CIS Community Building and Dignified Housing (Testimonies).
CIS, Los Olivos CIS, together with Homes from the Heart, the Salvadoran Ministry of Housing, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and many CIS partners and individuals completed 17 dignified homes in 2022. This makes a total of 100 home built in Paso Puente to date. CIS has an integral approach that includes Scholarships, Leadership Development, Art and Mental Health programs so that families can not just have a roof over their head, but the tools for overcoming poverty and contribute to building their community and country free of violence. CIS added 21 scholarship recipients in Paso Puente in 2022 thanks to St. Elizabeth and Holy Spirit Parishes in Kansas City, making a total of 69 scholarship recipients there this year – an integral part of overcoming violence and migration.
Here are some testimonies from the families who are part of the project:
Testimony of Sara Elizabeth:
Sara Elizabeth is a single mother of two young daughters and an older son who lives with his wife and Sara’s granddaughter in their new home. The home has a corridor, 2 bedrooms, and a living room. Sara has a business making pupusas (a Salvadoran tortilla filled with beans and cheese or other ingredients) from 5 – 9 a.m in the morning for breakfast and 5 – 9 p.m. for dinner.
Her ex-husband left her for another woman and lives on the same lot which is in both Sara and her ex-husband’s name. He signed the papers so Sara could be the beneficiary of the home, which took a long time to convince him and why she had to wait over two years since the project started. He does not help her with any economic support to raise their children. He gives his daughters a quarter occasionally, but doesn’t help with food, clothing, or studies. Sara has a 5 th grade education. Because of the poverty she grew up in, she could not continue her studies.
“The difference now is we don’t live a deteriorated shack where rain would come through the roof. We would have to move the furniture and everything when it started raining to avoid the leaks. Now we have a dignified roof over our heads. My daughters can sit down and play on a clean floor, not on a dirt floor. They couldn’t play before.
We are very happy.
We would never have dreamed of owning our own home. We have lived in a shack for years. My business selling pupusas for breakfast and dinner barely puts food on the table. I can buy my daughters new clothes once a year.
My daughters are getting a quality education thanks to CIS scholarship program. If I had to pay for their studies that would be an additional sacrifice. I see a brighter future for my daughters thanks to all blessings we have been given. I also helped with the construction and walk my daughters to school. I believe it is important for the families to contribute to this development; not just wait for a handout. I am on the Board of
Directors of the community to organize for other necessities like to get running water into our homes.
I want to give thanks to the CIS, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Homes from the Heart, the Salvadoran Ministry of Housing, and the organizations and individuals that support their work and share your blessings and not just put money in
your own pockets. We feel it is a blessing that God put you in our path, that you
reached out to visit us and see our reality. Imagine, we have been living in this
community since the earthquakes of 2001, and no one ever visited us or help us overcome. We are happy you can see the fruit of your efforts.
May God bless you, so you continue his good works.”
Testimony of Blanca Luz
Blanca Luz is the mother of five children. She lives with her youngest son, Miguel. Three of her children are older and live with their families. Her second-youngest son is in prison after being seduced into joining the gang. Miguel has severe physical disabilities due to having been beat up by the gang for not joining. This makes it difficult for him to get a stable employment.
Blanca Luz has only a first-grade education and is originally from the countryside, where there was not much education available for her to study. Her first ex-husband abandoned her and her first three children, giving her no economic or moral support. Her Second ex-husband is mentally ill and cannot help her with expenses. She has been the mother and father raising her five children She sold tomatoes, corn, herbs, lemons, empanadas, and fruits to raise her children. She was also the maid of a family in a wealthy home when her mother was alive to take care of her children. [maids in El Salvador typically live with the wealthy family and only get two days off a month]. Miguel does odd jobs such as painting, cleaning, and collecting soda cans to sell for recycling.
“I feel happy. I feel proud. I never had a little home. Now I can sleep well. We are happy to be in a secure house that is not going to fall down with the wind, or the roof and poles will not rot. Before, during the cold months of December, we would be shivering. Now we are nice and warm. We don’t have to sleep on the dirt floor with little insects all over us, and animals running in and out of the house. I have always maintained my house clean even when we lived in a shack with a dirt floor. People always envied me and
thought I was rich because I had a neat and clean home. Just because you are poor, doesn’t mean you can’t live in a dignified manner. I want to contribute to my community and my home. Miguel and I bought paint and the things we need with our hard work.
Some people have big plasma televisions. We can’t afford that. But with our hard work and saving little by little, we could buy a stove and small refrigerator.
God has blessed us and helps me with my son’s health; and we do our part.”