Category: Blog

by Martha Granados de Mancia, ENLACE Communications Coordinator

Francisco Gonzalez “Paquito” and his motherLuis Gonzalez, the father of long-time ENLACE employee Francisco “Paco” Gonzalez, passed away on June 15. It was a sad and emotional moment for many in the ENLACE family as we were reminded of our vulnerability and short life on this earth. However, it was also a moment to ponder on the legacy of a loving father. 

I’ve often heard people talk of God as a father, and when I think of the word ‘father’ I like to think of my childhood days; days when I was wasn’t afraid to express my feelings and sit with him, joking and smiling. Even running around outside, with his care and attention, I hadn’t a worry in the world.

To think that we ought to be as children is an unusual thought these days, but it is also very important. Time passes and we often don’t notice that daily routines have captivated our attention, and what we should really be doing is sitting and admiring the life that our Father has given us. The death of Paco’s father put a stop to our normal routine of a work-week at ENLACE. We prayed for Paco’s mother, his sister and for Paco. We remembered the death of his twin brother, Felipe, while Paco was studying in Germany. We stopped. We took time to appreciate Paco’s life and be grateful for his presence in our lives.Some of the ENLACE staff during the funeral

It was beautiful to see Pastors Miguel Duran and Santos Carpio as well as community leaders like Dona Tonita, a lay leader of the Catholic Church in Las Delicas; They were all there in support of Paco, a man who has inspired their lives through his life and work. The Holy Spirit was also present filling us with peace and brought the family a sense of security thinking about Don Luis and his arrival at a place of rest. Luisa Gonzalez, Paco’s sister, said during the funeral ceremony, “My Dad was always happy. He showed us how to see things from a positive perspective and he urged us to remain united.” 

“Don Luis Gonzalez was 92 years old when he went to meet his Lord and his words through his daughter, Luisa, continue to instruct us to see life with a positive attitude while remaining united in love.

Storm causes Road Damage, Flash Floods and Landslides El Salvador’s vulnerability to natural disasters was made apparent once again as Tropical Storm Alex battered the country over the weekend. Flash flooding and landslides caused schools and businesses to close. At least three people died, and more than 1,200 people were forced from their homes. 

While this storm will make the news because of its severity and regional impact, it also highlights the fact that inadequate housing and infrastructure is compromised every year during the normal six-month rainy season in El Salvador. Storms such as Alex exacerbate an already challenged situation.

ENLACE works with local churches that identify opportunities to help reduce the effect of these storms and seasonal rains by building stable homes, retaining walls, bridges and improved roads.  Actual condition of the Road in Santa Maria

The Prince of Peace Church in San Martin has identified a road improvement project as one of their first initiatives to be completed in partnership with their community. They will pave a 254 meter section of this road which is heavily traveled by hundreds of people and is currently prone to landslides due to erosion and heavy rains.

The first stages of this initiative will cost approximately $31,000 and will include gutter construction, septic tank, and paving the road. Multiple local entities are already involved; The mayor’s office is contributing more than $14,500 and the church and community is contributing approximately $3,200. ENLACE is committing to raise the final $3,333.50 with your support.

The local church and the community have worked hard overcoming obstacles in order to repair the road. The church is ready and willing to serve its community with this road construction.
-Gerson Ramirez
ENLACE Church Coach

 $30 will directly help the quality of life for three people in Santa Maria for years to come.

For as little as $30 you can help three people walk safely on this road and positively impact their daily lives! Partner with ENLACE, Prince of Peace Church and the San Martin communities today!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW (Select “Housing and Infrastrucutre Initiatives”).

The semi-rural area just outside of San Salvador called Las Delicias, or The Delights in English, is a major thoroughfare for thousands of people who live in the various villages and hamlets just beyond the city. The highway that leads you through Delight is framed by broken-down factories, chicken processing plants, dusty tire repair shops and lean-to eateries. Windy paved roads like tributaries lead you away from the highway through rows of low-income housing where factory laborers work 15-hour days and come home to two rooms, occasional running water and a flickering TV.

