First two days of El Salvador trip 2014

It is now Wednesday morning Feb. 5, 2014.  I arrived in El Salvador on Monday afternoon.  I was picked up by Padre Fuentes and we went to his home in San Salvador.  He has lived here for about 10 years.  This is his home base and where he lives with the 5 adopted children that he has.  All of the children are doing great in school.  They all come from very poor circumstances.   By them living with the Padre they are going to a good school and now have the potential to become a productive member of the community.

They of course all love him and call him Popie.  I was able to bring down a few gifts for the children this time.  A puzzle, a Lego truck, a Lite Bright, and that loom that makes the rubber band bracelets.  All gifts were appreciated.   Although the Padre provides a lot for the children, such things as toys and books are really not available to them.  It was fun to see how excited the kids were and how they eagerly played with them.  The rubberband bracelet was a really big hit.  Oh yeh, one more thing, chocolate bars, they are always a hit for kids and adults alike.

The next morning it was time to head to the colegio.  We started at 5:30 AM and this time also picked up an American who is a mason by trade who will be helping build the next building at the colegio.

We arrived and I got to see for the first time all of improvements just since last Jan 2013 when I was there.  Three new classrooms on the second floor of one of the buildings.  New cement picnic tables for the teaches and children.  The addition of a Kindergarten and a 9th grade and a record 165 students attending the school.   To take care of all of the new kids there were 3 more teachers added.  Finally the Padre showed the two of us the newest building that is still in the state of construction.  It is called the Pilgrim House.  It should be done in two months.  It will have on the first floor a dinning room, an infirmary, a small office for staff, a kitchen and 2 bedrooms.  On the second floor will be 3 more bedrooms.

The main reason for the building is to house people that come down for a period of time to help in the school. There is always a need for help in teaching English, helping in curriculum, establishing a library, or helping to build the next building.   So it will be well used.  As all of the buildings are, they are built of cement block and a tin roof.

I spent the rest of day teaching English to the 8th graders for a while and then working with Jicela Gonzales. She is called the Project Manager for the Missions of Padre Fuentes. I have been working with her on a weekly basis for a few months now.  Her English is perfect and she has great organizational skills.  The major topics of the day were starting up the 9 donated used laptop computers I received from Bishop Hartley High School.  We have 8 of them and the challenge now will be to see how we can use them to aid the teachers as well as improving the curriculum of the school.  That is challenge that the colegio can use some expertise in if someone would like to help.  We also spent time on the project that begins next week and that is taking people to have their eyes checked through an organization called Eye Care International.  We are sending 50 people to get eyeglass and 23 people to see if they can get surgery for cataracts or a few other eye problems.  More on that later.

Finally we talked about the plans to go Guatemala on Wednesday.  We will be meeting a group that works with the poor in that country and have developed a very well thought out program.   We will learn about them more and then determine if their mission and that of  Padre Fuentes should be linked together somehow to be able to help even more people.  The Padre, Jicela and I will be going. We are all looking forward to the trip. We will be there until Saturday and then that group will come to El Salvador to see what the Padre has been doing for the last 15 years of his life.

So if it is a marriage, then there will be a need for help in establishing it to be the best possible. Stay tuned and we will let you know how to help.