What do you hear when you hear “aid”?
The impact of ceasing USAID funding will be felt throughout El Salvador. COAR does not received USAID funds nor does our oversight partner in the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Vicariate of Human Development-CARITAS. But many, many other relief projects, the other dioceses in
El Salvador, and Catholic and non-Catholic agencies do. They range from direct relief of poverty (food, medicine) to disaster relief (not currently a problem, but disasters do strike without warning) to long-term training and development of health, agriculture, and education. Everyone is bracing for the new needs, the new PEOPLE who will need to be served.
The bigger impact is what you have heard in our US media: how do we answer the question, “Why?” Living in the positive impact of “aid projects” as we do, we had no answer.
The world has always been a complicated place. On our visit last month, we had a few guests with us. It was easy to explain our roots in El Salvador’s civil war (1980-1992), largely funded by the US, because its legacy is still all around us. Also all around us were US-funded projects of all kinds, like COAR. A drive through the country always had a few modest signs announcing projects by USAID, European, and Japanese governments. However, we showed our guests something new: large construction projects by the Chinese government and large infrastructure projects, including the massive prisons, of El Salvador’s current government. All we can do is continue to update you on the impact of these projects, too.