You would think that life here was anything but delightful. Poverty seems to envelop everything, eating up the means to live through disease and lack of opportunity. But on this highway just past Las Delicias, where we leave the pavement behind and walk through a corridor of vegetation to descend steep steps made of used tires that help prevent erosion and landslides, we find the hamlet of Veracruz. It is here where you find Rosa and are welcomed into a small, cement patio strewn with hanging plants and stream-washed clothes drying in the humid air. It is here where we discover the unexpected reality of hope and delight.

Rosa Alba Sandoval de Granados, a wife and mother, is among the few women who work in agriculture, farming being a typically male profession in El Salvador. She is no stranger from doing what is necessary to feed her 10 children and she dedicates much of her time to cultivating beans and corn on two acres of rented land. Her husband works long hours as a security guard at a local market, a job that is tiring and dangerous but provides some consistent income. Despite their long hours, Rosa is proud that she and her husband have put seven of their children through High School and the three who are in elementary school are well on their way to graduation. This is an accomplishment indeed, as most in rural El Salvador do not go beyond a sixth-grade education. 

When they are not studying, all the children help in the field alongside their mother planting, weeding and harvesting. However, three years ago, Rosa knew that her family needed to expand their farm in order to have the income to cover living expenses and create savings. Despite their hard work and successes, she did not qualify for a loan from any formal financial institutions. Loans for those who straddle the poverty line are seen as too risky and expensive to manage. That was when she turned to CREDATEC, the mirco-lending arm of ENLACE.ENLACE credit officer, Israel Melendez, talk with Rosa Alba outside of her home.

While she had initial success with her farming and was enjoying the first fruits of a productive season, tropical storm Ida crossed El Salvador and eighty percent of Rosa’s crops were ruined. Her home’s roof was also heavily damaged, setting her back substantially. ENLACE’s credit program worked together with Rosa until she was able to repay her loan and repair her home. The inflexibility of a traditional bank’s loan repayment schedule would have undoubtedly disabled Rosa from repaying, and crippled any possibility of a prosperous future. In November 2009, Rosa took out her second loan for seeds and fertilizer. Through more hard work, she and her family experienced an excellent growing season.

What the future brings is always uncertain–especially for those who live on small daily margins. But the access to financial help that looks to prosper micro-entrepreneurs rather than prey on them, is a delight that Rosa and her family know first-hand.

CLICK HERE to see a photo gallery of Rosa Alba and two other credit success stories.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE to ENLACE’s Credit Program TODAY!

Dozens of people were forced to leave their homes in San Miguel this week. Photo courtesy of El Diario de HoyEl Salvador is being drenched by Tropical Storm Agatha which has dumped more than 16 inches of rain on the country in the past few days. The government has declared a state of emergency throughout the country with at least nine people dead and more than eight thousands forced from their homes. Thousands of Salvadorans suffer loss of property and life due to lack of adequate infrastructure to protect them from the six months of torrential storms experienced each year.

ENLACE works with local churches who identify opportunities to help reduce the effect of these vicious storms by building stable homes, retaining walls to prevent erosion and landslides as well as bridges to cross potentially life threatening streams that overflow during storms like Agatha.

Crossing one of the previous bridges built in the Abelines regionIn Abelines multiple footbridges have been built offering safe passage for community members during times like these. Due to the great success of the previous bridge projects, church and community members have identified the need for an additional foot bridge in Abelines which has a population of about 4,086 people. The bridge will be located on the main road that leads from Abelines to the neighboring community of El Carbon. It will span a stream that grows dangerously high and rapid during storms like Agatha cutting off thousands of inhabitants from access to the local school, the local health clinic and farmers’ crops.

This initiative will cost about $16,600. However, the church and community is contributing about $4,700 ENLACE has committed to raise $11,900 through your support.

This new [bridge] initiative has brought three community associations together to collaborate with the church. This is the first time that they’ve worked so closely together and it has given them a new perspective of what it means to collaborate.
-Julio Figueroa
ENLACE Church Coach

 $30 = years of safe passage for ten people in Abelines.

For as little as $30 you can partner with ENLACE, Iglesia Piedra Angular (Cornerstone Church) and the Abelines communities to provide years of safe passage for ten person.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW (Select “Housing and Infrastrucutre Initiatives”).

