Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador: A Memoir of Guerrilla Radio (LLILAS Translations from Latin America Series) by Carlos Henriquez Consalvi

Author:Carlos Henriquez Consalvi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-05-11T01:38:00+00:00

The Fortress of Happiness

FEBRUARY 1 o Along with Marcela I am going to interview a child who survived the El Mozote massacre. When we get to the new location of the elementary school, we are surprised to find an incredible fortress built by the children in the middle of a wooded coffee plantation. Wood houses with galvanized tin roofs are spread throughout the area, each housing two or three kids. Sitting beneath a large kapok tree, a group of first graders is listening attentively to their teacher's lesson, while others read in a small library adjacent to the kitchen house. At noon classes end, and a noisy crowd of children line up to get their portion of meat and vegetable soup.

During break some go to cut sugarcane, others to scale trees, some try to snatch honey from beehives, and still others race on a soapbox-car racetrack that they've set up on the slope of a steep hill. They've ingeniously fashioned racers that they launch at full speed from the top of the embankment. When the car hits a muddy patch, if the driver is not an expert, it flips over in spectacular fashion, leaving the two crew members covered in mud, much to the delight of the young spectators. Marcela smiles.

Right now there are 16o children in school. Just by watching them it's easy to see that they have a strong bond and an interest in learning. They show no signs of arrogance. Of course, pranks and misbehavior are not entirely absent.

I invite you, Marcela, to have some sugarcane. I cut the best for you, and you sip the juice like a little girl with a sweet tooth and talk to me about when you were a child and how there was a festival in your town. I hear you but I'm not listening to you because I can't stop thinking about how much I love you. My blood is surging through me like one of those swelling rivers. I want to kiss you again, and I do at the exact moment when a group of rambunctious kids shows up. We return to school, and all of the students are already listening to the broadcast. The ones in the back throw pebbles at the ones in front, and every once in a while a paper airplane flies overhead.

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