From Intern to Agricultural Staff: The Story of Everth López

“I’ve always wanted people to succeed, and my desire is to provide the support to make that happen. You have to first educate people so they recognize the resources they have...and ENLACE does this very well.”

Everth López got to know ENLACE as a graduate agricultural techinical intern from the National School of Agriculture (ENA) in El Salvador. During that time, he worked to help families in rural areas with  agricultural strategies that created better nutrition and maximized local resources. Once Everth graduated, it was clear to ENLACE that he would be a wonderful addition to the team of Technical Advisors that work with communities on a daily basis.

“At first, people in the communties didn't seem very interested...but as they learned how to plant and harvest vegetables, they became more and more excited and involved.”

Everth has continued his studies and is pursuing a degree in Agribusiness at the José Simeón Cañas University. In the future he would also like to pursue a Masters of Tropical Agriculture in order to be more prepared to help the communities in which he works.

Everth gives weekly workshops in the region of Región de Santa Ana and San José El Naranjo for the participants in the Home Garden Projects. Then he visits everyone's gardens (presently there are 17 in this area) helping them to solve problems and continue to increase yield which helps both the family's nutrition and also provides extra money through the sale of produce.

“When I teach people about how to make organic fertilizer, the price and its uses, the participants get excited and decide what they are going to plant...That makes me very happy. It's satisfying to know that there is an impact on their lives, and they become motivated about what they can do.”

With a growing number of churches in need of creating sustainable and transforming projects like home gardens, the presence of Everth López, his testimony and his motivation all become important elements to ENLACE's success.

Give the Gift of Gardens Before Friday!

Friday, December 15 is your last chance to give the gift of gardens for Christmas! For every $25 you donate to home gardens, we'll send you a Christmas card to give a loved one. 

Give the Gift of Gardens and Donate Today!

Click here to donate online. Please note how many Christmas cards you would like in the Comments section of the donation page. Feel free to contact us with any questions. 

Three Hours That Changed Their Lives Forever

On November 7, 2009, the National Service of Territorial Studies in El Salvador registered over 13 inches of rain in only three hours. 13 inches of rain is about as much rain as the entire state of Missouri receives in six months. It caused the ground to become saturated with water, provoking landslides, flooding rivers, and leaving several areas without any form of communication. One such community was Anemona in San Martin where 176 families lived in a highly vulnerable area surrounded by soft dirt and and deep ravines.

In the damage report by the Ministry of Public Acts, the area was declared uninhabitable. This news wasn’t surprising to residents since their homes, belongings, land, crops, and even four lives had been lost to the disaster. However, none of them had another safe place where they could start over.

As a community, the people of Anemona decided to rebuild their homes on an abandoned property owned by the government using twisted sheets of metal, old sticks, and anything they could rescue from that terrible night. Without a stable source of income, and without land to cultivate, these families have done what they can through street vending and the collection and sale of recyclables, as they themselves describe, “just to pass the days.”

“They are a community poor in material resources due to life circumstances and catastrophes which have left them powerless. They have lost their material resources and housing which has turned them into a vulnerable community. But to me, they are a community of great wealth because despite their limitations they are optimistic, with much faith and courage, and they do not give up. They do what they set out to do, and it’s really interesting that they plan things as a community; they’re not just families fighting for themselves.”

-Gerson Ramirez, ENLACE Church Coach

There, in the middle of the hopelessness of many families is the Palabra de Poder, Tiempos Finales Church. Its pastor, Marta Alicia Vaquerano, has become an inspirational leader in this small, poor community. She had been praying for clarity about how to better face the community’s challenges and needs when she heard of ENLACE at a Pastoral Network meeting in San Martín. Pastor Marta considers her encounter with ENLACE to be an answer to prayers, and now she is one of ENLACE’s church partners in the region of San Martín.

“The first thing we did as a church was during the time when everyone suffered from Tropical Storm Ida. We went out and helped to pick up debris to rebuild the houses. We have also worked on the drainage ditches for the road in Anemona, and we are working with the home gardens. The community has many needs. As a church, we try to help the community by bringing them low-cost foods, clothing and footwear. Also, the home gardens are going to be a huge blessing.”

-Pastor Marta Vaquerano

The community and its congregation have been working hand in hand. Through planning with the mayor’s office, they now have a system of potable water. They also have electricity, and they are working hard to legalize their land. With ENLACE they have improved access to the homes on the main road with almost 500 feet of drainage ditches to alleviate the problems caused by a lack of drainage for rainwater. Before the ditches were built, residents on the road would suffer from flooding during the rainy season. Their plans also include laying stone and paving a main road.

