The UN estimates that between 12,000 and 15,000 girls from Nepal are trafficked every year. Sadly, this number has risen sharply over the last two years. The situation worsened after the April 2015 earthquakes, when traffickers took advantage of the chaos and the vulnerability of homeless girls and women by luring them from shelters with false-promises and misinformation.

At the root of sex trafficking are two main factors: financial need and the lack of assigning value to girls, both of which are addressed in ENLACE’s strategy for ministry in Nepal.

ENLACE helps churches to establish and strengthen social infrastructure that leads to compassionate and just relationships within a community. ENLACE’s programs address economic issues and also empower women leaders to reach out and make life-changing connections with their neighbors. Additionally, the local staff are well-prepared leaders. Tina Pun Magar, the Church and Community Program Coordinator, has a BA and Masters’ Degree in Theology and grew up helping her mother run one of the first foster homes in India for trafficked girls and women.

Norma and her husband, José, lived in a very run down house in the community of Sirigual. Their situation was very desperate, as they tried to care for two young children, Zenaida and Erick, in a one-room home with crumbling walls and dirt floors. But they were managing their struggle. However, with her third pregnancy, Norma faced a situation all mothers fear. Six months into her pregnancy, she gave birth to twin, premature boys, Osael and Antony. For many weeks, Norma and her young sons had to remain in the hospital. During that time, Antony grew stronger while his twin, Osael, did not.

Francisca Hilaria Avila is 76 years old and has lived a hard life. Three of her four children are incarcerated. Her family situation is complicated and challenging creating much turmoil for Francisca and her daughter who live together in a small house made from tree branches, plastic, cardboard and old clay tile. Francisca makes a meager living by selling fruit in the local market. Regardless of her circumstances, she is known by the community as someone with deep faith in God and spends her time praying for others. It brought her incredible joy to learn that she was to be a recipient of a new home.

1) El Salvador is known as the “Land of the Volcanoes” because there are twenty volcanoes in the country. Two out of the twenty volcanoes are currently active.

On the Road to Peacemaking and Transformation: First ENLACE Nepal Church and Community Project is Inaugurated

Closed to the outside world until the 1950s, Nepal has since experienced decades of political upheaval. Although it sits on the edge of the gorgeous Himalayas and is home to an ancient culture, it is among the poorest countries of the world. A recent earthquake in April 2015 killed thousands and reduced remote villages and world heritage sites to rubble. Billions of dollars have been promised in aid, but due to political infighting, very little of it has been made available to those most in need.

For at least 35 percent of rural Salvadorans, homes are made from sheets of torn plastic, rusty aluminum, crumbling walls and dirt floors. The seasonal six-months of rain causes continual structural damage, vermin infestation and chronic illnesses. Additionally, homes are often built on mountainsides and in marginal areas prone to the dangers of impassable roads and landslides.

ENLACE has worked for over twenty years partnering with local church and community leaders to address the problem of substandard housing. The end result of a new set of walls, roof, floor and running water along with electricity is a miracle. But to make this miracle endure for years to come, housing projects need to be a part of a bigger picture. Without rebuilding and fortifying relationships within a community, even a miracle project doesn't last long. Walls crack, electric bills are due monthly and water systems need maintenance.

A sustainable impact comes, however, when one's very own neighbors reach out in sacrifice and love and strong relationships are built and fortified. As ENLACE works with a local church filled with people committed to serving their communities, friendships are formed that help impoverished and marginalized families to become an integral part of a community's social fabric. These new networks help address not only immediate needs but complicated situations that are bound to arise in the future.

In the Salvadoran community of Potrerillos del Manzano, Santa Ana, the Betesda Church of 54 members began to work with ENLACE in 2013. After walking through their community, getting to know their neighbors and talking to various local organizations (resulting in a complete baseline study of their community’s challenges and resources), in the following year, they had identified the pervasive problem of smoke inhalation from in-home cooking fires. By the end of 2014, church leaders worked with the community to build 50 eco-stoves directly improving the health of over 250 people. After that project, the church was excited to serve in further ways. In 2015, they identified 25 families in urgent need of safer housing.

Eduardo and Rosa Perez were among those identified. Eduardo, who is almost 70 years old and still both breadwinner and caretaker of his family along with his wife, talked to us about his story.

Whenever people ask me to talk about what it's like working in church-based community development, I always respond first by saying it's the best job in the world. I say that because I have one of the best seats in the house to witness God working in so many contexts. I've seen people who, despite their own poverty, reach out to others in love and sacrifice. I have seen people with wealth and power choose humility and service as a way of life. These people move me in ways no career accomplishment ever could. Living a life with a front row seat to God's transforming power is a blessing indeed.

But one of the coolest aspects of this blessing has been to work with partners and donors who are committed wholeheartedly to a vision that isn't glittery. Poverty isn't beautiful or a fashionable place to make a career. Poverty is savage and heartless. It is the antithesis of God's intentions for Creation. It brings up anger in me almost as often as it brings compassion. And so partners and donors who have donated to and served with ENLACE over the years, provide me with inspiration and excitement. I know that they, like me, are committed to seeing and participating in something REAL.

The roots of poverty are found in broken relationships. By restoring relationships, a community develops that enables those on the margins to be seen and their needs addressed. Such a community enables everyone to identify the resources they have and participate in a plan to create sustainable solutions.

All over El Salvador, churches are walking into their communities with a new and empowered vision to restore relationships. They are mending connections between and among local community associations, water boards, health committees, mayor’s offices and schools. They are supported by international church partnerships that send funds and service teams that help to galvanize their work. In fact, the relationship building led by the local church is ongoing and will provide exponential benefits to community health and a better quality of life long after international help moves on.

Laura and her family used to live in an adobe house in the countryside of El Salvador. After an earthquake, Laura’s life turned upside down. The home was destroyed and only part of the kitchen remained intact.They had no other place to live. Then Laura’s husband left the family, and she faced raising a two- month-old baby and three other children alone.

At this point, I've made many trips to El Salvador and the village of Abelines to help with a medical brigade. In working with Enlace, I've learned a few things over these years. My way of thinking has changed so much over this time and they are great reflections of the change you can experience when you become a part of what God is doing. 

Over the weekend we were forced to say goodbye to a great friend and colleague. On Saturday, April 16th Oscar Alexander Vasquez (Alex) died instantly in a motorcycle accident. I continue to struggle to try to understand and process his death. I met Alex when he was 14 years old. He was a youth leader in Pastor Miguel’s church El Buen Samaritano. Shortly after I met him, he shared his life story with me.

At 18 years old, Margarita has a lot on her shoulders. When her grandfather died last year after contracting the Chikungunya virus (a mosquito-borne illness that creates painful joint swelling, headaches, rashes and can exacerbate other health conditions), she became the sole breadwinner for her household. Up until his death she took care of all the household duties along with her mother and daughter. When he died and she was still without a job, resourcefully she went out every day foraging for food. She picked fruit, caught fish, and grabbed anything that seemed edible along the way in order to put food on the table.

Adela, her husband Leonardo and their five children (ages 4-15) have never had an easy life. Leonardo works as a gardener and is paid $6 per day. After paying for transportation, Adela is given about $4 for her to care for the needs of her family. Four of the five children attend regular school. However, their nine-year-old son, Quevin, is special needs and has to be taken by Adela to a school outside their community. Adela and Leonardo have also tried to give Quevin a quality of life that is very difficult to maintain by supporting his involvement with Special Olympics. The cost of this endeavor has made things more complicated but is extremely important to the family.