A few young lads at Our Lady of Guadalupe take shelter from a summer storm while extending thanks to the students at JSerra who made the new classrooms possible.
Walter uploaded some photos of what looks like the ground-breaking for the new classrooms at Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Only this ground-breaking is without all the pomp and circumstance that usually accompanies such an event. Nope, no flashing bulbs or gilded shovels…just three laborers (likely parents) breaking ground. I hope all the students at JSerra get to see these. There are sure to be many to follow!
I’m not sure why, but this makes me feel like that little kid who spent all December wanting a certain toy, all the while knowing that he wasn’t going to get it. Then come Christmas morning at 5 AM, he’s squinting at it through tired little eyes, still not really sure it’s there. Now that’s not to say that I didn’t expect the campus ministry students at JSerra to come through with enough money for a classroom: their jeans day event proved them to well versed in the art of fundraising, and from the beginning I noticed a focus and dedication that was sure to accomplish something great. But the whole affair screams serendipity, or rather Providence: TLAU didn’t ask them to do anything. One person (campus ministry leader Robyn Gibson) heard about our mission and the needs at Virgen de Guadalupe, and a month later we have enough money for a new classroom.
So check out the photos. The only thing I would have done different: glowsticks. Lots of glowsticks.
Who knew that high school students wanted to dress down so badly? Oh…that’s right. I knew.
But campus minstry leader Robyn Gibson says the outpouring of support wasn’t just a fortunate consequence of several hundred cases of senioritis. In fact, after a sluggish start to the jeans day effort, the students found that if they were more vocal about the cause behind their efforts, other students were much more likely to give. So after only the first event of JSerra Catholic High senior campus ministry’s partnership with The Least Among Us, Virgen de Guadalupe already has $1200 to put toward the construction of its classrooms.
I’m thinking about contacting the school administrators to see if we can’t start selling days off or field trips to the beach. Methinks we could build enough classrooms for every child in El Salvador.
Take a look at these photos!
February 23, 2010 – 2:52 pm
Walter’s powerpoint presentation on Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Well done!
Señora de Guadalupe
February 17, 2010 – 9:53 pm
Meet the senior campus ministry students at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, CA. At the request of their theology teacher Robyn Gibson, TLAU’s very own Leonard Nelson recently delivered them a presentation on our organization and the impact it is having on the poor of El Salvador. Evidently what they gleamed wasn’t a sob story or guilt trip or a bunch of boring pictures but a clear challenge to get up and do something. And that they will.
“The goal of the class is to form students to be strong Christian leaders,” says Robyn. “But real leaders are nothing but servants who understand themselves to be part of a larger human family.”
The class was especially impressed with TLAU’s strategy to improve conditions in El Salvador: helping people help themselves while avoiding the “Santa Claus” approach to charitable giving, thereby preserving the dignity of those who need help while simultaneously encouraging a sense of stewardship.
Their plan for Virgen de Guadalupe? A benefit dance (any theme suggestions?), a jeans day where JSerra students may donate to the cause in exchange for the privilege of dressing down for a day, and possibly a family dinner night at a local diner.
“We’re all very excited about this,” their fearless leader adds. “I honestly think my students will gain more than they give.”
And that they will.
December 24, 2009 – 12:34 pm
Hello,
My name is Wendy Rodriguez and my family is from San Pedro Puxtla. Although I was born here I was raised for a few years back in San Pedro Puxtla and most of my family is still there. I stumbled upon your website today while googling my town and I just want to say THANK YOU for helping my people.I think that the work you guys are doing, not only in my town but all over, is amazing.
Happy Holidays and God Bless,
Wendy Rodriguez
December 21, 2009 – 3:15 pm
There are some excellent new photos up on the photo page showing the early stages of construction for the two classrooms going up in Zacatecoluca. Click here for a little background info on the school and its ongoing fruitful relationship with TLAU.
A few mothers have a go at the new foundation. This photo speaks volumes about how focused and effective TLAU's mission remains.
December 21, 2009 – 2:55 pm
October 31, 2009 – 11:14 pm
This from Walter (translated):
“Good morning my brothers in Christ-
It has been several days since I have written, but I have not forgotten my responsibilities, it’s just that I have been very busy with work here at the end of the school year.
We have completed the project in San Pedro. Thanks be to God.”
And there you have it, folks. Another two sturdy classrooms for generations of schoolchildren in San Pedro. I for one will be joining Walter in his gratitude.
October 10, 2009 – 3:44 pm
As the final touches are being put on the classrooms in San Pedro, TLAU is already busy preparing for two new projects that will be carried out simultaneously.
The first project at the Centro Escolar Catolico Virgen de Guadalupe has been in the works for a while, but we have been waiting for them to get their land placed in the name of the local diocese (it is TLAU policy not to improve land owned by the government or private individuals). The school is found in the department of Santa Ana in a very poor “canton” or neighborhood called Cutumay Camones. Most of the school’s 100 students, kindergarten to 6th grade, come from extremely poor families that survive by sorting through garbage at the nearby landfill and selling whatever they find.
