April 2001

Greetings from El Salvador!

As Julie and I prepare for a four-month home assignment period, we reflect this Easter season on the reality of resurrection from death, believing that Life will always prevail. We have been working carefully with the Alfalit team to assure the continuity of the work in Colima, to be accompanied and enhanced so that the resurrection of Colima from the dark cavern of war, exploitation, contamination, and poverty might soon be celebrated by all its residents, each and every one.

It is hard to leave the work for such a long period. There is so much that is happening! We have completed reports for the Alfalit team on the state of ongoing projects and have been encouraged by the sense of ownership, the new sense of hope, that, indeed, Colima has begun a new day. As the "Song of Colima" declares, we invite all to join us in singing of a community where the "people are hard-working and a new day is born!"

When we reflect on the inertia and lack of vision that was evident in Colima three years ago, it truly lifts our spirits to now sense a more decisive commitment to resurrect the co-op rather than dissolve it (as has occurred with so many cooperatives nationwide). How it will be saved, we do not know for sure. But belief in resurrection itself is a mysterious and essential element to the success of the process that brings life where death seems inevitable.

We are encouraged by those in the community bank now expanding their businesses and starting up a new carpentry shop where teak furniture sales will help to make the teak plantation sustainable. One new business is manufacturing cement roofing tiles that require no burning of wood, as do those made of clay.

We see 20 young people working together to help fill an order for 7,200 medallions for the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in Indiana this July and understand that the process for them is, in itself, developing relational, leadership, business and artistic skills. These are Colima's future leaders.

This Easter weekend is one of traditional family outings to rivers and the ocean beaches, symbolizing personal purification and dedication to life. The Colima swimming pool had over 100 visitors!

In four neighboring communities of Colima, many homes are, for the first time, regularly cooking with fuel logs made from sugar cane bagasse. As I sat in our Land Cruiser last week I could see a huge stack of firewood hacked from the few forested areas left in the area. At the same time, tears of joy came to my eyes watching in the rear view mirror as Leonides excitedly handed five or six women fuel logs they were purchasing.

Last week we visited the drained lake bed within the protected forest reserve of Colima. The cooperative and Alfalit are days away from completing the restoration of the dike that will allow rain water to fill the lake bed once again, 20 years after its having been drained. Organic fish will be raised here.

Three hundred acres of sugar cane are now being cultivated with organic compost from a business near Colima. The organic sugar cane project we started in Colima has saved this business and it is now selling three times the volume of organic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers than it was three years ago. We expect a historic first milling of organic sugar cane in November at the newly resurrected sugar mill. We hope to receive orders for organic sugar from your churches and institutions. We also hope the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will adopt a resolution in June encouraging its 11,400 congregations to buy organic sugar and organic coffee and, in so doing, help detoxify the soil and water and air, bringing life back to this dying planet.

What a privilege to witness this miracle! On behalf of those living here without a voice, and of those resurrected beyond this tormented plane, thank you for your prayers, your support, your belief in Life.

Love,

Bob and Julie Dunsmore

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 240