Category: El Salvador

An image of a home in El Salvador.
Community, El Salvador, Sponsor a child
Aug 19 2017

‘The families are the reason I continue’

Serving as a social worker in El Salvador's gang-afflicted cities

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An image of a home in El Salvador.

A home in El Salvador, typical of the homes Carmen and other Unbound social workers visit on a regular basis.



To celebrate the U.N.-sponsored World Humanitarian Day Aug. 19, Unbound is highlighting inspiring members of our global community who’ve overcome obstacles to help others. Carmen is from El Salvador and works for Unbound as a social worker in 11 communities in Santa Ana, with more than 200 sponsored children and their families. She started with Unbound seven years ago, learning about the organization while working as a caretaker for a sponsored elderly woman. Carmen and her husband have a 16-year-old daughter.

In this interview, conducted by Naresli Calitto, former communications liaison, Carmen shares about her experience working for Unbound amidst the challenges of life in El Salvador. Her name was changed for safety reasons.

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An image of a nearly empty room in an apartment in Medellin.
Colombia, Community, El Salvador
Jul 15 2017

The cold of loneliness

Unbound staff member reflects on moving from El Salvador to Colombia

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An image of a nearly empty room in an apartment in Medellin.

A room in Henry’s apartment in Medellin on one of his first nights there.


By Henry Flores, communications liaisons director

My family and I moved to Colombia, South America, from El Salvador about one year ago. We wanted to give our children a new international education experience and Unbound had an open position for a communications liaison in the country. It was a great opportunity for Unbound, my family and me.

I decided to come in advance of my family to make a path, find a place to live, get life organized, etc. While moving within one’s own country isn’t easy, it still allows for the same social, economic and cultural structure. Moving to another country is a completely different scenario.

When I moved to California, U.S.A., back in 1989, I arrived in a Salvadoran community. I had my relatives, Salvadoran restaurants, food, markets and traditions that were familiar to me. I felt part of my own culture and idiosyncrasy; I had a network. Here in Colombia, I’ve only met one Salvadoran in my new city of Medellin.

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Two elderly men in El Salvador play guitar and sing together.
Community, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kenya, Sponsor a child, Sponsor an aging friend
Mar 3 2017

Celebrating arts and culture in Unbound — part 1

Sponsored youth, elders express themselves in art

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Two elders in El Salvador play guitar and sing together.

Juan (left), who has since passed away, sings while another sponsored elder, Francisco, accompanies him on the guitar.

The world is host to a myriad of cultures and traditions, and in the Unbound community we have the opportunity to learn about ways people around the world express culture, history and faith. From poets to musicians to participants in nationwide celebrations, people sponsored through Unbound eagerly share their talents and passions with the world. This is the first of a two-part blog series highlighting arts and culture in our community. Keep reading

A young woman in El Salvador works on homework.
Education, El Salvador, Peru, Sponsor a child
Nov 28 2016

Invest in education this #GivingTuesday

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Alexander is a scholarship student in Lima, Peru. He was initially attracted to acting, but his teacher saw that he had a knack for art. Alexander chose to pursue graphic design to connect art and media, a perfect choice for today’s technological age .
Beatriz is an Unbound scholar in Santa Ana, El Salvador. She grew up walking an hour each way to school, and now her perseverance still shows in her commitment to her studies and supporting her mother.

On Nov. 29, help students achieve their goals in higher education by donating to our Education fund on #GivingTuesday.

When you support education through Unbound, you’re investing in the dreams of students. Your contribution means children and young adults can continue their education into secondary schools, technical schools or even university programs.

