Day 4 Santiago de Maria

March 20, 2013

Today both groups worked a half-day at our respective homes, then took a trip up into the mountains to visit Santiago de Maria.  This is the community that was devastated by two earthquakes twelve years ago, destroying the homes of 400 families. Temporary housing was built following the earthquakes and those families are still living in this temporary housing today. We visited one of the four settlements, Moreno, where 68 families are living.  There are two community latrines that these families share; the average size of an El Salvadoran family is five people, so that means approximately 340 people sharing two bathrooms!

We visited the home of Rosario who is a 23 year-old mother of two.  She lived with her parents in the settlement since the earthquakes when she was 11, and when she married, she and her husband built a shack next to her parents. Words cannot describe the absolute poverty these people live in.  The homes are built of corrugated metal and they have dirt floors. There are holes in the metal roofs, so during the rainy season, the floors are mud.  To support their family, Rosario takes in laundry and ironing, and her husband works seasonally at a coffee plantation. Again, it is completely amazing to us how clean and neat their clothing is.

We brought activities to do with the kids this afternoon; face painting, coloring pages, tattoos and stickers, and balloons.  Some of the guys also played soccer and frisbee with some of the kids. We ended the afternoon with a piñata, and a treat for each of the kids.

The city of Santiago de Maria has finally set aside land to use to build homes for these families. The roads and electricity have been completed and Habitat El Salvador is preparing to begin building 400 homes at this site, They have the pledges needed to start 35 homes, as soon as the permits are completed. The cost of each home is $7000. Now they need teams to come and build!

The children greeted us with hugs and kisses, and the parents thanked us over and over for visiting them. These are hard-working people who just need a hand-up.

Day 3 Mario's Family

Compliments of Janet Elwer...

March 19, 2013

The second house the team is working on belongs to Mario's family. He and his wife have three little children, so his house is a three bedroom. The house is two weeks from completion. The work we've done is moving lots of fill for the floors, sifting the sand for the mortar, whitewashing the walls and getting to know the family and extended family. The kids enjoyed the stickers and tattoos. Kudos to Aaron for  climbing the scaffold and painting!  We've learned of new fruits and uses for them- cutuco: you split in half, scoop out the inner fruit and throw it away then you have two cups to drink from. "Chuck Norris" visited our site aka Aaron Reichter who wore a camouflage bandana and Mario called him Chuck Norris. The El Salvador laborers work very hard in the heat. We had to take many water breaks and short rests. The area is very dry and dusty but the people are very clean and the clothes are spotless.

Day 2. Cristabel's House

March 18, 2013

12 of us out of the group of 18 went to work on Cristabel's house today. And score! Her house is being built on a shady lot, so we had shade, there was a restaurant next door for lunch and we had a flush toilet!  That is a good day in El Salvador, especially when it's 92 degrees outside.  We mixed mezcla (mortar) for between the cement blocks that the homes are made of, and the chispa, used to cement the rebar in the blocks. We made four rounds (levels) on the house.  Leon Stidfole did the work of "two mules and four horses today." We observed a lot of activity going back and forth in front of our worksite, from chickens, a herd of cows, a lone pig, school children, many bicycle carts selling their wares, and vendors in vehicles with loudspeakers blaring about their wares. 

Cristabel's cousin, Felipe, was working on the house as part of her sweat equity.  We were all required to wear work boots or sturdy shoes on the work site, but Felipe was working barefoot. When asked where his shoes were, he replied that he had none.  Just a reminder to us once again, how hard-working, but poor these people are.

Stay tuned tomorrow for news on Mario's house!

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.

The Team for El Salvador

Please keep team Amigos de Caritas in your prayers as they build with Global Village Habitat in El Salvador. Our parish team departs March 17 and returns March 24. Parishioners who are part of team Amigos de Caritas are Laurie Delvaux, Jeff and Janet Elwer, Leon and Becky Stidfole, Mary Reichter, Aaron Reichter, Nicole Roland, and Patsy Carlson. 

There are nine others on the team from the Des Moines area.  Those members are Brendalyn Shird, Robert Pitlock, Jerry Woods, Clark Colby, Mary Lou Neugent, Dotty Thurston, Abigail Goodman, Wayne Kurschinski and Alan Kurschinski. Thank you for keeping this group and the families they serve in your prayers!

Habitat Blog on El Salvador

Habitat has a blog that they use for the groups in El Salvador.  Take a look at what our good folks are in for when they get to El Salvador.  HHB

El Salvador is just around the corner

In less then two weeks the group will be headed to El Salvador.  Begin to pray for them in their mission but pray also for the people whom they will be working with.  Many of the people that the homes are being built for have been in temporary housing for way too long.

So let us pray.

O gracious and loving God, you work everywhere reconciling, loving, and healing your people and your creation. In your Son and through the power of your Holy Spirit, you invite each of us to join you in your work. We, young and old, lay and ordained, ask you to form us more and more in your image and likeness, through our prayer and worship of you and through the study of your scripture, that our eyes will be fully opened to your mission in the world. Then, God, into our communities, our nation, and the world, send us to serve with Christ, taking risks to give life and hope to all people and all of your creation. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.