Sunday, March 17, 2013

Day 1 El Salvador


March 17, 2013

We've arrived!  Had to wait an hour at the airport for one of our group who was coming in on another flight, then an hour's ride to Usulutan from the airport. Jesus, our interpreter, met us at the airport. Is that not great, we will have Jesus with us all week!  

Once we arrived at the hotel, we got our rooms, then met the two families we will be working with this week: Cristabel is a single parent with three children; and Mario, his wife and their three children comprise the other family. They are so grateful to have us here! 

After a break to get settled into our rooms, we met for our orientation. Learned a little about the history, government, economy, and education of El Salvador.  It's the smallest country in Central America with the densest population; over 6 million people live here, and over 2 million El Salvdorans live abroad. 14% of the economy comes from "remases" (remittance), money sent to El Salvadoran families from relatives working outside of the country.  Average income here is about $250 a month. The houses that we will work on are very modest, 400 square foot cement block homes.  Looking forward to going to work in the morning.

No comments:

Post a Comment