Still, the common denominator of the people in Anemona continues to be the lack of formal employment. To mitigate the effects of this problem, they are now working with ENLACE technical advisor and engineer, Alejandro Pérez, to create home gardens. Eighteen families are participating in the cultivation of tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, squash, cucumber and jamaica. Although it is the first time they have attempted to grow vegetables, the participants’ enthusiasm demonstrates their desire to find a way to move ahead with their families.

“Despite their financial limitations, they are already so motivated and unified that they have raised funds to buy some investments and distribute them among everyone in order to have more success. They are thankful for the support that ENLACE is giving. Other organizations have marginalized them and labeled them as rough and violent. With us, they feel different because we see them in a different light.”

Alejandro Perez, ENLACE Agronomist

Alejandro: An Agronomist in God's Service

Alejandro and his wife PatyChilean native, Rodolfo Alejandro Pérez Olave, seems to have no shortage of enthusiasm and energy. After marrying a Salvadoran and settling into life in El Salvador many years ago, Alejandro brought his excitement and expertise to ENLACE. Alejandro has been an agronomer with ENLACE since the very beginning in 1993 and has helped thousands of people transform their lives through medium-scale agricultural endeavors and most recently with home gardens. 

Alejandro began his career in agriculture working for the Chilean government with its national reconstruction plan after which he studied the environment and bacteriology in Canada. In 1992 Alejandro traveled to El Salvador as a part of the Organization of American States. It was during this time that he met ENLACE co-founder David Bueno, who was working with farmers in Ahuachapan. Alejandro never looked back, and since then has worked with farmers and community members in a variety of traditional and non-traditional production of vegetables. 

“What I like most about working with home gardens is to see how people learn and progress while also living in such humble circumstances. [Participants] welcome others into their homes with the little they have. They make my work worthwhile.”

Alejandro directing one of his home garden training seminarsAlejandro recalls how he used to work primarily with male farmers. Over the last five years, however, he has worked primarily with churches that help women with home gardens. Since women are the main caretakers of children and the elderly, their gardens support the most vulnerable in each community. According to Alejandro, “ENLACE has nailed it with the home gardens because they have great social and economic impact. Through them, communities can help themselves by eating more healthily, making a little more income and fixing their homes; I have seen their lives change completely.”

Today, Alejandro works with new partner churches in the regions of San Martin, San Rafael Cedros, Santa Ana, and San Jose El Naranjo. He provides ongoing technical support and teaches how to plant, cultivate, prepare the soil, and control pests totally organically.

Just as Alejandro has been a witness of change and transformation in the communities in the past 16 years in El Salvador, he has also been transformed by his work. Alejandro said that ENLACE has become his second family. He has been changed and transformed by God’s love, the people with whom he works, and by the friendships formed with his coworkers in the office. 

Striving to be a Pencil in God's Hands

“When I accepted Jesus Christ, my life was filled with God and with a desire to serve. To this day, I still have that desire. Through my studies I can help others, working not for men but for God because God satisfies my inner being.”

David's postive attitude and enthusiasm to serve has helped him to become a valuable new member of the ENLACE staff.David Gonzalez is currently studying agronomy engineering at the Roberto Quiñonez National School of Agriculture. Soon after starting there, his life changed completely when some of his classmates invited him to a Bible study on campus. After the study, the gratitude he felt toward God gave him a strong desire to help others in need through his life and his profession. He desired to live out the words of Mother Teresa which had always inspired him, “I am a pencil in the hands of God and he writes with me whatever he wants.”

David submitted 21 resumes to various businesses before being accepted for a job, but there was never a moment in which he lost faith in finding a place where his talents and abilities could be used by God. During his search, David discovered ENLACE and was impressed to see the positive impact that the local churches were having in their communities. It was with ENLACE that David finally found work as a technical expert in agronomy. David agrees with ENLACE’s method of working through the local church, saying, “I think the principal help has to come from the church, following the example of Jesus Christ.”

David is currently one of the three ENLACE agronomists who provide technical advice to local farmers in the communities we serve.Since October of last year, David has been in charge of providing technical assistance to the participants of the Home Garden Projects being implemented in the region of Abelines. He organizes, supervises, and trains farmers to better prepare the soil, plant seeds, care for their crops, and harvest the resulting produce in a way that optimizes the efforts of each participant. His work is part of a larger effort to promote home gardens as a source of nutrition and daily sustenance in one of the poorest and most remote regions of the country where the rate of malnutrition and infant mortality has been very high due to low food quality.

