The 'Bread of Life' Providing Light to Its Neighbors

Nestled in the mountains just south of San Salvador sits the colonial town of Panchimalco. Panchimalco is one of the few towns in El Salvador where the indigenous culture and language have been preserved. It is not uncommon to hear the native Mayan-based language, Nahuat, and see elderly women with colorful clothing along the steep and winding streets.

Located in an adobe building built around 1950, La Iglesias Pan de Vida (Bread of Life Church) is a thriving congregation that has found a renewed sense of motivation since it began to work with ENLACE a little over a year ago. The church's extremely strong leadership group is working hard to find ways to connect with its community and make a lasting impact. One of the first Community Members working on the electricity initiative. initiatives identified by the church and community is an electricity project that will benefit the hamlet of Amatitan with more than 60 families (500 people). It is a project that the community dreamed of implementing for years but was never able to gather the resources on their own, nor were they able to organize themselves in such a way to link to the local government.

However, over the past year ENLACE's church advisor to the region, Gerson Ramirez, along with ENLACE technical staff,  have been working hard to train the church and help organize the community implement this Juan Carlos, Community Association President and church leader, working along with other community members on the initiative.vital initiative. The community members are excited about the prospect of a safe, well-lit community where children will be able to study in their homes at night and families will be able to store food in a refrigerator. The importance of the initiative will not only be seen by the light of the first light bulbs in Amatitan but also in the growth of trust, collaboration and the church and community's ability to be able to resolve their own needs. According to Juan Carlos Deodanes, President of the Community Association, “Our community is motivated and this is the first time I have ever seen a church become part of the development of its community."