By Office of Faith and Service | October 31, 2012
The Barton Road After School Program is off to a great start! We have a new team this year with only a couple returning members. Our hope is to continue improving the program and its curriculum to not only help the children academically, but to create strong leaders. We have only had two on-site sessions,…
By Brian Duggan | August 18, 2012
El Salvador is home to a few tough gangs. These gangs of young men were initially begun in L.A. and Chicago. The 2011 U.N. study on Global Homicide found that Honduras had the highest murder rate of 82 deaths per 100,000 people, while El Salvador was second with 62 murders per 100,000. For reference the…
By Brian Duggan | August 18, 2012
We spent our last full day in El Salvador Zip Lining from tree to tree, pouring buckets full of Chispa in the top layer of bricks on the house, sanding the walls from top to bottom, and dancing our hearts out with the community of Getsemani. It may have only been a few hours of…
By Brian Duggan | August 17, 2012
Thursday August 16, 2012 This is not my first time away from home, but it is my first time in a Latin American country. Last semester, I had studied abroad in London and went backpacking for a month throughout Europe! However to my adversity for this trip, the two words I have been only able…
By Brian Duggan | August 15, 2012
We’re building homes, but we’re also building on relationships we have established over the years in El Salvador.
By Brian Duggan | August 15, 2012
This is my 4th trip to El Salvador. The airport in San Salvador seems to be welcoming me back, and outside the terminal are hundreds of families picking up their loved one who is returning from a job in the U.S. Out of the 6-7 million population in El Salvador, almost 2 million are working…
By Brian Duggan | August 15, 2012
Two days ago, our team of nine lounged at an ocean resort in El Salvador, sipping our “coco locos” and enjoying the sun. Fast-forward to Tuesday afternoon, and we were mixing “chispa” (concrete) in the hot sun to build a small family home. This contrast of environment seemed great to me as we attempted to…
By Stephanie Hamel | April 5, 2012
Today was our last day on the work site and our departure celebration. We were each able to put in our final efforts to get as much of the house done as we can. Today really involved the entire group working as a team and thus, helped us to bond even more as a group…
By Stephanie Hamel | April 4, 2012
Today was our fourth day on the building site and progress can be seen not only in the construction of the house, but also in the relationships with the family and the masons. We continued to lay the foundation of the house by erecting the reinforced concrete frame structure of the house. Every step of…
By Stephanie Hamel | March 21, 2012
Today was a long day filled with learning many new things. We started off the day by splitting into two groups: one teaching and the other building. I worked on the house in the morning as we dug more dirt. During one of my water breaks, I went to chat with the family of the…