued that the lack of resources would never allow them to become true.
The documentary opened my eyes to various issues in El Salvador that I had never heard of. Professor Winship’s presentation also connects to the main topics of our class in many ways. At the beginning of the course we learned about much of the history of Latin America, starting from the colonization period. The Original Sin theory, which argues that poverty in Latin America is a result of the Spanish colonization, is evident in countries like El Salvador, who live in extreme poverty. During this time, we also learned about Latin America’s human geography; it was then when we found out that the chasm that separates the rich and the poor in Latin America is the widest in the world. This is evident in El Salvador where, according to Dr. Winship, there are some very rich people who are favored by various factors, regulatory laws on taxes serving as an example. However, there are also some people who live in extreme poverty and usually turn to gangs in order to receive guidance. The presentation on El Salvador also relates to the theme of poverty. While working on the poverty and development statistics worksheet, it came to my attention that 19% of people in El Salvador live on less than $1 per day, yet it is still categorized as one of the small countries with signs of progress. Professor Winship argued that the lack of resources is usually the reason for low level of education and high rates of unemployment.
I also have a question for Professor Winship:
Do you agree with Sonia Nazario that instead of investing money on border patrol, the U.S. Government should give microloans and financial aid to less developed countries in Latin America?
December 10th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
During the late 1960’s Dr. James Winship was finishing up with college. He traveled to El Salvador, for two years, through the Peace Corps. Winship recalled, “it was a very intense period of time.” When Winship left El Salvador, the civil war was just beginning. Not until thirty years later did Winship travel back, but for a different reason. He began researching the impacts the civil war had on El Salvador, immigration to the U.S., and why Salvadorians are leaving. Through Winship’s research, he created a documentary named “Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador.” After creating this documentary, Winship still continues to spend several weeks in El Salvador ever year.
Winship showed us his documentary during his presentation. He described El Salvador being the smallest land locked country in El Salvador. With 15% unemployment rate overall, there is an additional 50% unemployment rate among the young. The youth in El Salvador have a bad reputation with no opportunity. Many young people are joining gangs to find the help and guidance they aren’t receiving in their households. With gangs increasing, El Salvador has the second highest murder rate in Latin America. The youth believe they only have two options: to go to college and not have a job waiting, or “The American Dream.” This is one big difference from Sonia Nazario’s speech. She found the youth in Honduras were traveling to the U.S. to reunite with their mothers. Also, young Salvadorians with degrees traveling to the U.S. are excepting jobs with no correlation to their degree.
Another connection to our class was the distribution of wealth. In Honduras and El Salvador, very few people hold most of the money in their country. In El Salvador the wealthy find ways to get around the tax systems that allows them to not pay dividends. Also there is no land tax, allowing the rich to own large amounts of land without paying taxes.
A question I have for Winship is: Do you think implementing a land tax in El Salvador would help the poor? Why?
December 11th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
The presentation by Jim Winship, a respectable professor at UW-W, gave our class an insightful peak into life in El Salvador and his experiences. He gave us an understanding of what it’s like and all of the struggles people face from his experiences of being in the peace core. Jim shared this information since he lived in the slums of El Salvador with a sixteen year old named Arnoldo; Arnolod broaden Jim’s horizon on the mindset of a citizen in this area. Jim was so invigorated by Arnoldo that he created a documentary based off him and wanted to return for another trip. Unfortunately, due to the war breakout from 78-92 he was incapable to return until 2005. This trip Jim stayed for half a year through the Full Bright Program, this program allowed him to create a documentary based on the youth in El Salvador.
This documentary was named, Difficult Dreams “Coming of Age” in El Salvador, which accompanied interviewing teachers, students, and ministers. Throughout this he elucidated all of the struggles that had to be overcome, whether it was the 75,000 killed in the civil war, mud slides, volcanoes, earthquakes, and the popular migration to the U.S. This migration was common because of inequality of rich vs. poor and gang violence that made it nearly impossible to survive.
