I choose to stay in a transformed community

“My name is Lucia Medina, from El Castaño, a small community in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, I'm 25 years old. The value that guides my life, influenced by my family and the oldest in my community is sharing with others, Harvesting the crops or whatever resource you have. I've 8 siblings. I remember a very happy childhood mainly because my life was focused on playing traditional games; buzzard, piscucha that we flew, fished in the river, and bathed in it”.

Lucia begins her journey in 2020, she graduates from the processes in 2021, and she won one of the leadership skills support awards. The award came to encourage her, to reaffirm her value as a woman leader, and this economic fund also took her to study.

“My community is quiet, the daily lives of the young people happen around sports, work in agriculture. Some of them go to school, others don't, but they try to help their families. There is a shared feeling in the community, it is always looking forward.

There are two reasons why I started to lead in my community, the first is that during the Activate program I was aware of the problems that surrounded me, and the second is when I realized that I am vulnerable to these problems. I thought maybe I couldn't do anything, but that changed until I started leading actions to address those problems, it took me out of my comfort zone.

I feel supported by my community, friends, and some organizations such as UNES that gave us training workshops as well as SERES. These processes inspire me to lead community actions. I have also received support from my family, and many people have inspired me by listening to their experiences, on a personal level, and generating ideas for community transformation.

For me, being a leader means having the ability to share your vision with the community and having an attitude of service to people, helping to solve problems, dealing with crises that arise, and being brave and persevering.

As a leader I have acquired knowledge, I have learned and taught others, that human and natural resources we  have in the community have gained more value. On a personal level, the most drastic change that I observe is that before I was very quiet and now I have learned to speak in public. At the community level, now that I think about the actions led, I have felt accompanied by the youth group and community leaders, they have never left me alone. The actions that I am proud of being involved in have been the recycling campaign, reforestation, and empowering women, they are an act of transformation.

The most difficult part as a leader is to control my emotions in the face of comments that challenge my abilities, especially in those tense moments when we are solving problems. However, many of my closest friends remind me : you can handle this! You have the ability! This has been enough to continue.

The processes of SERES prompted me to take small actions at the beginning that I am now taking at the community level. It has helped me to be a leader for youth, and thanks to them, I have learned a lot and have helped others to grow.

In the future I see myself living in this transformed community, where I continue to promote these positive changes. I see myself with a network of young people supporting these actions from various communities… I see myself as a better person and a professional with excellence”.