El Salvador — in Perquín, teaching art In 2007, Myrrh spent three weeks in El Salvador. Two of those were spent in Perquín, a tiny town in the mountains right by the Honduran border.       Myrrh stayed with her old friends, Quique and Celedonia. They are community leaders in the El Gigante Cooperative in Perquín. The house next door (below) had banana trees and Poinsettias 15 feet tall! Cinder block contruction is the norm, with openwork blocks allowing some ventilation.                                                                           Out back, banana trees and a yellow butterfly.                                                 Walls of Hope Art School                                 The school's founder, Claudia Bernardi, invited Myrrh to teach drawing for two weeks. This is a new kind of art school for ordinary people, with no signups and no fees. http://www.wallsofhope.org. She began it in 2005, trained talented townspeople as teachers, taught drawing and painting, brought mural paints, and soon organized murals all over the district. Myrrh found her idealism very inspiring, not only regarding art, but human rights. Originally from Argentina, Claudia deeply empathizes with war survivors in Central America. For her livelihood, she teaches in California.       Rigo was the wood sculpture teacher. Children, who had few toys, made toy cars, and enjoyed the experience of using tools. Myrrh taught drawing the face and figures with Claudia. From her, children and young adults also learned to draw flowers and animals. Such good students! They were focused, patient and joyous!                                                                     Claudia introduced Myrrh to Carmen Elena, a heroic nun who stayed with people in the mountains, helping them, all during the civil war. The two of them were planning a mural for the front of the CEBES building where Carmen Elena worked, the community building of Comunidades Eclesiales de Base de El Salvador, or Catholic Base Communities. Myrrh to drew preliminary drawings for the honored figures in it: Sister Sylvia, Archbishop Romero, and Father Octavio Ortiz. The painting on it began after Myrrh left for home.                                                         At the end of her visit, a Quaker youth group, people she knew, arrived in Perquín to do a service project. They built a ramp for an elderly invalid.                                                                                   NEXT: California sketches>> <<Previous El Salvador page HOME