David and Nancy Slinde Speaking at their "Sending Service"

Thursday, November 29, 2018

November Projects Update We recently received updates from two project partners: One is from the couple that we have partnered with to begin rehab of our 7th public school; the other is the continuing growth of the women’s cooperative of raising and selling chickens in their community to improve the diet for their families and to create income. We have always attached pictures to tell the story, but google will not display the photos, only the numeric code. If anyone could give suggestions on how I can resume photos, we will appreciate your advice. We have had a remarkable year in the school restoration. We have received many donations allowing us to wire transfer significant money for repairs in 2018. It really hard to explain how unsafe and under equipped these institutions are. The pictures we post don’t tell the story. Pictures with these beautiful children standing in doorways or of eating lunch don’t tell the story. With no desks, text books, paper or pencils, parents send their kids to school for supervision and a lunch. The Department of Education recently won a global award for its free lunch program. We have eaten with the kids and we can attest a tortilla and powdered milk is no award winner. The chicken project started in 2013. After our January 2018 visit, we sent funds for another four coops to our project partners for training, construction and purchase of chicks in our base community. We are delighted that the women and families from the past 6 years who have their chicken business continue to encourage their neighbors when they are included in the chicken cooperative. It’s a blessing to see them support one another because they are rebuilding the value system of what it means to be community. We really look forward to spending time with them; however they wonder why we come to this difficult place. But they know that we are pleased with their work and will continue to support this life-changing project for more participants. Our first project was a sanitation project that we prayed about starting in 2004. The problem was that children in the community were dying from diarrhea. This became a major long-term engineering project that was way over our abilities. We had dedicated partners and volunteers who made it successful for the well-being of this whole community. And we learned to take on challenges and do them in smaller phases. It was a crucial lesson for our future visioning. When we return in January 2019, we will meet for our third time with Habitat for Humanity El Salvador to develop a plan to repair and provide homes for those in need in our church community. Once again we are out of our league and careful not to raise false hope. But we have been called, thus the risk and results reside with our Lord and Savior, Jesus the living Christ. David y Nancy

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