January 2024 Delegation - Sally Stormon, Dan Renfrow, Dee Nance, Sarah Olbrantz,
and Cathy Mullarney with part of the San Pedro Community
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San Pedro is a
small rural community in a mountainous area of Morazan, El Salvador. There are
approximately 77 homes, 215 people, about 65 of whom are young children. They have a small school, kindergarten through 6th grade, and a Catholic Church. Over the past twenty years, we have seen many homes increase in size and some floors upgraded from packed earth to tile. Homes
are very simple, made with earth and wood. We have seen them progress from a lack of electricity, to small solar panels provided by the government, to electricity delivered from utility poles at a cost of $500 per household to hook up, plus usage costs. The people are campesinos
(small farmers), growing mostly beans and corn on a subsistence level. The
women make hammocks and purses to sell, and there is a budding sewing business, marketing to the San Pedro and surrounding communities. According to the latest Human Development Report in El Salvador of UNDP, of the 14 Departments in El Salvador, Morazan ranks last.
San Pedro Sister
Community, Inc. was formed in 2004 by a group of interested people in Cayuga
County, New York. We became a not-for-profit 501(c)3 in 2022 with a 9 member board of directors and over two hundred supporters. A group from Cayuga County visits San Pedro every year.
We welcome anyone to join us. We currently sponsor several projects, including sales of fair
trade purses and hammocks made by San Pedro artisans, a scholarship program for youth, and an agricultural microcredit loan fund. Our most recent initiatives are a Rainwater Harvesting and Clean Water Project, and support of a budding Sewing Business that markets to San Pedro and surrounding communities.
Past projects have included fish ponds, nutrition support for children and the elderly, the collection of oral histories, and the purchase of medical supplies.
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 in becoming involved in this community-to-community relationship to please join us.
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 accompanies us and provides all the necessary transportation, translation, food, water, 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 |
