News

El Tular update on Education

 At the start of 2023 year 6 post-school scholarships were awarded to 4 girls and 2 boys to enable them to learn skills to pursue employment outside the community and to reduce El Tular’s dependence on subsistence farming. School leaving age is normally 17-18, and the age of the young people taking-up the scholarships is usually 19-23 years old.

Their career choices include studying English to find employment in call centres, nursing, marketing, technical work and software development. Allan keeps us informed of results and employment uptake, and Wellsprings UK would like to congratulate the students on their hard work and excellent grades

Gamaliel Hernandez (a past UK visitor recipient of Wellsprings scholarship funding) continues to teach basic computer classes to children and a small group of adult women in the community. In addition, several members of the El Tular Committee began training with weekly computer training sessions in August.

In the run up to 15 September 2023, as is traditional throughout El Salvador, priority had been given to preparing for the school parade to celebrate the country’s independence from Spain in 1821 – a proud date for the people of El Salvador!

Environment and Community Risk Management

El Tular continues to participate in the ongoing project financed by the Inter-American Foundation, which is helping and instructing community-led efforts to reduce natural disaster impacts in hurricane-affected areas of Central America. The project aims to increase community-based resilience and disaster preparedness. To help achieve this, ‘communal commissions for civil protection’ have been set up in all participating communities. El Tular has 15 people who will be part of different task forces and trained in first aid, shelter provision, security, monitoring and evacuation, alongside similar task forces formed in neighbouring rural communities.

Weather predictions and continuing climatic threats

Members of the committee spoke to Allan on zoom in September. He expressed concern about the damage the El Niňo conditions are likely to cause, and have already caused in El Tular, rural communities and elsewhere in El Salvador. El Niňo effects can potentially cause crop losses and harvest failures, but Allan explained how the actual effects of food shortages would be felt later. There are major concerns over future food security in the rural communities.

St Thomas’ Eco Project Phase 3

Wellsprings El Tular is grateful to St Thomas’ Church, Delph, who have been supporting ‘eco projects’ in the Community for the last 3 years. The first project involved the young people establishing and nurturing a nursery and planting trees that would diversify the plant species, sown in the domestic plots of 26 families. This activity was accompanied by 3 environmental training days and a tour and analysis of the pollution situation in the river and the community and its possible solutions. The second project involved the piloting of a ‘Grey Water’ project to filter domestic detergents from household wastewater so that it can be used for irrigating crops. The most recent project helped provide technical assistance to 10 families to nurture their own vegetable gardens to supplement their diet. The vegetables have been harvested and, in some cases, seeds have been collected for future planting.

 Wellsprings is delighted that St Thomas’ have decided to extend their support of eco projects in El Tular for another 3 years.