David enjoys teaching others how to take care of their plants in order to multiply the fruits and vegetables they bear. Just as the seed that fell into good soil in the Bible grew a hundredfold, David is using his abilities to help those with little resources plant their seeds in a way that their blessings may be multiplied. David, 24 years old, will soon finish his degree in agronomy engineering, and his story--one of a young man willing to be a pencil in the hands of God--is just beginning.

GivFood: Mercedes Portillo "We are no longer isolated from one another"

Mercedes Portillo is a leader in his community who has been cultivating vegetables for years. When the Home Gardens Project began in Abelines, he learned techniques to yield better and healthier produce. The improvements to his garden have helped his large family to have a more nutritious diet, and have eased their financial burden with extra income from the sale of surplus vegetables.

GivFood: Juan Antonio "By selling tomatoes I'll be able to buy milk"

Juan Antonio is a new father and a resident of La Loma. He is excited to be able to sell tomatoes from his garden in order to provide for his new son. As a leader, he is happy that the home garden participants are creating a positive example for the community. 

A Last-minute Gift = A Lifetime of Sustenance

Make a year-end gift today and help us reach our December goal of $25,000!

So far, we've raised more than $10,000 in December which will provide home gardens for more than 40 families in 2011. But we need your help to reach our December goal and provide gardens for hundreds of families like Modesto Guevara's family in Abelines who says, 

"We have a big family, but there was so much we couldn't eat it all ourselves. So we went to town and sold produce there. Now my wife sells here in our neighborhood or people come to our house to buy." 

Click here to read more about Modesto's experience with his home garden.

$250 helps feed a family for a lifetime!  
$50 helps feed one person for a lifetime!

Click here to give at www.enlaceonline.org or go to www.GivFood.org 

More than a Modest Harvest: Modesto Guevara Tells of His Success with Home Gardens

"I saw how much I could grow and not only feed my family but also sell the vegetables at the market."  

Modesto Guevara is a rural farmer in the remote community of Sirigual (Abelines Region). Fitting to his name, Modesto is a soft-spoken, humble father with 10 family members living in his dirt-floor adobe home. He is a lay leader of the local Catholic church and very active in the community. However, like most people in the region, Modesto has struggled to provide for his large family by simply growing corn and beans on rented land, making less than a few dollars per day.

Shortly after the local evangelical church began to implement home gardens with ENLACE's help, Modesto got involved and has seen great success so far. Take a moment to read about Modesto's experience with his home garden:

What has your experience been like working with your home garden?

"I'm 56 years old and I've been a farmer all my life, but I had never planted a vegetable garden. But I've noticed that when I plant and have success, I get excited and want to keep learning more so that I can continue growing."

What has impacted you the most about working with your home garden?

"I started with about 25 plants, but I saw how much I could grow and not only feed my family but also sell the vegetables at the market. That's when the happiness came. Not only did I not have to buy vegetables, but I could sell them and I even gave away a lot of the peppers to my neighbors."

What outcomes have you seen since starting your home garden, and how has your family benefitted?

Modesto sharing part of his harvest with Pastor Virgilio Ramos"In June I planted 150 tomato plants, 150 pepper plants and I harvested about 800 peppers and 800 tomatoes. We have a big family, but there was so much we couldn't eat it all ourselves. So we went to town and sold produce there. Now my wife sells here in our neighborhood or people come to our house to buy. We are pretty poor, but there are others around here that are worse off than we are, so my wife has given a lot of food to them. This is helping my family, but also helping other families around us."

What would you say about the local church's involvement with the home garden initiative?

"The best thing about the church is that they've truly showed that they care. They don't show favoritism, they treat us all as equals... We all work together and that is how we can make a difference. If one goes this way and another goes that way, things never move forward... Sometimes these ideas don't occur to you and it takes another brother, maybe with God's guidance, to say, 'let's do this together' and you say 'I had never thought of that!' But when someone gives you the idea you start working and when you see the outcomes you get even more excited to keep working."

What are your plans for the future now that you have a home garden?

"God willing, the idea is that next season, and I'm already starting to work on it, that we'll plant even more. We'll continue selling to pay for household expenses and help other poor families by giving them food."

Modesto's family is just one of the hundreds of success stories we've seen with home gardens. In the past two years ENLACE has helped plant more than 350 home gardens for people like Modesto, and we plan to start at least 400 new home gardens next year! Your donation, no matter how small, helps ENLACE give training and supplies to church and community members all over El Salvador who desire to feed their families and generate income through home gardens and small businesses.

Make it a Home Garden Holiday!

Help us reach our December Goal of $25,000 to provide home gardens for 100 families!

