Saludos desde El Salvador! My name in Tricia Johnson and I will be spending the next 6 months in El Salvador as EcoViva’s Amigos Fellow. I arrived last Thursday (June 21^st) and I am very excited for this opportunity to work with EcoViva and our partner organization, The Mangrove Association.

Originally from San Jose, California, I became interested in sustainable development in Latin America while participating in Amigos de las Américas. With Amigos, I served as a volunteer in Nicaragua living with a host family and facilitating community-based projects.

After an incredibly powerful summer in Nicaragua with Amigos, I continued learning about sustainable community development at California Lutheran University, a small school in southern California. I graduated in May of 2011 with a degree in International Studies and minors in both Spanish and Political Science.

During my time at CLU, I spent a semester studying Spanish in Guanajuato, Mexico as well as a semester interning with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission in Washington D.C. I also had the opportunity to work on Program Staff at the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development in Cuernavaca, Mexico, facilitating discussions and workshops on social justice issues in Latin America. Most recently, I spent a year teaching at a bilingual school in San Marcos, Ocotepeque, Honduras.

Aside from Latin America, my interests include photography, baking, reading, living in new places, swimming, salsa dancing, and running.

Here in El Salvador, I will be supporting EcoViva by being their eyes and ears on the ground. I will gather information about projects, attend meetings, write blogs, and take pictures. In the next couple months, you will be seeing more of my pictures and hearing some of my stories. I look forward to these next six months supporting projects, forming relationships, and living life here in the Bajo Lempa!

Cuidense mucho,

Tricia Johnson, Amigos Fellow (June-December 2012)