Founded and organized by pediatric residents, Children’s Health International Medicine Project of Seattle (CHIMPS) collaborates with ENLACE’s church partners in the Abelines region to provide medical care and public health interventions. Over the past seven years members of the CHIMPS teams have helped administer care in the Abelines region while also providing training and encouragement to the multiple Health Committees in the area. In addition, the teams have helped gather vital medical information including a multi-year iron deficiency study.

This year’s trip, in mid-April, was focused on dental hygiene. The CHIMPS team conducted dental exams, applied fluoride varnish and distributed dental supplies for more than 400 children. They also gathered important information about the state of dental hygiene in the area while training patients and Health Committee members on prevention of future dental problems. 

Kim administering fluoride treatment in AbelinesENLACE volunteer Kim Frederick reports that the trip was “a true eye-opener to the incredible need for dental health in rural poverty-stricken areas. By the end of the first day, the need for dental care and caries prevention was painfully apparent, as 96% of the children we saw had at least some form of moderate tooth decay, with the average number of caries being greater than four per child. Also, after the first day, 34% of the children were noted as having severe caries in which the tooth or teeth were fully eroded or the roots exposed.”

The Abelines region has seen remarkable change in the health of its community members since local churches actively began to serve with ENLACE’s accompaniment. Teams like CHIMPS not only provide technical and practical assistance but are an encouragement to the church and community members who are working daily towards community transformation. 

Click here to read Kim’s blog entry about her experience in Abelines…  

Kim on her first trip to El Salvador

This week ENLACE welcomes Kim Frederick to El Salvador. Kim first visited El Salvador in 2002 on a mission trip with NewSong Church of Cumming, GA. During her first visit, her passion for service was evident not only to her fellow team members, but also to the children that flocked to her. 

Over the next two years, Kim will play a key role as a missionary-volunteer. Her contagious love for the country will serve ENLACE well while hosting US church partners on their visits to El Salvador. And her degree in Public Health will help her collect health research data from local communities and assist community health workers with preventive health education initiatives. Kim will be keeping a blog of her journey at www.kimfrederick.com 

Missionary-volunteers like Kim are responsible for raising their living expenses through gifts and donations. If you would like to sponsor Kim’s valuable work with ENLACE, click here.

Many of you who have followed Project Milagro (The Miracle Project) in the communities of Las Delicias, Las Animas and El Rosario know the story of Marina. Marina is a hard-working single mother who has volunteered countless hours alongside her fellow church and community members, striving to make a dream become reality. Take a moment to listen to Marina’s compelling story. 

$50/month for 10 months (or $500) will bring clean water to one household for generations to come. CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

ENLACE “equips churches to transform communities.” And while community transformation is often a hard concept to grasp, these preliminary statistics help to tell the story of transformation for thousands of people in the Abelines region. What has happened in this area of the country over the past few years is nothing short of miraculous. 

Since 2004*:

* Infant mortality rates have dropped  from 47 per 1,000 to two per 1,000 per year.

* Insecure housing rates have decreased from  32% (110 of 341 houses were unsafe) to 14% (48 of 341 houses are unsafe).

* Access to clean water has increased from 1% (4 of 341 households had access to clean water) to 79% (271 of 341 households have access to clean water).

* Access and use of latrines has increased from 33% (113 of 341 households used latrines) to 93% (316 of 341 households use latrines).

* Access to electricity has increased from 0% to 95% (324 of 341 households have access to electricity).

We believe that at the root of any lasting change is the restoration of relationships, the fruit of individual transformation. A few months ago we filmed the following interviews with church and community leaders in the communities in and around Abelines, and we’d like to share with you their stories of transformation.  

This year ENLACE is already working with more than 10 churches in the Abelines region. There are many more churches that are requesting ENLACE’s accompaniment to transform their communities as well. You can make help make this happen through your prayers and support. Click here to give to ENLACE’s church and community program.

*Preliminary impact estimates 2004-2009. More extensive research is still in process.

It is with great enthusiasm that we present you with our 2009 Annual Report.  Thank you for your prayers and support!

http://www.enlaceonline.org/storage/AR2009web.pdf

ENLACE is now working with more than 30 churches impacting the lives of thousands of people like Lilian throughout El Salvador. We need your help to meet the growing demand of churches who desire to transform their communities.

Click here to donate now! 

As always, we appreciate your comments!