YV plea for support in El Salvador crisis

20,000 El Salvadorian residents are currently homeless and in shelters

Dear Youth Venture Community,

I write with a heavy heart today as I watch the El Salvadorian people struggle for their survival in the recent natural disaster.

Ashoka’s Youth Venture (YV) opened its doors to El Salvador in May 2011. When I arrived to this country it was the rainy season, as usual, but the weather did not follow its predicted path. After months of relentless rainfall, this week has marked history. No longer is an umbrella a sufficient shield from the elements; the country has been put to a standstill. The torrential downpour has destroyed homes, triggered massive landslides, and flooded every corner of the country. After days on end of cancelled meetings and trainings, the YV office operations have also been put to an abrupt halt.

Ten days of constant rain have plunged impoverished El Salvador into new tragedy. The magnitude of the disaster forced El Salvador to declare a state of national emergency, a state of calamity and to launch international appeals for help. The amount of rain most recently exceeds the cumulative record of Hurricane Mitch, which devastated the region in 1998 and killed 11,000 people. This is the worst tragedy in the history of El Salvador.

YV is working in three of the most damaged areas, and our 300 involved youth have been deeply affected. Nearly 60% of our youth depend on crops for their livelihood. Considering that 45% of the crops in the country have been lost, the majority of our youth’s families will have to look for another way of life. They have lost everything. A father told me that he lost his house and the only two cows he had. “How I am going to feed my kids?” he asked me in a panic.

Some Venturers in Cuscatlán and San Vicente areas have been evacuated and are now living in shelters. They don’t know when they are going to be able to return to their homes, if they still have one.

The most difficult damage to repair will be the trauma caused by the devastation. As of today, October 21, 2011 more than 50,000 people have been evacuated, a huge but unofficial number of missing persons and deaths have been reported, almost half of the nation’s crops (approx. 2,900 fields) have been destroyed, and millions of dollars are lost in damaged infrastructure.

However, there is not only bad news. Two YV teams decided to take action by visiting some of the country’s 586 shelters, the team “Magic Power” has engaged affected families in magic events to brighten their days, and “Batucada Batucaya” team played the drums until strangers gathered together in joyful dance. Other youth from the program in San Vicente are actively taking part in the emergency committees and are organizing their communities to start the reconstruction. The Salvadorian youth are showing that even in the worst scenarios, changemaking is possible.

You can help, also, even from outside of El Salvador. The YV office has set up a PayPal account for donations that will go the two organizations REDES and FUNDE, both of which are working urgently to repair the situation and restore some sense of stability to communities.

If you want to help or for more information about El Salvador contact: Ilaina Rabbat irabbat@ashoka.org / + 503 75496127.

Thank you for your support in this hard time,

Ilaina Rabbat
Ashoka's Youth Venture
Country Coordinator, El Salvador

Venture Team Batucada Batucaya before the disaster struck