Jan. 26, 2019 – El Salvador – David and Nancy Slinde of West Bend are in the midst of their 30th trip to El Salvador. Since 2004 the couple have been working with various organizations in West Bend including the Noon Rotary, Sunrise Rotary and Our Saviors Lutheran Church to help support their goodwill.
Nancy has written several successful grants and together the couple have completed 13 projects in El Salvador ranging from improvements in education, chicken farming, sewer construction and the development of a hardware store.
Below is a photo gallery of their accomplishments.
Of the 13 projects the Slindes have accomplished they are most proud of their work in education.However education covers a broad scope from teaching families how to raise chickens and build coops to growing a successful chili crop in homemade greenhouses.
The chicken project has grown tremendously over the years for women and families in El Salvador. The chickens and coops have provided food and a source of revenue.
The video shows a meeting with a majority of women in the community who spoke to David and Nancy about how they have benefited from the program and others who want to get involved…. and then a couple of cows walked in.
There were four greenhouses that held a bumper crop of green chilis. The greenhouses helped the community capture the heat, limit the bugs and focus watering efforts on growing the vegetables they could sell at market.
One of the business-development projects David is most proud of is the startup hardware store. Two of the men in Concepcion Batres, Usulutan had $3,000 and an idea. David helped them with a business plan and fundraising. After a year David returned with $8,000 cash and the men went to work and today they have a successful hardware, feed and construction store.
During a recent trip to El Salvador the couple visited a grade school in Tecualuya, located about 12.5 miles south of San Salvador. The stop was highlighted by a generous gift of textbooks and backpacks.
“These are textbooks for every student, in every grade 1st – 6th grade,” said Nancy. “This will be an incredible start for the little ones.”
More than 70 students, dressed in white shirts and blue skirts or pants, greeted the Slindes by holding up individual letters in a homemade sign that read, “Welcome. God bless you.”
Students lined up by grade level as teachers distributed colorful soft-cover books on history, science, and math.
Next it was on to San Luis Talpa. “This is one of the premier schools we’ve been working with since 2017,” said David.
Donations totaling $34,000 have helped fund a new 7th, 8th, and 9th grade and 13 students were assisted independently with scholarships so they could go onto high school. “Our motto has always been education overcomes poverty,” said David.
Of the students the Slindes support in Usulután, they’ve received feedback on three. “One has started his own business and the other two are employed,” said David. “If that’s a representation of what our money did for those three students it is well worth it.”
Click HERE to read more stories about the Slindes latest Advenuture in El Salvador.
Precious children!