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Wilber, 12, a sponsored child in Guatemala who hopes to be an architect or engineer someday, partly because "Wilber the architect sounds nice!"
Community, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Philippines, Sponsor a child, Sponsor an aging friend, Unbound
Nov 21 2016

35 snapshots of Unbound: 29-35

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One of the ways we’ve been celebrating our 35th anniversary is by hearing from sponsored friends and staff around the world. We asked them how Unbound has changed them, what their favorite thing about being sponsored is or what greeting they have for us at this milestone. We’ve featured 35 snapshots of our global community over the past several weeks right here on the blog. Check out the final set of snapshots in the series below, and check out previous posts in the series here!
Yovana, a social worker for Unbound in Guatemala, who deeply appreciates how members of the Unbound community share similar values, regardless of their backgrounds.
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Maria, 92, is a sponsored elder in El Salvador who enjoys performing folkloric dance for sponsors who visit on awareness trips.
Community, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Philippines, Sponsor a child, Sponsor an aging friend, Unbound
Nov 7 2016

35 snapshots of Unbound: 15-21

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One of the ways we are celebrating our 35th anniversary coming up on Nov. 20 is by hearing from sponsored friends and staff around the world. We asked them how Unbound has changed them, what their favorite thing is about being sponsored or what greeting they have for us at this milestone. We’re featuring 35 snapshots of our global community over the next several weeks leading up to Nov. 20, right here on the blog. Check out the next set of snapshots in the series, and stay tuned!
Maria, 92, is a sponsored elder in El Salvador who enjoys performing folkloric dance for sponsors who visit on awareness trips.
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Yami is a sponsored youth in El Salvador.
Education, El Salvador, Sponsor a child, Unbound
Sep 19 2016

No distance will keep her from school

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Yami is a sponsored youth in El Salvador.

Yami is a sponsored youth in El Salvador.

For some Unbound families, there are more obstacles to receiving an education than just the cost. For 18-year-old Yami, it has been a struggle to complete her education because her family lives in a remote, mountainous village in El Salvador.

After finishing the 9th grade, Yami temporarily stopped attending school. The nearest high school is hours away, and the transportation cost and distance became too overwhelming for the family.

The trek to the highway is an hour walk or a 40-minute horseback ride. It goes along a deserted path and across a river. On top of all this, it’s not safe for Yami to travel alone, so her father, Jaime, accompanies her.

However, she is determined to finish school.

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Maria has been sponsored for five years and has a spirit of serving others — even when she's not feeling well, she does her best to care for her community members as a midwife.
El Salvador, Sponsor an aging friend, Unbound
Sep 12 2016

Elderly midwife makes the most of every day

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Maria has been sponsored for five years and has a spirit of serving others — even when she's not feeling well, she does her best to care for her community members as a midwife.

Maria has been sponsored for five years and has a spirit of serving others — even when she’s not feeling well, she does her best to care for her community members as a midwife.


Maria is a calm and shy sponsored elder who loves to dance. She lives in El Salvador with her husband in an adobe home — surrounded by beautiful flowers and mango and avocado trees — with a dog, cat and even a few pet parrots. At age 80, she serves her community as a midwife and caretaker — a role she’s had for decades.

Maria joined the Unbound community in 2011, when she was sponsored by Gary from Missouri. The support from Unbound has been a great boost to her health and quality of life.

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A water barrel belonging to a sponsored family in El Salvador.
El Salvador, Sponsor a child, Unbound
May 30 2016

The high cost of being poor

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A water barrel belonging to a sponsored family in El Salvador.

A water barrel belonging to a sponsored family in El Salvador.

By Henry Flores, director of the communications center in El Salvador

The more I learn about people living in poverty, the more I discover how expensive it is to be poor and how their fragile personal economy forces them to face high costs of living and social prejudice.

We all know that the less you earn the more expensive getting credit becomes. You have to pay more in interest for being a “risk” to the creditor, as earning less makes you a higher risk to default on your loan.

Something similar happens to poor people. Most of them don’t have a steady income, so they aren’t eligible for credit, and since they live off daily earnings, they can only make small payments daily. How do you conduct business in such a fragile economy? How do you make products and services available for people in such economic conditions?

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