💫We have launched with a bang on the island of 'La Tasajera'!
Back in March, as I packed my bags in El Salvador to head back home to Australia, we received news from one of our leaders that a door had opened up for us to launch our Women of Hope program on one of the islands lying along the coast of El Salvador.
‘La Tasajera’ is an island located just about 10 minutes off the coast and is home to approximately 450 families who rely heavily on fishing to make a living.
The fishing community is heavily impacted by poverty, and as is the case on the mainland, ‘La Tasajera’ also grapples with significant issues of gender-based violence.
Cultural views on ‘machismo’ (an exaggerated sense of masculine pride that often leads to male dominance, aggression, sexual control, discrimination, and inequality for women) are strong in this community and contribute to the high rates of violence against girls and women here.
Coinciding with the high rates of gender-based violence on the island are the rates of physical and sexual abuse of children.
Efforts on the part of churches on the island to address these problems are ongoing, as they look for ways to improve safety and support for women and children. Pastors Eunice and Douglas have faithfully been ministering to and supporting local leaders and pastors on the island over the past seven years. After running our girls' program in their own community of San Martin, they recognised that our girls’ program would also be a huge blessing to the community here.
Following our 'Arise and Shine 2024' girl's event in March, they introduced our two programs for adolescent girls to the local church pastors and leaders on the island and were met with an overwhelming response.
"We knew we had to reach the little girls here. We had been praying and looking online for resources but hadn’t found anything at all that would be suitable. Then you brought this program to us…!" -Wendy, Church Leader, Isla La Tasajera
The timing of presenting our violence prevention program to church leaders on the island was impeccable. Within two weeks, we had scheduled our leaders' training on the island, with three churches having jumped on board and raring to go.
In light of the strong cultural views that exist in this community, as the programs began to be rolled out and our leaders gathered the girls for the first groups, we held our breath a little and waited to see the results. We had no idea how our program would be received.
Finally, late last week, after a couple of weeks' delay due to the nationwide state of emergency caused by the many tropical storms, Pastors Eunice and Douglas were able to return to the island and provide a much-anticipated update. Our program launch on the island of 'La Tasajera' did not disappoint.
Our program over the last two months has had great success!
Just last weekend, our first group of girls to complete ‘Girls of Hope!’ graduated, and we have another group graduation occurring this coming weekend.
One of the most exciting and unexpected developments has been the girls' enthusiasm for our groups, to the point where they themselves requested that their meetings continue.
Additionally, some of the boys, who had been observing from the sidelines, asked to join as well. What started as a group focused on tackling gender-based violence has now evolved into one of the church’s first-ever youth groups, centred on strong values and continuing discipleship and mentoring.
Every single dollar you have donated towards our girls' conference ‘Arise and Shine’ and to this program has helped us make this possible.
Thank you for investing in a brighter future for this generation of children!
Your donations are helping us make an impact.
Vania Labios
Salvador’s HOPE
