We have received a lot of news lately from El Salvador. Some of it concerns the state of the country
and also news from our project partners of public school improvements and our
agriculture projects.
Country:
We subscribe to the Famine Early Warning Network operated by
USAID. We were introduced to this
network by our friends of Oikos Solidaridad.
It monitors worldwide weather and harvest conditions in order to alert
for possible famine conditions. El
Salvador is currently importing corn from the United States and Mexico and its
supply of rice is the lowest in many years.
These imports have kept the prices of these staples at historic rates in
the local markets.
But even with the current level of imports, FEWNET predicts
that Central America will be in crisis
by July 2016 due to the change of
weather (rain) caused by El Nino resulting in a poor harvest. While the El Nino climate effect is diminishing,
the effect on the food supply can’t and won’t change until the 2016/2017
planting and harvest.
Project updates:
The new 9th grade is now operational in our
current school project. School resumed
on January 18. The first day of school was
like a festival. Families came to see
the many improvements and anticipate the future science lab from FEPADE. Classroom space is now limited and the school
is over- crowded.
One of our students from this school was having pupusas at a
local roadside vender when shots rang out.
She was next to a man who was targeted and she also became a victim.
Yoselin took a bullet to the neck, destroying her windpipe. A prosthesis was inserted for her to breathe
on her own and a tube is inserted into her stomach for feeding. She will not be able to talk for several
years.
We saw a picture of her last week and she has lost a lot of
weight and is very fragile. We pray that
her family can provide the appropriate supplement that will help Yoselin regain
her body mass and strength.
Projects in the east:
·
Our older students who attend the Technical
Institute in Usulután and San Miguel have also returned for their 3rd
semester. The holiday break was good for them as they are getting stressed at
the work load at school and at home.
·
Additional news on the agriculture projects indicates
a good harvest is benefiting our participants in the projects. Earlier in the planting season, the rains did
not come and early plants were lost. But
with replanting and training offered by our partners, newer technology (greenhouses)
overcame these early obstacles, resulting in abundant harvest.
Unfortunately these agriculture improvements are isolated to
a small group of families, totaling fewer than 1,000 residents having
connections to the churches in the east.
We are trying to stretch our thinking as to how to provide ongoing
training in other zones of El Salvador to overcome the famine crisis that
occurs too often.
David y Nancy