During my visit in March I met with the school’s principal, Benjamin Franklin (his real name or a nickname? the world may never know), and he was very hopeful that the TLAU donors would come to the aid of the school and its children. He begged us to consider beginning the classrooms ASAP, but out of respect for our donors we had no choice but to wait until the land was official property of the diocese. You might not be able to tell from the photos, but the school is in bad shape and the children attend class in very poorly wrought buildings on very rocky land. This is a perfect project for TLAU, and with your help we can provide Virgen de Guadalupe with two very sturdy, durable classrooms that will serve generations of children.
The second project will actually be the continuation of an older project at Nuestra Senora de los Pobres (see older posts), where TLAU (using a generous donation from Jim and Monica Rolquin of North Carolina) constructed two
classrooms, bathrooms with flush toilets and provided desks, chairs, and blackboards for the classrooms. But the number of students continues to grow, and TLAU has agreed to provide two more classrooms. Special thanks to the Rolquins for their involvement in this endeavor.
Stay updated through our blog/newsfeed as these two projects begin, and join me in praying for a timely and successful completion of these projects.
October 3, 2009 – 2:29 pm
The sign reads: "We give thanks to God and to TLAU for bringing happiness to us."
Walter sent some great photos of the progress at Centro Escolar Fray Sammy Guido V in San Pedro. View them here.
The photo at left doesn’t show much of the classroom, but I couldn’t bring myself to choose another. I love their custom of making a banner or poster and sticking it in front of a score of cute scrappy children with wide grins. Makes my day.
Almost there.
Meet TLAU’s latest project: the construction of two classrooms at Centro Escolar Catolico Fray Sammy Guido Vellardita in San Predro Puxtla, department of Ahuachapan. The school’s six maestros teach 220 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. Click here or on the photo at left to view more.
The school is maintained by a very dedicated Franciscan monk originally from Boston. He has been in El Salvador since the 60s or 70s, although he once had to flee the country during the civil war to avoid assassins. But if you visit the town now, it is surprisingly peaceful and clean, especially compared to surrounding towns. The impact that one person can have on the social/economic/demographic trajectory of an entire village is really quite amazing!
Father Keane greets students at Nuestra Senora del Refugio
Father Keane and Jim Rolquin (one of TLAU’s most active donors who funded the ongoing project at Nuestra Senora de los Pobres) recently returned from a trip to El Salvador. And as you can see in the picture to the left, they received the hero’s welcome that they deserved.
In addition to visiting the completed project at Nuestra Senora del Refugio, they visited Nuestra Senora de los Pobres and met with the “alumnos becados” in Santo Domingo. Take a look at the photos from their trip, found here.
Many thanks for your prayers for their safe return…but keep them coming! We still have a lot ahead of us.
Please check out these photo profiles of the 2009 TLAU becados.
A trip to El Salvador invariably means long hours sitting in the passenger’s seat of Walter’s truck, so naturally I use it as an opportunity to really dig deep into what is going on with TLAU’s Salvadoran operations. As we talked about the scholarship program, which now sponsors seven high school students and three university students, Walter commented on a common mistake made by many non-profits and charitable organizations: slowly degenerating into a simple reservoir of handouts, thereby greatly diminishing the value and power of the donor’s dollar. It works like this: If a donor makes a contribution to TLAU and we in turn give it to a student and do nothing else, even if it is in the form of books, tuition, or transportation, that’s all the charitable donation will bring: a book, a semester of school, or a ride on the bus. Such a transaction also seems to strip the donation of much of its force as a moral statement, leaving it as a bare lump sum of cash. However, if TLAU takes a donation and gives it to a student with the condition or understanding that that student will use his or her gift to help someone in a similar situation, the power of that donation or act of charity is greatly amplified. For not only does the student receive an education and hope for a better future, but that same gift is in turn given to another, and the initial act of charity on the part of the donor reverberates as an act of love should. It’s actually a very simple concept that got me looking for the translation of “chain” and “web” in my Spanish dictionary as I sat in Walter’s truck, and I’m sure you’ve seen it played out or elaborated in other ways, such as the saying “teach a man to fish…” or in that movie Pay it Forward (which I found a little too saccharine).
So what we’re planning to do is to add another prerequisite for TLAU aid, namely a promise before God made by the student that one day, when they have work and a steady income on account of their education, they will support another (a family member would be ideal) in the same way. It is just a promise, which I agree probably doesn’t amount to much in our circles. But I will vouch for the character of the TLAU becados and say that things work differently down there. It may take them a while to get around to it, and they may not do things like Americans do, but they will keep their promise.
So hopefully I have added to the list of reasons to donate to TLAU.
