First Parish Church Features

2004 First Parish Church Mission Trip to El Salvador

Valerie Ricker's Remarks

This was my thirteenth trip to El Salvador to work with ASAPROSAR

More than 50% of the people of El Salvador live in poverty, with the majority of those living in extreme poverty - without employment or a source of income.

The average annual income in El Salvador is $5,000, but for the rural poor, the average annual income is closer to $500.

The type of expenses that we take for granted in the United States - a nice home, new clothes, a car, electronic equipment, vacations - are incomprehensible to most of the people who are served by ASAPROSAR.

In 1970, El Salvador was the most industrialized country in Central America, but the Civil War had a devastating impact on the El Salvador economy.

Because of the enormous income gap, thousands of El Salvadorans fled to the United States. Parents sent their children to the U.S. during the civil war as a survival strategy.

An estimated 2.8 million El Salvadorans now live in the U.S., sending an estimated $3 billion annually back home to help their families. An estimated 60,000 El Salvadoran immigrants live in Boston alone.

To help empower women as business owners, ASAPROSAR runs a micro-credit program.

During one day of the trip, I visited with a group of 16 women who collectively had borrowed $1600 from ASAPROSAR. The funds were borrowed to purchase fish, clothing, general supplies one would find in a Mom and Pop store or ice cream to sell from their homes or carts in their coastal village. The money was borrowed on terms much more favorable than from a bank, and the collective as a whole had a responsibility to pay the full amount back within 25 weeks. If any one member of the group couldn't meet their obligation, the others had to cover the shortfall.

One woman used the money borrowed to travel to Guatemala to purchase the parts needed to repair the motor for her boat. With the repaired motor she hired some viallage men to use the boat and catch fish which she sold in her restaurant or dried to sell for individual use. The fish she was drying is used for special occasions such as Easter which was two weeks after our trip. -She is a true demonstration of the initiative and empowerment of many Salvadorans when given an opportunity.

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