1989_09 The Daily Collegian September 1989

              La Voz de Aztldn
Tuesday, Sept 19,1989
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Page 3
From Fresno to Telpaneca, Nicaragua
CSUFMEChA and LASC members help build school in sister city
SyGwrm Martinez:
Contributing
Editor's note:The following is the first part ina
three part series. In this edition, journey with five
CSUF students to Fresno's Nicaraguan sister city
where on the first leg oftheir journey they meet
up with local political leaders and settle in for
the task at hand.building a school in the rural
Telpanecan mountains.
On June 28,1989 a group of five CSU Fresno
students, including MEChA and Campus Latin
American Support Cbrnmittee members, set out for
a journey that would take them to Nicaragua,
Central America.
I was a member of this student delegation,
along with Karen Cbgley, Lawrence Guerra,
Kathleen Solano, and Scott Stark. Our
destination was Telpaneca, Nicaragua, a rural
.(immunity not more than ten mile*<frnm the
Honduran border, and our purpose was to assist in
trreconsb-ucbonofanefementaryschjx)!,
something much needed since the children in the
district had been struggling to leam in a one-room,
dirt-floored school.
Our voluntary work brigade was part o f the
Fres no /Telpaneca Sister Gty Project, an
aiucatonal/community bridge building effort
The Nicaraguan government, directed by the
Sandirdsta Front of National Liberation (FSLN),
has initiated a revolutionary program producing
great strides in the areas of agriculture, education,
and health care. These efforts are blunted,
however, by the Contra-waged war.
The Honduran-based Contras bum crops.
destroy schools, health dini cs, entire villages,
and torture and loUl innocent clViliariS. Duetothe
atrocities committed by the Contras, Nicaragua
has had to divert a great amount of its national
budget towards protection of the border. The
Contras are losing the war. If the United States
ait funding to them (US. funds are their main
source of survival), the counterrevolutionary
forces would cease to exist. 4
Since July 19,1979, the triumph of the
Sand mis ta revolution over the Somozan
dictatorship, Nicaragua is a non-aligned,
sovereign country, with a democrarically elected
government. The struggle there has prompted
many activists triroughout the globe to protest
US. intervention in Central America and express
solidarity with the people of Nicaragua by
providing ma terial and financial aid to assist in
the birth of a free nation, Nicaragua libre.
The five of us were determined to be part of this
process to exchange ideas and human resources
instead of bombs and bullets.
We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua on July 9,
1989. At tr« airport we met Juanita Gomez, the
rontactrx^ran who made me arrangements for our
brigade. We stayed the night and were told that
we would take the 5:00 am. bus to Telpaneca.
After seven long hours on a sometimes
motionless bus, as it had to struggle to steep
winding slopes, we reached Telpaneca. Shortly
after getting off the bus, we met Ramon, Mayor of
Telpaneca, and were driven through the
mountainous road to the health clinic where we
would spend the next seven days. We unpacked
our belongings and were taken to the school site,
about 200 yards from the clinic. After examining
the site weexplored the lush, green, countryside
suroundingthe few houses that were visible
behind the many trees and plant that inhabited
the rain-forest atmosphere.
We were informed that our daily routine would
be, breakfast at 630 a.m., working on tie? school
until noon, breaking for lunch, and working the
remaining hours until it rained (approximately
3:00 pun. every day). After the rain stopped we
would sometimes explore the courrtryrade and read
before dinner. By the time we finished eating it
was dark, since there was no electricity we would
sleep soon afterwards. For the most part, the
schedule remained the same, but we did, on
several occasions, meet with members of the
community to discuss how the community had
changed since the revolution and the role they
played in the dynamic process.
The next day we began work on the elementary
school which was promised to the parents'
committee by the Sister Gty Project
Work on the school had already begun before
we arrived. People in the communityrvad already
cut up the side of the mountain in order to level
the ground. The cement foundation had already
been laid and the frame was near completion.
Still, there was much more work that needed to be
done and we spent the next six days sawing,
hammering, digging, and transporting the needed
In mber arid other materials to the work site,
)ig only for food and sleep.
11 hnard effort, help from com mu ni ty
members, and inspiration drawn from the
See TELPANECA, Page 4
*8S
CLAS Program gets two new profs
By James L Caxxasco
StaffWriter
The faculty and students in the
Chicano and Latin American Studies
Department had an addition to their
family this semester.
Luz Gonzalez and Hisauro Garza
joined CLAS this semester and have
begun teaching classes.     .
Both had beginnings picking fruit
in the southwestern United States.
Gonzalez said that when she was
18, she had the English and Spanish
reading ability of a third-grader.
'1 was determined that I was going
to make something of myself. I
wanted to become educated," she
said with pride shown in her hazel
eyes. "I was tired of having to move
around so much. But I knew I was
going to make it"
Despite the fact that Hisauro
Garza's parents had five mouths to
feed as he was growing up, he
managed to do well in school, made
it into college, and graduated at the
top of his class from the UC. Santa
Cruz.
"It all began when I was 10 or 11
years old picking grapes in the
field," said Garza. 1 would look up
at the Anglo in the truck and wonder
'why are we down here and they up
there?
"It was a real honor to earn such
high grades, but I owe it to my older
brothers who could afford to send me
to school. Since I was one of the
youngest, the family was teas'
dependant on me and I was able to
leave the fields and attend school."
Luz Gonzalez has earned two
bachelor's degrees and is working on
the dissertion fo| her doctorate in
education through Arizona State
University.
After attending West Coast Bible
School for four years, she went to Los
Angeles to teach first grade for a
year and a half. Site then came to
CSUF and earned a multiple subject
teaching credential.
Garza attended Hartnell Junior
College after graduating from high
school in Salinas.
Garza remembered keeping busy in
high school. He helped organize a
program "geared toward higher
education" for Chicano students and
their parents.
1 had a desire to help the
disadvantaged Hispanics and was
willing to do anything," said Garza.
"We would meet in homes and
discuss ways that would improve the
Chicano lifestyle. It was rough, but
it worked."
In 1987, Gonzalez went to Tucson,
Ariz, where she studied under her
mentor, Walter Doyle. Shortly after
returning to Fresno, she began
bilingual teaching at Aynesworth
Elementary.
Gonzalez said about being selcted
as one of the new CLAS instructors,
'1 was really shocked. I put my
application in and was hired after
die interview."
BLOOD
Continued from page 2   ■
Bush.
That's why I wanted to see blood
that morning I shaved. I lost track of
my purpose. As it turned out, I didn't
,», have to purposely cut myself after
all. The Bic shaver was so old, it
ripped my face apart anyway, and
there was blood everywhere, more
than I had originally wanted.
It occurred to me that day, that
none of us ever have to be without a
purpose.
No matter what you're majoring
in, or where you go to study, even
what you do after college, the
Chicano movement and community
could use your help, and your
leadership. As long as you got the
blood, you got the purpose.
Gonzalez is teaching three classes
this fall: CLAS 3, which she
describes as an introduction to the
"diverse and rich history of Chicano-
Latinos in the United States."
Her 143 class, she said, attempts
See NEW PROFS, page 4
Hector Amezcua/Li VcaitAxtkfn
The downtown Diedseis de Septiembre parade in Fresno last
Saturday attracted many people, but perhaps-those who
enjoyedthe most were the children. In a time when cultural
awareness is so valuable to our society it is good to see that
children like Sergio Valenzuela and his sister are anxious to
learn about the traditions of their culture.