International PeacemakerFrom September 23 – 27, East Iowa Presbytery will welcome a new International Peacemaker, Carmen Elena Diaz Anzora of El Salvador. [Our previously scheduled Peacemaker, Efi Latsoudi of Greece, could not make it this year.] Carmen will be featured speaker at the Sept. 24th Presbytery meeting in Muscatine. She still has openings in her schedule if you would like to welcome her to your church (see below).

Carmen serves on the executive committee of the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador, which is one of our PC(USA) partners in mission, and is Coordinator for their education program. She’s on the coordinating team for their ministry to migrants. Her education includes a specialty in Peace Education and training in Psychosocial Care and Psychotraumatology, helpful for her work with migrants and people suffering disaster. Her city of Soyapango in El Salvador, with its heavy population growth, grapples with gangs and high rates of pollution from industrial waste and sewage. COVID increased poverty and reduced employment. Carmen works in community formation, peacebuilding, and conflict transformation. She develops learning processes for children and youth in violence prevention and peace and community building.

In all her work Carmen strives to generate the conditions in which peace and justice can come to fruition. She will bear witness to Christ’s work through her church and ours, as their partner. Carmen is accompanied by her interpreter, Joseph Russ, who is PC(USA)’s Coordinator for Migration Issues, Advocacy, and Mission in the Northern Triangle of Central America. For more information see bios below and click here https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/bringing-a-message-of-peace-and-justice-from-el-salvador/ https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/bringing-a-message-of-peace-and-justice-from-el-salvador/ for Carmen’s recent interview with Presbyterian News Service.

Their schedule:

Arrival in East Iowa Presbytery Sept. 22, Thursday

Sept 23, Friday

  • 1 p.m Christ Church Presbyterian, Cedar Rapids
  • Friday evening open

Sept 24, Saturday

  • Presbytery meeting in Muscatine
  • Later afternoon/evening available if you’re located on the way to Iowa City

Sept 25, Sunday

  • St. Andrew Presbyterian of Iowa City
  • Mid-afternoon/evening available if you’re located in vicinity of Iowa City or points north on the way to Manchester

Sept 26, Monday

  • First Presbyterian, Manchester

Sept 27, Tuesday

  • First Presbyterian, Mt. Pleasant
  • Lunch/early afternoon available if you’re located on or near the path from Manchester south to Mt. Pleasant

Let Lisa Ross Thedens (moderator of Peacemaking Task Force) know if you’re interested in meeting Carmen and Joseph by email at lrossthedens@gmail.com.

Carmen Elena Diaz Anzora

Carmen Elena Diaz AnzoraCarmen Elena Diaz Anzora is a member of the executive committee of the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador, where she works as Coordinator of the church’s Education Program and forms part of the coordinating team for the church’s Migrant Ministry. She holds a degree Educational Sciences, specializing in Peace Education, with additional training in Psychosocial Care and Psychotraumatology.

Carmen has experience in the management, execution, evaluation, and systematization of social projects, especially in community formation, peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Her work includes psychosocial care for migrants and people in emergency situations due to disasters. In addition, she designs, implements and systematizes learning processes for children and youth in violence prevention, community building, and peacebuilding.

Interpreter: Joseph Russ

Joseph RussJoseph Russ has a passion for intercultural human rights work. He is based in El Salvador, where he serves as the PC(USA)’s Coordinator for Migration Issues, Advocacy, and Mission in the Northern Triangle of Central America. With Central American partners, he works to inform advocacy around migration issues. He is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Latin American Theology from the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón in San Salvador, doing research on migration theology from the perspective of deportees. For the past five years, he has lived in El Salvador where he has interpreted for international visitors, worked in human rights education through Cristosal, helped found the Santa Marta Anglican Center to provide shelter and support to unhoused LGBTIQ+ youth and young adults. In his free time, he likes to dance, hang out with his cats, and play Dungeons & Dragons.