Examples of Current Projects
Ecotourism and Jobs in El Sitio Zapotal
El Salvador is a beautiful country that has been ravaged by pollution, erosion and waste. Its dense population, the civil war, and lack of employment opportunities are fueling a steady migration to the United States. In El Sitio Zapotal, we are working with a local nongovernmental organization as well as youth groups and local communities to change the future and save the natural resources on the mountain of Guazapa. Our ecotourism project in El Sitio Zapotal is a way to preserve the natural resources of Guazapa and simultaneously support employment opportunities for youth.
View the video El Salvador: A Silent Call for Help now to understand why.
Hacienda Vieja: Preschool, Community Center and Library and Water
On our first visit, we gathered on the long porch of a small adobe house, where dozens of children gathered for preschool. The community has almost 70 families, with a total population of 370, represented by a community board ("ADESCO").
Hacienda Vieja is in the Department of Cabañas, 68 km away from San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, and 9 km away from Sensuntepeque, the capital city of the department. ("ADESCO"). Cabañas, Morazan and La Union, have been among the poorest departments of El Salvador. Each of them, and especially Cabañas, have the lowest health, education, income and development indexes in the country.
We were now seated outdoors along a narrow porch with the ADESCO, a governing council elected by the community of 75 families. These families work during the seasonal sugar cane harvest to earn $3 a day. They told us about their dream for building a two-room school — something they could not afford to build on the money they earned from subsistence farming. But they were committed to educating their children so that they might escape another generation of poverty.
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Together, we walked to the center of the community to stand on a small, oddly shaped dump, a steep hillside strewn with trash — the only available site for the school of their dreams During the first year in Hacienda Vieja, our IP delegation raised the money to build a two-room school. During the second year, a delegation returned to furnish it, build fences, lay sidewalks, and landscape the yard. Their first major accomplishment is a beautiful new school that has replaced the dump. It symbolizes the coming together as a community capable of self-leadership. The school quickly became the local meeting place from which the community launched adult literacy and health classes, meetings of a youth group, and community gatherings. But, at the center of an energized community, full of plans — the activities in the preschool quickly outgrew the space. It became overcrowded and the need for more space was clear. |
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The ADESCO quickly thought of a solution, and the third year, yet another IP summer delegation raised funds and added a community meeting room and library at the foot of the hillside. And in the spring of 2007, a delegation from the Manhattanville College came during their spring break to plant trees and work in the school and help the community finish up details.
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What has emerged is a community with a strong and confident sense of its own ability to make improvements and outstanding individual leaders. Leadership has expanded to include a children's directive, a youth directive and a water committee.
At 23 and 24, the two original teachers, Noel and Elba were elected co-president of the ADESCO. The showed such outstanding leadership that IP granted them a scholarship to finish their education. Noel - who was forced to drop out of high school after 9th grade to support his mother and 4 siblings - recently completed high school and is now finishing his first year at the National University where he is studying education. Elba was accepted at National University and is entering her second year, where she is studying social work. And this year, IP donors decided to offer an education loan to the leader our delegates fondly call "Lolo" so that he could participate in a yearlong vocational program in cooking.
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- Click here to read a story about Noel and Elba, two of our scholarship students.
In 2007, the goal became getting water to forty-five houses where the families had to walk and carry water. So, for the fourth summer in a row, an IP delegation returned in July to dig ditches, bury pipes and build a water tank.
Meanwhile the preschool is thriving. In addition to letters, numbers, and colors, the kids are planting trees, learning to cook, and raising money for an end-of-the-year trip to a children's museum in San Salvador. Thanks to lessons from IP delegate Katie Wheatley, the kids are teaching each other how to knit. And, a nice surprise to us all, after weekend recreational activities, community members are gathering for "reflections," - "just like Partners does."
Every investment in this tiny community seems to return far more than we could have ever imagined. It is above all, an investment in human capacity. At IP, we have had the privilege of knowing these leaders and sharing their dream.
Click here to read a history of the Hacienda Vieja community and its citizens.
