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Father Keane’s November Trip

by John Nelson

I went down to El Salvador November 3-17 for a little R&R and to check on our scholarship students who were getting ready to finish up their academic year which runs from January to November.  Everyone is doing great and we are proud to say that three of our college students (pictured at left on a day trip to the Basilica of Esquipulas, Guatemala) are now done with their studies and will be receiving their degrees in May or June.  One of them, Mirian Elizabeth Clavel Vásquez, is an orphan who we have taken under our wing and she is now ready to give back what she has received by becoming a school teacher.  Perhaps our proudest moment will be to see Jorge Elias Pérez receive his college degree after being in our program for the past 8 years.  Jorge was 13 years old when he began 1st Grade in the Catholic School that we built in Santo Domingo de Guzmán.  He was 16 in the 4th Grade and year after year would keep coming back to learn more, even though he had to walk 45 minutes each way to get to school.  He lives with his elderly parents in a very humble house with no electricity or water.  Most other kids with his background would have not gone to school or would have dropped out after a few years in order to work in the fields.  Jorge is a model of patience and perseverance who literally has stood head and shoulders above his peers but now he gives hope and inspiration to all of the poor.  I had lunch with all of our scholarship students and I expressed how important it is for them to make the most of the opportunity that they have received through the generosity of you our donors.  I wish that you could hear their words of thanksgiving for this opportunity to secure a higher education.  In 2012 we hope to continue with construction of new classrooms and facilities for schools in El Salvador.  On behalf of the thousands of children that together we have helped over the past eight years, “Gracias por su apoyo – Thanks for your help.”

Father Keane

The World Series of Uno, live from El Salvador.

NEW ALBUM – Scholarship Recipients 2011

by John Nelson

Jensy Aracely Clavel VàsquezWalter recently posted new photos of this year’s scholarship recipients.  The Salvadoran school year is a little different from what most of us are familiar with, beginning in January and ending in December.  Among the students are six trade school or high school students, three males and three females, and nine university students, six females and three males.  Although the aid provided to each student varies, it usually includes some mix of tuition and fees, supplies, uniforms, and/or transportation costs.  I hope these photos help donors understand the positive impact they are having on these lives…they will never be the same.

After a rocky start (literally), Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe nearing completion

by John Nelson

After hewing a foundation from solid rock, the TLAU workforce has finally completed the classrooms

As the beginning of the Salvadoran school year approaches, craftsmen are putting the final touches on the two classrooms at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.  Walter uploaded upwards of 500 photos onto the photo site, and is sure to add more once the building is inaugurated and occupied.  I remember visiting this school on a particularly scorching afternoon about 3 years ago, and all that stood in that spot was a large rock.  It wasn’t a very useful rock, as it wasn’t appealing to the eye or good for climbing. Later, as I looked at the pictures of the workmen laboring to create a stable foundation for the new places of learning, a quote came to mind that you might recognize. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock.”

TLAU and the people of El Salvador thank you for being their rock.  The winter rains will fall again, the winds will rattle their tin roofs, and the earth may even shake as they have done before, but the children of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe are not alone.

guadalupe

A back-breaking ground-breaking at Guadalupe…

by John Nelson

A few young lads at Our Lady of Guadalupe take shelter from a summer storm while extending thanks to the students at JSerra who made the new classrooms possible.

Walter uploaded some photos of what looks like the ground-breaking for the new classrooms at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.  Only this ground-breaking is without all the pomp and circumstance that usually accompanies such an event.  Nope, no flashing bulbs or gilded shovels…just three laborers (likely parents) breaking ground. I hope all the students at JSerra get to see these.  There are sure to be many to follow!

 

This school rocks: JSerra benefit dance pays for new classroom at OLG

by John Nelson

Benefit dance 013I’m not sure why, but this makes me feel like that little kid who spent all December wanting a certain toy, all the while knowing that he wasn’t going to get it.  Then come Christmas morning at 5 AM, he’s squinting at it through tired little eyes, still not really sure it’s there. Now that’s not to say that I didn’t expect the campus ministry students at JSerra to come through with enough money for a classroom: their jeans day event proved them to well versed in the art of fundraising, and from the beginning I noticed a focus and dedication that was sure to accomplish something great.  But the whole affair screams serendipity, or rather Providence: TLAU didn’t ask them to do anything.  One person (campus ministry leader Robyn Gibson) heard about our mission and the needs at Virgen de Guadalupe, and a month later we have enough money for a new classroom.

Benefit dance 008So check out the photos.  The only thing I would have done different: glowsticks. Lots of glowsticks.

JSerra students and the $1200 day of denim

by John Nelson

Campus Ministry 004Who knew that high school students wanted to dress down so badly? Oh…that’s right.  I knew.

But campus minstry leader Robyn Gibson says the outpouring of support wasn’t just a fortunate consequence of several hundred cases of senioritis. In fact, after a sluggish start to the jeans day effort, the students found that if they were more vocal about the cause behind their efforts, other students were much more likely to give. So after only the first event of JSerra Catholic High senior campus ministry’s partnership with The Least Among Us, Virgen de Guadalupe already has $1200 to put toward the construction of its classrooms.

I’m thinking about contacting the school administrators to see if we can’t start selling days off or field trips to the beach. Methinks we could build enough classrooms for every child in El Salvador.

Take a look at these photos!