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Spotlights Leslie Schuld '84 University of Dayton Quarterly, Winter 2004-05 The government first threatened to throw Leslie Schuld out of El Salvador in 1995 after she called attention to its grim factory conditions. It threatened again when she organized international volunteers to observe and report on its elections. Schuld is director of the Center for Exchange and Solidarity (http://www.cis-elsalvador.org). She and her staff work to improve a country ravaged by a 12-year civil war that killed 75,000. Today half of Salvadorans live on less than $2 a day. "We’re doing work that the government should be doing,” Schuld said. The center also fights for policy changes, though Schuld is often frustrated when new economic policies, like the Central American Free Trade Agreement, are passed. “Policies are oriented to give benefits to transnational corporations but don’t look at the local reality of economic development,” she said. “Transnational corporations displace local small and medium businesses.” The result: One-third of the Central American country’s population has migrated to the United States in the last 30 years. “The brightest people in the country are leaving,” Schuld said. Though the center invites foreign volunteers to El Salvador to increase awareness and promote solidarity, the center’s goal is empowering people locally. “We’re not necessarily going to convince transnational corporations to be on our side. People have to stand up and let their voice be heard. You need powerful allies, but change itself initiates from the grassroots,” Schuld said. Schuld’s commitment to El Salvador began as an undergraduate at UD in 1981, when she saw on campus a film about the country’s civil war. Outraged, Schuld became an active volunteer for the Dayton Central American Solidarity Committee. Though at times it seems the country cannot step forward without taking two steps back, Schuld is not giving up the fight. “I’ve learned how working together and hope can bring about change.” —Lauren Pauer

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