SARA Stories

Children of the Mangroves

El Espino is a small village along the Pacific Ocean in El Salvador. The village is occupied mainly by women and children. Very few men are seen. The women have no means of support. Survival is placed on the backs of the children.

The mothers require the children to dig for clams and oysters among the roots of the mangrove trees when the tide is low. We have seen children as young as four years old digging in the muck. They work six hours a day each day. They must smoke cigars or cigarettes to ward off the hordes of mosquitoes amongst these trees. They have learned to put mud on their faces and bodies to keep from getting bitten. A good day may net them $6.00. There is no time for school.

On a trip this past June with youth from St. Paul UCC in New Bremen, we joined the youngsters as they worked among the roots of the mangroves. We dug in the mucky sand where we saw the small holes that indicated where a clam may be living. The wet sand was heavy, and we found that it took energy to dig down sometimes a foot. Even then, we weren’t guaranteed a clam with our effort. This is repeated time and again each day for the youngsters who live here.

In February, on another trip to this small country, we visited a small village surrounded by a grove of jocote trees. Selling the fruit from these trees is the main means of support for these villagers. Two individuals, when asked what impressed them the most about the trip, remarked that the friendliness, the generosity and the spirituality of the people were remarkable. These people have so very little and yet willingly gave each of us a bag of jocotes, which they themselves needed to maintain a living.

The CRD (Committee for Reconstruction and Development) is the non-government agency through which SARA works in El Salvador. There are so many needs in these remote villages—clean water, schools, health clinics, decent living quarters, and roads.  We have seen the results of money donated to the CRD, such as the water tanks built by the villagers with funds for supplies and engineers donated by SARA and other organizations. One of these tanks is supplying water to fifteen villages now.

Fourteen years after their civil war, conditions for the poor in El Salvador are worsening, we are told. We asked how SARA could help the most. We were told that at this time the greatest need is continuing support for the two doctors and other health workers in the two clinics that were established in the remote villages.  There would be no medical care in these areas without them. 

The doctors work for $375 a month and have to furnish their own cars to get to the clinics. Money is also needed to buy medications needed for treating their patients. Conditions prevalent during the rainy season are diarrhea and respiratory problems. Other problems with health are malaria, dengue fever and amoeba diseases.

Over-the-counter medications could be collected by different organizations for transporting to El Salvador in the suitcases of those going on a mission trip. These trips happen every year. If you are interested, contact John Gilberg at 419-629-2947 or Larry Kuhn at 419-629-2379. 

It is shocking to hear that a young mother of three wants to come to the United States to work for three years so that she can make a decent living for herself and her family. She would have to leave her children with her in-laws during that time. Then there was the lady living in a small village in the jungle, who after having just been introduced to me, said, “Take me home with you.” These are desperate times for them.

Please help make it a better world for them. Please give generously!

In June 2006 I had the privilege to travel to the Ukraine with my neighbors at St. Paul UCC in Wapakoneta. We were representing SARA, and we each took an extra suitcase filled with shoes for the Children’s Home. Even though I have been a Lutheran pastor for over 25 years, I have never been to a country where the need was so great and the people were so grateful.

Later in the week, when the children at the home gathered around the suitcases and tried on the shoes to find a pair that fit, I couldn’t keep from smiling. I was taking pictures, and I just laughed as the children proudly showed me their new shoes. It was so exciting for all of us, and it occurred to me that I had never been to a "shoe party" before.

We were also blessed to have eight men from an engineering business in Holland there at the same time. These men all were active in their Dutch Reformed churches and were looking for a project to support. I was so impressed by the depth of their faith and their willingness to show generosity. And they reminded me that in addition to SARA, there are good people from all over trying to "make a difference in the lives of others for the sake of Jesus Christ."