Help us build our community center in El Salvador

The community of Alta Mira Flores is an impoverished community on the outskirts of San Salvador. Not only do the members of this community live with hunger, unemployment and inadequate housing; they also live in a place of extreme violence and intimidation from local gangs. For the parents, there is a constant worry that their children will become victims of the violence or even become gang members. For many parents this is their reality; they have lost their children to the gangs and have no way to get them back.

We can help change this. Alta Mira Flores has one school that provides schooling free of charge to 225 children from the local community. This school only has 6 grades which means many children are forced to leave school and discontinue their education. Together in Hope wants to change this by building a larger school that will allow children attending La Rosa Blanca to finish their schooling all the way through high school, increasing their opportunity for a brighter future and a better tomorrow.

Not only are the children at risk in this community, but the adults are also. Together in Hope has just returned from a medical/dental clinic and community outreach trip where interviews were conducted with 12 families. The main problem that the adults face is unemployment and many have no educational background to help them gain employment or sustain it. Our goal is to build a community center that will have adult education classes and job training programs.

In the post war era, many people from this area suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In this society, psychological illness is swept under the carpet and there are few resources to address these illnesses. This has a devastating effect on families and society as a whole. One of Together in Hope’s goals is to build the community center to help provide counseling free of charge to this community, especially for women and children who are the victims of abuse and domestic violence.

Up until January 2012, 90% of the 30,000 people living in Alta Mira Flores had never seen a doctor or dentist. Many live with sicknesses with no treatment for months, even years. In January 2012, Together in Hope brought the first medical/dental team to this community and saw approximately 500 patients. You should have seen how grateful this community was and the sense of pride and dignity it gave them!

For the majority of people in Alta Mira Flores, the cost of education, medical services, and job training programs is beyond their reach! What if we could change that? What if we could give each child a brighter tomorrow? What if these people didn’t have to live in poverty, or with disease? We can be that change. You can help us make it possible by giving whatever you can to help us build a larger school, a medical clinic, and a community center. You can be that change! Every cent counts and will bring us closer to our goal.

The first step is to buy the land; we already have secured $20,000 from anonymous donors. The cost to buy the land is $100,000.I If you think you can help us help this community help themselves, please donate now. Help us give this community a brighter future, today!