GivFood Today!
$250 helps feed a family for a lifetime!
$50 helps feed one person for a lifetime!

Lilian's Home Garden and Tilapia Pond Provide "Dignity," Increased "Self-Esteem"

In the past two years ENLACE has helped plant more than 350 home gardens, and we plan to help start at least 400 new home gardens next year! Your donation, no matter how small, helps ENLACE give training and supplies to church and community members all over El Salvador who desire to feed their families and generate income through home gardens and small businesses. 

GivFood Today! 
$250 helps feed a family for a lifetime! 
$50 helps feed one person for a lifetime!

Remember: Because ENLACE provides supplies, training, and most importantly, ongoing technical support to families who struggle with malnutrition and hunger, your gift, no matter how small, is maximized exponentially. 

A Healthy Inheritance: Giving Food to the Next Generation

Children involved in the home garden initiatives gain access to healthy foods and an opportunity for a better future.For Maribel Portillo, to think of the impact of home gardens is to think of her children. Maribel has seen a great impact in her own life since first starting a home garden a few years ago, but the influence on her children is what really stands out for her,

"...Our children are healthier. We now have an abundance of healthy food and this helps our children to stay healthy... We're all learning how to work together. We're more organized and we pass on what we've learned to the next generation."

Having healthy children is a dream come true for Maribel, and the success also allows her the privilege to dream of a brighter future for her family. She recognizes that the gardens are already of great importance, but she dreams of using the gardens to improve her family's economic situation as well. With great joy, she says, "[The gardens] help us financially because we no longer have to buy the vegetables that we cultivate and maybe one day we can even have our own business."

Every two weeks, ENLACE's agronomist visits the home gardens to provide ongoing technical support to individuals like Maribel Portillo.Because ENLACE provides ongoing training and technical support, Maribel's dream of a healthier and more stable economic future can easily become a reality.

Over 500,000 people in El Salvador struggle with malnutrition and hunger every year. A home garden is the most effective way to eliminate these problems. In the past two years ENLACE has helped plant more than 350 home gardens, and we plan to help start at least 400 new home gardens next year! Your donation, no matter how small, helps ENLACE give training and supplies to church and community members all over El Salvador who desire to feed their families and generate income through home gardens and small businesses.

GivFood Today!
$250 helps feed a family for a lifetime!
$50 helps feed one person for a lifetime! 

"This Initiative Has Changed Our Lives": Home Gardens Making an Impact in La Loma

Beatriz Amaya at her Home GardenIn the semi-rural community of La Loma home gardens have become synonymous with powerful and complete community transformation. Community members have become united in purpose-- teaching, cultivating, and helping their neighbors to accomplish the work at hand. A sweet aroma of change is filling the air in La Loma and is spreading beyond the community’s small borders.

For many years, the members of the Assembly of Christian Churches in the area attempted to serve their community, but they were always met with a negative response. Although they considered the Home Garden initiative as another attempt to get closer to the community, they expected no more than to provide vegetable gardens for members of the church.

However, over time the home gardens have become a revolutionary initiative, impacting not only the participants themselves, but their families, their neighbors and the sellers in the area. As Pastor Felix Amaya says, "This initiative has changed our lives. As a community we've come together, made friends, we take care of each other... and we're making money!”

ENLACE's Agronomist Advises Pastor Felix and Don Serefino on how to care for the home garden Taking care of a home garden requires perseverance, patience and care. These three ingredients have not only resulted in healthier and more nutritive vegetables, but also in restored relationships and a spirit of cooperation among the community members.

"People now see the church as a friend... we are no longer distant brothers...There are people who we never used to greet, but now they are benefitting from the gardens and they are asking questions...” Juan Amaya, church leader.

 The beneficiaries of this initiative are now helping and motivating others, breaking the ideological barriers that have kept the church divided from its community. This new openness has motivated and strengthened the church leadership and has bolstered church’s image in the community. For example, pastor Felix is no longer seen as just a pastor, but as a friend to the community.

The impact of the Home Gardens Initiative has been so strong that people from surrounding areas have asked how they might have the success and economical sustainability that the people of La Loma now enjoy. The success of the Home Garden Initiative in La Loma represents transformation in every way: restored sense of personal worth, better health, increased income and truly restored relationships.

In the past two years ENLACE has helped plant more than 350 home gardens, and we plan to help start at least 400 new home gardens next year! Your donation, no matter how small, helps ENLACE give training and supplies to church and community members all over El Salvador who desire to feed their families and generate income through home gardens and small businesses.

GivFood Today!
$250 helps feed a family for a lifetime!
$50 helps feed one person for a lifetime!