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| 2018 Delegation with members of the San Pedro Community - July 2018 |
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San Pedro is a
small rural community in a mountainous area in Morazan, El Salvador. There are
approximately 40 families, 300 people in all, approximately 200 of these are
children. They have a small school , kindergarten through 6th grade. The homes
are very simple, made with earth and wood, and most floors are of packed earth.
Limited electricity is available via solar panels and there is no indoor
plumbing, although there is continued hope that a promised government
electricity project will be built through this area. The people are campesinos
(small farmers), growing mostly beans and corn on a subsistence level. The
women make hammocks and purses to sell.
The San Pedro Sister
Community Project was formed in 2004 by a group of interested people in Cayuga
County, New York.Currently our core group along with supporters includes
several hundred people. A group from Cayuga County visit San Pedro every year.
We welcome anyone to join us. We also
sponsor several projects, including sales of fair
trade purses and hammocks made by the women of San Pedro, a scholarship program for youth, an agricultural microcredit loan program, oral history project,
and a food security program.
Those of us who have been
involved in this project are grateful for the education in the history,
economics and politics of El Salvador, for the personal enrichment that comes
from experiencing a different culture, and for the warm hospitality and
friendship of the people of San Pedro. We encourage anyone interested to get involved in this community-to-community relationship.
FUNDAHMER is a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO)
in El Salvador that facilitates our sister community relationship. They work
with communities like San Pedro throughout the year on projects like food
sustainability, economic and spiritual development, and education. They
supervise and support the projects which we help to finance. When we visit, the
staff at Fundahmer provides all necessary transportation, translation, and
accommodations.
FACES (Faith in Action with
El Salvador) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports several projects in El
Salvador in conjunction with FUNDAHMER. Of particular interest is the Dignified Housing Project, which arose
out of a shared dream between San Pedro and the Cayuga County group.
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| View from Comunidad San Pedro - July 2016 |
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| Youth Dance Performance - 2016 |
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| 2016 Delegation - l-r Aidan Tierney, Daniel Renfrow, Cathy Mullarney, Sam Schneider, Larry Buffam |
