Mission Accomplished

Our third week in El Salvador began with two low key days in the capital. Then we left for Usulután to tour the public schools we have been fundraising for many improvements. School is over for the year but the teachers are still busy preparing for the 2014 school year which resumes in January. Following is a brief recap of our tour: The new classroom in La Cribe is built. They can now accommodate 30 Pre-K children. This is double the number of students who were taught in the old storage shed and the new building is beautiful and safe. Canton Guadalupe has two newly completed classrooms and an office. We started with concrete floors this March, then added 70 new desks, installed electricity and fresh paint on all the buildings. Alambre has a new roof for the computer classroom, student desks, computers, computer desks and windows. Alambre was notified that the government is authorizing 12 computers for Alambre’s new computer lab making it the official regional computer site that will serve hundreds of students from these 3 schools and the high school. Think of the transition for students from sitting on the dirt floor to having desks, books, electricity and computers. Over 1,000 students are touched by these completed projects, but our work is still not done. Hearing of our projects in the east, a small business owner asked us to visit her family’s public school project in La Paz, close to the ocean. The principal and Dr. Castellanos, the volunteer, shared that the Ministry of Education (MOE) has not responded to their needs for a new roof on the existing building, nor provided text books for the students, nor offered more than a two-hole bathroom for 300 students. Nor does the MOE provide adequate funding for the authorized number of teachers. The government food program supplies food for needy students three times a year and when it runs out, it’s gone. The children are left with no lunch for weeks. In the absence of government support and dealing with their own basic needs, the parents are not willing to send their children to another community to continue in 7-8-9 grades. Therefore the boys go to work in the sugar cane fields and the girls remain home to help care for their families. The parents, mostly single moms, realize their children need more education so they asked Dr. Castellanos for help. He organized the community and with the support of the Sugar Cane Association, purchased materials to construct a large building for three more grades. The MOE will not recognize the new building or pay for an additional teacher. We have agreed to join Dr. and Mrs. Castellanos in their commitment to the people of San Luis Talpa. To prepare for the January opening of the new 7th grade, we purchased 26 desks with donated funds. We are now fundraising for text books for these students and replacement text books for K-6. For the older building, we purchased lamina to replace the damaged roof and for basic repairs to the bathroom. The Castellanos family is securing funds for materials to build a secure computer lab and purchase computers. The government has promised recognition of the new grades after the PC lab is installed. While our long-term education projects in the east are accomplished, the needs are still great. We remain open to the plans the Lord has for us in our mission and ministry in El Salvador. An on-going mission call: Go to the people. Live with them, learn from them, love them. Start with what they know, build with what they have. But of the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, “We have done this ourselves.” (Lao-Tzu, 700 B.C.) David y Nancy