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May
21, 2007 
VOL.
45, NO. 10Oakland,
CA
Traumatized teen gets his spirit back
The people
who walk through the doors of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant seeking
legal help, food, a place to stay, and compassion. All have stories to
tell -- horrible stories that continue to haunt them by night and by day.
Here is one. When Manuel de Paz was 12 years old, he witnessed right-wing
National Guardsmen torturing and killing his two older brothers with machetes.
Then after raping his 15-year-old sister, they cut her head in half.
These kinds of atrocities were commonplace during El Salvador’s
civil war. By the time de Paz came to the United States a decade later
in 1990 as a refugee, he was still so traumatized that “I was without
hope. I did not have hope because I saw my village set on fire and bombing
of the airplanes. I did not have hope because I saw the anger of the rifles
and those memories came with me to this country.”
Today, hope is everywhere in his life, the young man said with gratitude
during the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant’s recent 25th anniversary
celebration. De Paz, who now holds a paid position there as director of
community development and outreach, was keynote speaker for the event
He praised the Sanctuary Covenant for giving him back his life and for
rekindling the spirit of hope in his soul.
“When I came here I didn’t know the language, culture; I didn’t
have any skills to survive. What was worse was that I was one of the many
unwanted immigrants in this country just because I entered illegally.”
Things began to change, he said, when his brother told him he could apply
for political asylum through the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. “A
little light shone. Then this light became bigger and bigger and shone
more and more.”
The Sanctuary Covenant helped de Paz through every step of the process,
from winning asylum to gaining permanent residency. Volunteers helped
him become eligible for legal work so he could become the gardener for
an Oakland physician.
They encouraged him to go to school to learn English and to graduate from
college last year with an associate certificate in social science and
an AA in Humanities.
He now owns a house. His mother is in Oakland. His brothers and nephews
are U.S. citizens. He is applying for citizenship. He plans to open a
tourism center in El Salvador.