This difficulty was explained by interviewees like Ever, Estele, Alejandro, and Rosaris, who each had their own unique story to tell. One common thread amongst them all was family dilemmas. A lot of the youths were forced to drop out of school at a young age to help support their family or join gruesome gangs. Parents were unable to control this transformation due to their absence from being away at work too; many parents worked 2 or more jobs leaving them no time to care for their children. Money is such an impacting role that often families would resort to selling drugs to simply make a living, especially since El Salvador is 70% above the national average for lack of jobs.
The stress of money, jobs, and family disintegration only enhanced the violence rate; this violence shares a big part on why life in this region is so bad. Like we’ve discussed in class, violence in specifically gangs has the power to turn a country upside down. Living in fear and constantly being worried causes the conditions of this country to worsen since nobody is willing to invest to amend El Salvador. This poses the question that if there was less violence would people be more willing to invest in El Salvador? Overall, the only way this region can improve is by cutting out violence to hopefully increase investment. Jim Winship did an excellent job on educating our class on these pressing matters and possible solutions which will hopefully occur in the future.
December 12th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Professor Jim Winship Came and talked to us on the youth of El Salvador. He dedicated a lot of his life trying to help the youth as he keeps going back each year for a little. He talked to us about how he got interested in going there as he went right after college and has not stopped. He told us about the time that he was going back to El Salvador and his son asked him if he could go with him and his mom this time. He said he could and that is how they started making the documentary on the youth of El Salvador. It’s a interesting fact that unlike Honduras most men actually go and find jobs in America. But as they were interviewing youth they had found out that there aren’t a lot of parents support when they get home that is why one of the girls joined the gang to feel some kind of love. All the youth though had some kind of dreams .dreams to do better in their life better to make a business. But yet at first El Salvador had nothing to help them nothing to make sure they had their education. They kids usually had to make sure they had enough money to even go to school and usually they also worked to support their family. I think that people in America sometimes take it for granted that you can get an education and usually a good job following college not having to go far from your family. They have to struggle to get their education and then most of the time they end up going to USA to try to find jobs to better their education also. El Salvador did make programs that help the youth get there education and are working hard to try to keep youth there instead of coming here. These ties into a lot of are other speakers with poverty the leading cause to the problems, if they didn’t have poverty they would be able to have a education and be able to create jobs. This also goes with talking about how bad it actually is in El Salvador compared to others we talked about Mexico and others but this main focus was El Salvador. If I had one question it would be what do you think the future will hold for El Salvador do you think it will get better? I hope you make another documentary to see where the kids are now and what they are doing as their struggles are different I would think.
December 12th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Dr. James Winship came to our class to discuss his expertise on El Salvador and its current and lasting problems. He started out his presentation by describing his experience in the Peace Corps in the 1970’s. After graduating from his university, Dr. Winship went to El Salvador for a two-year stint in the program. Thirty years later, he returned to the country through the Fullbright program in order to co-teach, research immigration to the United States (mostly to the Los Angeles and Washington DC areas), and to create a documentary. He waited these thirty years to return to the country that he learned to love so much because of the long and dangerous civil war the broke out from 1978-1992. Upon his return, he learned, amongst other things, that Salvadorans were the third largest group of Latin Americans to immigrate to the United States. This seemed to be due to the country’s extreme poverty, stemming from a series of devastating natural disasters, civil war, and major structural inequalities. There is currently a 15% unemployment rate in the country, partly due to the prices of coffee dropping worldwide, and 15% of the national GOP is money that is sent home from family members in the United States. After learning all of this, Dr. Winship returned to El Salvador in 2005 with his son in order to make another documentary on the Salvadoran youth and their struggles to survive in such a poverty-stricken country. Most of these children have big dreams, but have no money to continue schooling in their home country. Because of this, many of these children are resorting to gang membership in order to survive. There are currently many programs in place to help kids get off the street and receive the technical training they need in order to obtain jobs in their own country. The hope is that the kids who do receive an education and become professionals in their fields stay in their own country in order to help boost their own economy instead of immediately fleeing for the US where they might have better opportunities. Even though this current generation of high school and college aged kids are widely referred to as the “Lost Generation”, they hope to instead be known as the “Generation of Hope”. Dr. Winship’s presentation went perfectly with our recent class discussions on poverty in Latin America. His documentary also gave a good view into the lives of young women and their need to join gangs in order to fit in and support themselves. If I were to ask Dr. Winship a question, it would be, “Do you think the programs that the Salvadoran government has in place for troubled youth are sufficient? And would the gift of microloans from prosperous countries like the United States make any greater impact on the economy of El Salvador?”
