By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
In 1981, as civil war raged in El Salvador—due to the gross inequality between a small and wealthy elite and the majority of the country’s population that lived in poverty—the government murdered over 70,000 of its citizens who dared to dissent.
Ricardo Pocasangre would not be one of them. As an orphan managing his grandmother’s farm in the Salvadorian countryside, Pocasangre fled the country he loves to save himself and others. He is now a member of Temple De Hirsch Sinai living in Bellevue.
It was not long after the 1980 assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Romero that peaceful demonstrations turned violent as unarmed demonstrators were gunned down on the steps of the National Cathedral.
“Many of his friends were being targeted by death squads,” said Joy Pocasangre, Ricardo’s American-born wife since 1981. The two met and married in the Tri-Cities while she was teaching English as a Second Language classes. Ricardo was one of her students. She was a widow with four children. They met, fell in love and have been married ever since.
Leaving El Salvador, said Pocasangre, was very painful for her husband. “He knew how great his country was,” she said.
According to Joy, he does not like to talk about those days. Ricardo Pocasangre documented the early years of his life in El Salvador and fleeing to Honduras and Mexico to survive in his book, Breaking Home Ties: A Salvadoran’s Journey.
Eighteen years later, the Pocasangres decided to reach back to the country they love and help the orphaned children who didn’t have the support of at least one family member to create a successful life. So they started NESES (Ninos Estudiando El Salvador, Children Studying El Salvador) in 1998. The couple goes to El Salvador every year to take groups of students from orphanages on weeklong learning journeys through the Salvadoran countryside.
These teen-aged boys and girls, who will have to leave these state-run institutions after the 9th grade or the age of 18, are treated to an experience the Pocasangres hope will change their lives.
“We work with each orphanage about two to three years,” said Joy Pocasangre. “We take three trips of about 20 children until we’re done.”
They take the children on a seven-day bus tour through the Salvadoran countryside. Those who live in the eastern side of the country travel to the western side, and vice versa. The children see different features of their own culture and learn about their country.
“We want to show them ancient ruins,” Pocasangre continued. “Sometimes we take them to the David Guzman Archeology Museum. Sometimes we take them to another orphanage so they can see other kids and they don’t feel sorry for themselves. Other times we take them to the natural parks for swimming or to fishing villages so they can learn about their opportunities for making a living.”
An equally important goal for the Pocasangres is to enable every student to graduate from high school. NESES tries to find scholarships for these children so they don’t have to leave the orphanage before they can support themselves. One child’s tuition for one year of high school is $400.
“The orphanages have told us that if we can pay the monthly fee for them to go to school and to buy their books, they will keep them,” said Pocasangre.
If they continue in school, the 10th graders can study and gain basic skills in commercial science, computers, secretarial training, technical vocational businesses, automotive training, electrical engineering, health care, mechanics, baking, welding and more. They learn just enough to get a job to be able to pay their way in the world.
“These kids really are discarded people,” said Pocasangre. “Some of them lost parents in the war, some from illness, but they’ve all been abandoned for one reason or another. They can change their status but they can’t do it without education.”
There are more than 4,000 orphaned children in El Salvador. Some live in state-run homes and others live in private institutions.
“These are very well-funded. These kids are already going to school. The orphanages we work with are state-run. These are the children that have to leave at 18 or when they finish the 9th grade,” said Pocasangres.
The Pocasangres use $5,000 a year of their own money and make two trips a year to El Salvador. The first trip is to arrange for the tour and the second trip is with the children. They consider this their way of performing tzedakah, or charity.
While at home in Washington State, they advocate for these orphans through NESES and try to get as many individuals and groups as they can to sponsor these student’s education through their scholarship program.
On Feb. 8, the Pocasangres will be speaking at the Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns Council in Bellevue. They are always available to speak about the needs of these children to groups who may want to sponsor a child.
“He was poor,” says Joy about her husband Ricardo. “He remembers being an orphan and only going to the 6th grade in school, so now the idea is, ‘How can I help?’”
The Pocasangres can be reached at 425-747-0877 or at [email protected].