Post by Nancy Rivard, Predident of AA
Today, June 1, 2022, we visited Kiwanis Village, the project we began to build after the 2001 Santa Tecla earthquake, with Armando Bukele Kattan.
What a joy to see his face on the buildings as we entered the village. Next to his image were the words:
” If you follow the voice of the people, bad ones will get mad, & present obstacles, but keep going, God and your people will be with you.”
After the Santa Tecla earthquake in 2001, Airline Ambassadors provided land in Soyapango…which was a “Chatterrera” (junkyard). Regardless, we were determined to make this village a success.
Originally, we built 150 house. Now the community has grown to over 220 families – 3000 people!
Laura Corpeno (Project Coordinator for Kiwanis) provided a tour with Flor Parada (Director of the Kiwanis School ) to show us the latest efforts at starting an organic community garden to teach children and families sustainable agriculture. It was amazing as the families are using the vegetables themselves, and selling excess to others. In the garden we are growing beans, tomatoes, green peppers, radishes, onions and more.
and it was incredible to see how sustainable agriculture empowers local people!
We toured the garden and school. Kiwanis Village is providing pre-school training and mentoring to help the children be the best they can be.
And we had a great tour and learned how they are planning to expand the village in a sustainable way
and On June 25, 2022 we celebrated Day of the Family! If you would like to help with this worthwhile project, please email nancy@airlineamb.org! Scroll on to learn more.
Here is some background on our efforts in El Salvador:
Airline Ambassadors has quite a history in El Salvador. We began working there in 1999 and our work attracted the interest of the First Lady of the country, Senora Flores.
Airline Ambassadors began working in El Salvador in 1999
Primera Dama Flores supported our work at orphanages.
- American Airlines donated a 757 in 2000
Provided Christmas parties and aid to 5 orphanages.
- Earthquake in El Salvador 2001
In 2001, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the nation of El Salvador. In the month the followed, there were thousands of aftershocks, including a 6.6
magnitude earthquake exactly one month after the first. Damage was extensive. At least 1,159 people were killed, another 8,122 were injured, and 335,000 homes were damaged or completely destroyed. In addition, infrastructure, including water systems, roads, and hospitals, were badly damaged.
AAI came right back down with relief mission, bringing President of American Medical Association and a Kiwanis International Aid delivery to Refugee Camp Cafelelon.
2nd earthquake hit while we were there and as a result, we helped to get the CASA Act passed in the U.S. and El Salvador that new construction must be accompanied by proper building codes. The Casa program received Bi partisan support SAL – USA
25 Humanitarian Missions to El Salvador in 2010 – 2012
Delivered wheelchairs, medicine, clothing, school supplies, vocational training & more
- Kiwanis Village
The city of Soyapango, within an hour’s drive east of the capitol city, is the second most populated area in El Salvador. Among numerous economic and other problems, the city has had a long and notorious presence of MS-13 and other gang activities, making it particularly dangerous for anyone to live there. The land was a Chatarrera, which translates to a junkyard. It served as a police impound lot and most of the land was covered in piles of rusty vehicles.
On the same land were the temporary homes of 150 families, those that would eventually receive new homes. The families had all been displaced by the earthquake, several hurricane disasters, or due to various political reasons and lived in meager structures built by the army or in tents, propped wherever a piece of land could be claimed. Since there was virtually no land in the area that wasn’t either covered in scrap metal or precarious shelters, the only way to build anything was to begin a massive shuffling game of people and metal. Throughout the process, families had to be moved to other locations or live with other families in already cramped spaces. Building began and community members helped build these houses according to proper building codes:
Today the community and the people in it have come a long way. The Directiva, a local board of trustees, implements self-governance and organizes community efforts. Many women in the community have completed a training program in sewing. We also started a sewing program and delivered sewing machines so the women could learn to sew. The next phase is to develop other micro-businesses and other ways to make the community self-sustaining and give people a way to help themselves. Airline Ambassadors proudly supports this humanitarian in the country we have grown to love — El Salvador!