December 12th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Professor Jim Winship gave a great presentation about El Salvador. He explained to us how he gained an interest in El Salvador after he spent time there with the peace core after he graduated from college. He then mentioned to us how he tries to spend at least three weeks every year in El Salvador. He also talked about how crimes and violence were escalating because of the gangs. He said the gang violence has been increasing because of the drugs and more gang members. He also mentioned that you do not want to carry a large amount of cash in wallet down there because of the violence you might get jumped. Jim also talked about how he in his son created a documentary on the youth in El Salvador in 2005. He said him and his son both went to El Salvador for a couple months to create the video and to continue his research. I thought the interviews he had in his video helped give a better view about the students view on continuing their education. For the most part students wanted to become architects and Pharmacists but because of their family financial situations they figured they would have to go to work instead to try and help the family financial situations. So the question I have for professor Winship is if you could choose another country in Latin America to do the same kind of research you did in El Salvador where would it be and why?
December 12th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Dr. Winship is a professor here at UW- Whitewater who teaches social work. Dr. Winship was in the Peace Corps for two years after he graduated. After those two years he had not returned to El Salvador in thirty years. He had presented the class the film that his son and himself had made called, “Difficult Dreams: Coming of Age in El Salvador.” In this video it explains how poverty came in El Salvador and the dreams of many Adults and children that he had interviewed. The reasoning for poverty was due to a Civil War, free trade which had left the economy with a high percentage of unemployment and ofcourse natural disasters. Many dreams of the Salvadorians was to do something positive with their lives. Most El Salvadors youth sees education as a a waste of time mainly because of the high unemployment rate; therefore turning to gangs to have the feeling of being loved back yet end up barely surviving. Most Salvadorians only make it to the sixth grade and go on from there to finding jobs or choosing to join a gang. To them, they either go to school and have no job or live “The American Dream.” Salavadorians are the third largest immigration groups in the United States. Looking at the people of Honduras and the people of El Salvador, you see that the people immigrating from Honduras are in America to find their mothers or fathers and make money to send back to their family at home. Where as Salvadorians are there for themselves, to make a money and live better off. Looking it from an outsiders point of view, one may understand the reasoning for Salvadorians wanting to immigrate to the United States. Reasonings being the inequality of rich to the poor and gang violence which is tough to survive. Dr. Winships presentation added a lot of information to our current discussions in class about poverty in Latin America. I just had a question for Dr. Winship, “What made you think of making a documentary on the dreams of Salvadorians?”
December 13th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
On December 5th Dr. James Winship visited our class and gave us a presentation on his experience in El Salvador. Early in his life he visited El Salvador as apart of the Peace Corp. Of the family he stayed with he recalls a 16 year old boy named Arnoldo. Arnoldo worked a one room shop in the front of the house and at night he would take high school classes. After 2 years Dr. Winship left El Salvador and would not return for 30 years because of civil war. Poverty became a huge issue in El Salvador due to the civil war, natural disasters, and economic equality. The rich in El Salvador own such a large majority of the countries wealth and are able to avoid taxes, and pay no taxes on land because there is no land tax.
Dr. Winship talked about how young people in El Salvador are often referred to as “The Lost Generation.” The young people of El Salvador have dreams, but often times do not have the money, resources, or opportunity to achieve their dreams. Many youth of El Salvador have turned to gangs for money and support because of the lack of support and money from their family. Even for those who graduate finding a job is difficult because of the lack of work. As a result many young Salvadorians leave for the U.S. and will even take jobs unrelated to their degree’s major. This presentation related very much to our class discussions on Enrique’s Journey and the issue of poverty. Young people all over Latin America are facing many of the same issues of poverty, gang activity, and seemingly a need to move to the United States for a better life. My question for Dr. Winship is, how can the economic environment in El Salvador grow to create jobs for those who graduate and for those lacking a degree?