Nohemy's entire family used to get sick from the smoke from the open cooking fire they used to cook in their home. With the eco-stove, now their home is a healthy place to gather.
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Cooking with wood on open fires inside their homes has caused illness, deforestation and loss of income in poor communities around the world. A $200 eco-stove is a simple and appropriate technology solution that directly addresses these problems in El Salvador. ENLACE works with local churches, helping to train leaders to serve those of greatest risk and need in their communities. You can help a family breathe easier and live longer by giving to the Cooking Up Love campaign!
Meadowbrook Church in Champaign, IL, made their seventh trip to El Salvador to support community transformation in the region of San Martín. This year they were divided into two groups. A medical team provided health consultations to 399 patients and eye exams to 713 patients. Meanwhile, another group built eco-stoves benefiting about 55 people in the area. The support and friendship of Meadowbrook Church continues to foment amazing transformation. Thanks for serving alongside your beloved friends in El Salvador!
The roots of poverty are found in broken relationships. When the Church understands that its mission is to restore relationships to each other and to its community, miracles happen--homes are built, health is renewed, clean water flows, hearts are forever changed. It's happening now in El Salvador!
The adventurous and socially aware Visual News, a collaborative online effort of Column Five Media, recently featured the Cooking Up Love eco-stove project for Valentine's Day. In this article, beautifully written by Benjamin Starr, Managing Editor of Visual News, you can discover the "spark" that brought ENLACE's eco-stoves into being.
Northeast Christian Church from Louisville, Kentucky, sent its first serving team to El Salvador to accompany the Tabernaculo Biblico Salem Church in El Espino. The nine-member team worked at the Miraflores Public School to help prepare the foundation for a perimeter wall which will make the property more secure and safe. The team also enjoyed spending time with community members during home visits and an even had time for an impromptu baseball game.
Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois sent their final serving team of 2012 to San Jacinto in the Santa Ana Region. The dedicated six-member team joined Zurisadai Church, helping with a water project and ministering to the people of the community as well. Team member Joy Bork said, "This experience really helped me see how the local church is the hope of the world. Through pairing together with ENLACE and Zurisadai, I was able to be a tangible representation of Christ's hands and feet in the community of San Jacinto."
This summer, Nueva Jerusalen Church in San Jose el Naranjo welcomed SeaCoast Grace Church from Cypress, California for the 6th time. During these trips, this church partnership has collaborated on local church and community projects like a pastor's home and school retaining wall, a clean water tank, home gardens, an improved road, and this year, latrines. The opportunity to work together on projects that strengthen community, attract new members to the local church, and improve health, is a life-highlight for many. Health improvement projects like
the ones completed by this church partnership, tackle key health determinants by providing strong homes, preventing flooding, and reducing water and food borne illness, ultimately reducing infectious diseases, infant mortality, and improving overall health and productivity. You will hear in this video that in addition to the positive health improvements these projects provide, is more importantly the transformation of community that takes place through the personal relationships with Jesus Christ and between these church partners.
As Head of Finance at CREDATEC, ENLACE’s credit union and sister organization in El Salvador, Israel Meléndez, 30, is the first person to acknowledge that there is much more to his job than providing small business loans to hardworking, poor entrepreneurs. “My role,” says Israel, "is not only to offer loans, but also to offer friendship to clients and to be someone they can count on...What I love most is motivating and coaching entrepreneurs and having the satisfaction of seeing that, with God's help and the support of CREDATEC, their businesses thrive."
The success of micro-enterprise programs has become well-known in recent years. They've become a viable way to provide a way out of poverty for ambitous entreprenuers around the world. In El Salvador, after 12 years of successfully circulating over 1,200 loans at a 99% repayment rate, ENLACE continues to expand the impact of our Economic Development Programs.
A missions team from SeaCoast Grace Church (Cypress, California) returned to Nueva Jerusalen Church in San Jose El Naranjo for the 8th consecutive year. From July 22-26, the team, ENLACE staff, along with church and community members, worked together on the construction of 20 latrines which will improve the health of many families in the community.
