Easier Than Expected

Ok, we all know El Salvador is a poor country. The average person here makes less than $5 per day and the magic thing they seem to want from us Peace Corps volunteers is some way of bringing them free money for projects. With that being said I had assumed that soliciting any Salvadoran entity, shop, person or otherwise, for a little cash to do a project would be difficult. I was ever so wrong.

The other volunteers in my area and myself are planning a 3 day camp for teenagers to teach them about HIV/AIDS, family planning, STDs and other related topics. We are writing a grant to get the majority of our funding, but it requires at least a 25% community contribution in money or in kind. We were struggling to get the in kind contribution up to a reasonable level and concluded that soliciting a little cash from high profile local stores, especially pharmacies, would get us a little more wiggle room, but we weren't expecting much. In a little under 2 hours we raised nearly $100 dollars and managed to have the manager of the local supermarket promise to solicit donations from his distributors on our account to get us free food for refreshments. Honestly most places that had an owner present easily handed over a few dollars with only the promise of putting their name on a small sign indicating our donors.

Color me surprised and I'd like to say that yesterday was one of the most fulfilling and productive days of my Peace Corps service. I doubt I will have as many pleasantly surprising days like that in my time here, but that one will keep me going for a while.