Santa Clara University

Krystal Wu '09

Peer Advisor: Casa Program Coordinator

I studied abroad in El Salvador in the Fall of 2007 as part of SCU’s Casa de la Solidaridad program.  Although I knew very little about El Salvador before applying to the Casa, I did know that I wanted my study abroad experience to be challenging and unique.  What appealed to me most about the Casa was its emphasis on accompanying and learning from the Salvadoran people themselves through student involvement in praxis sites.  In pairs, my fellow students and I spent two days a week in community placements learning and taking part in different activities; my partner and I taught spent our days in La Chacra, the poorest urban community outside of San Salvador.  In La Chacra, we taught English to six classrooms of children varying in age from kindergarten to eighth grade.  Oftentimes, the classes were absolutely teeming with kids; most classrooms had more than 40 students each, which was overwhelming for the Salvadoran teachers and absolutely terrifying for me.  As someone with marginally conversational Spanish, I would often face with despair the groups of unruly kids who continually jabbered at me in their native tongue.  Over time, however, I began to become accustomed to feeling a little bit out of control in La Chacra; I began to realize that I was not, nor would I ever be, the best English teacher to these kids, and that I could never hope to teach them more than a few simple phrases in English.  I came to cherish those days that I spent teaching, if only to remind me that I was not perfect and that sometimes the greatest gift we can give others is our time and our smiles.  I still have warm memories of feeling the tight squeeze of one of the first graders as she clamped her arms around my waist as she looked up at me sweetly, saying, “Cristal!”  I left the United States to study abroad in El Salvador, thinking that perhaps I would be able to go and “help” those in need there.  What I came to realize, however, was that the Salvadorans often helped me more than I could ever assist them, simply by being patient with my gringa accent or teaching me to make misshapen tortillas.  They taught me that simple living is about more than giving up hot water or washing machines: it involves simply loving others, which should never be difficult.  I am so grateful to my experiences learning and loving in El Salvador, and I know that my time there would not have been the same without my involvement in the Casa program.