A temporary mission that became home: the New Yorker who built a sanctuary of memory and art in El Salvador

The Catholic nun arrived during the civil war to accompany displaced communities and turned that experience into a work of memory, art, and support for youth in Suchitoto (Photo courtesy of Centro Arte para la Paz). At 87 years old, nearly 88, the American Catholic nun Peggy O’Neil speaks of El Salvador as a place that held her from the first contact. She arrived in the middle of the civil war with the intention of collaborating for a short time, but the urgency of the displaced communities and the shared life with women, children, and rural families defined her permanence. Since then, her work has extended from pastoral assistance to the creation of spaces for art, memory, and containment for young people. “This has been a gift,” O’Neil told Infobae, reflecting on more than three decades in the country. “I have found in their culture a capacity for hope in their faith and a resilience.” Before traveling to Central America, O’Neil taught theology for 25 years at a Catholic university in New York. Her classes focused on social justice, and during her travels through Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, she met religious sisters living in poor communities. This experience led her to seek a mission closer to the United States, along with other sisters. She did not speak Spanish when she began the tour of the region. Guatemala was one of the possibilities, but she backed out because the religious sisters she was traveling with wanted to learn an indigenous language as well. “I couldn't learn two languages,” she recalled. The group later arrived in El Salvador, where she made contact with grassroots communities in the capital and with people promoting community Bible readings. After assisting families returned from Honduras, a religious sister from New York promoted cultural workshops for children, adolescents, and survivors of violence (Photo courtesy of Centro Arte para la Paz). The decision to stay was immediate, she recounted. The war had left rural communities without basic services, with little access to education, health, or resources to rebuild their daily lives. O’Neil and other religious sisters began collaborating on Calle Real, where families who had abandoned their homes were concentrated. “They weren't protests, it was a war, it was terrible,” she stated. In 1987, she recalled, hundreds of families returned from the Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras to areas of El Salvador such as Copapayo and other rural sectors. Many arrived without possessions and with the need to start over. For O’Neil, that scene altered the way she had understood poverty and humanitarian aid until then. “I had my doctorate, I had studied a lot, I had ideas about what it was like to have nothing. But until I saw those people arrive, I understood what it meant to start from scratch,” she explained. The Catholic Church then organized a support structure to receive donations and assist the returning communities. O’Neil, Sister Patty, and other religious sisters visited different settlements. The work combined pastoral accompaniment, networks of solidarity, and efforts to facilitate resources for the families. During the first years, they spent most of their time in the communities and not in a fixed residence. Later, they rented a house in Suchitoto, in the department of Cuscatlán, because it had a telephone and allowed them to attend to emergencies. O’Neil recalled that it was there she received the call informing her of her father's death in the United States. Approaching 88 years old, the American is seeking funds to sustain a school and a cultural project that was born after the armed conflict (Photo courtesy of Centro Arte para la Paz). O’Neil identified women as one of the forces that kept the settlements standing during the war. Many were mothers who had returned with their children, while other family members remained outside the country, were missing, or had died. The religious sister participated in women's gatherings that mixed training, religious reflection, and mutual support. “It was dangerous, but it was also wonderful to see the women in solidarity, with resilience and hope,” she maintained. Over time, these spaces consolidated. O’Neil told how one of the groups that emerged from that period celebrated 30 years, a continuity she attributes to the participants themselves. “The refugee and returning women sustained many things when there was almost nothing,” she noted. The war ended, but the aftermath continued in the communities. O’Neil warned that the children and adolescents in the affected areas carried family losses, fear, and violent experiences that formal education could not process. Classes held under trees could resolve part of the lack of infrastructure, but they did not address that trauma. “There was no psychological help anywhere for the people who had lived through the war,” she affirmed. From the Calle Real shelters to the painting, music, and historical memory workshops in Suchitoto, Sister Peggy O'Neil recounts the path that made her a figure linked to community reconstruction after the war (Photo courtesy of Centro Arte para la Paz). This need led to the creation of the Centro Arte para la Paz, a space that uses music, painting, drawing, and other disciplines to work with young people, families, and people affected by experiences of violence. The initiative arose, according to O’Neil, at a time when Suchitoto still bore stigmas linked to the war. Some young people avoided saying where they were from when traveling to San Salvador because they feared being associated with the rebel influence zones during the conflict. The center sought to reinforce the self-esteem and identity of the participants. “Our young people know those memories, but they have learned to manage the difficult times of their lives,” she assured. She also mentioned concrete results, such as concerts, workshops, and sales of works created by the students. The institution extended its activities to stress management workshops for hospital workers and historical memory gatherings. In these, participants review the losses they went through, the ways they rebuilt their lives, and the traces left by collective violence. O’Neil maintains that the continuity of this task must transcend her presence. The center has an administrative team and class leaders, in addition to the support of the Sisters of Charity, the congregation to which she belongs. “I do not want to be a burden, but I want this to continue after me,” she expressed. Peggy O'Neil does not know how much longer she will live in El Salvador, but she is clear about what she wants to leave behind: a rebuilt school and a center capable of helping young people marked by violence and family losses (Photo courtesy of Centro Arte para la Paz). The religious sister maintains another goal: completing the reconstruction of an old adobe school and chapel in Suchitoto, linked to the Dominican Sisters. According to her, the building had been abandoned for 26 years and requires resources to function as a safe place for the center's activities. O’Neil said she needs to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete the work. She also planned to travel to the United States to seek support, a task she considers a priority given the reduction in international cooperation sources. In the interview, she attributed part of this difficulty to the closure of projects that received assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), following decisions adopted by President Donald Trump. “When that ended, projects that helped people abroad ended, and I lost that support,” she noted. She did not set a date for leaving El Salvador. Her intention, she explained, is to divide part of her time between the country and the United States to raise funds, while the local team strengthens the continuity of the Centro Arte para la Paz. Her life in the country, she said, became linked to the conviction that the response to violence must include care, community, and opportunities. “People want a better life, to be loved by a friend. That is what we have to make work,” she affirmed.