In the early years, when ENLACE was run from a church choir room in San Salvador, and three volunteers (Ron Bueno, Dave Bueno and Dorita Reinoza) shared one 486 computer and a white, beat up truck, the vision was to help the rural poor gain access to a healthier and more stable way of life. The ambitious nature of such a vision was not lost on these volunteers and yet, according to Ron, who eventually became ENLACE’s executive director, a frequent refrain was heard amidst the choir robes from Zechariah 4.10; Despise not the day of small beginnings.
And so as Ron, Dave, and Dorita began to develop an effective approach to resolving the needs of poverty, they were led by God from focussing on projects to people, a story captured recently in Vanguard University Magazine.
Enlace’s initial strategy, which did not directly involve churches, had to change to achieve lasting transformation.
“The very first project we did was a big water initiative,” says Ron. “Everyone in the community was engaged. It was a smashing success by any development standard. We thought, ‘We rock.’ To this day it’s one of the best water systems in whole region. But shortly after everybody got water, I realized everybody worked together only because they needed it. When a spigot broke or a neighbor couldn’t afford it anymore, they wouldn’t help each other. No matter how well designed and managed the system was, it did not ultimately change people’s hearts and therefore would not change the community.
“God kept challenging me, ‘Unless I am changing hearts and relationships, there’s not going to be long-term change. If it’s not my church doing it, it isn’t going to happen.’ That was a real turning point for me and for Enlace.”
To read the rest of the story, including present missionaries and Vanguard alums, Pete and Dara DeSoto and James and Rebecca Huff, click here.
