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A Montgomery County (web|news) couple is behind a unique idea that may help slow the tide of illegal immigration by ensuring the next generation of Salvadoran immigrants can stay in their country.
In the D.C. area, there are 23 hometown associations, which have each adopted a community in El Salvador. They raise money here to build medical clinics, water treatment facilities or whatever is most urgently needed in El Salvador, including a better future for its children.
In a classroom of 7- and 8-year-olds in a rural school, half of them said they had a parent working in the Unites States. It's the age when children start dreaming about coming to America some day. Now, a Maryland-based organization is trying to ensure they dream about stay in El Salvador instead.
"People will ask me how many children [I] have. I tell them I have 3,000 children," said Luis Felipe Romero with United Salvadoran Communities of Washington.
Another member of USCW, Blanca said,"To them, to have a simple pair of shoes, it is the biggest."
Every year, the Romero's travel to El Salvador at their own expense to deliver school supplies and optimism to the children who need them the most. "For them, it's like whoever comes is sent from heaven."
The group used to bring toys to the younger children, until they would politely approach the volunteers and ask if they could trade them for the pencils and notebooks given to the older kids. "Toys are a wonderful thing, but maybe it's about time that we start thinking more seriously about the future of these children," said Luis.
Volunteer Alba Luz Moreno said, "When I give the news to the school that there's a project coming from Washington, and it's going to support you, I feel so happy."
One of the most exciting donations to come to the school was six computers even though they're shared by 280 students. "People who learn to use computers, they could have a good job. That's the idea. That's the goal," said school director Ana Elizabeth Soto Arias.
For now, the kids still play soccer on a dirt field, with an old toilet as a goal, in a school with a roof that leaks so much, the classroom below gets soaked every time it rains. There's still hope that somehow the children will stay.
Hometown associations also stress financial education for people of all ages in El Salvador. They want the Salvadorans who receive money from relatives in the U.S. to invest at least some of it in El Salvador and spend the rest wisely.
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