Hello, Hello! Although we’ve left Apopa for the time being, our Changemakers team is busy in another community in El Salvador—La Chacra.
The community center in Apopa that helps house our new youth innovation lab is established and well-known by locals in the neighborhood. The La Chacra center, on the other hand, is an old ophthalmology clinic, recently re-purposed by the human-centered designers at LERO to be a youth lab for the community. Despite being much younger, the La Chacra youth lab is visited by an eager group of students who pop over consistently after school to be together and spend time with Sister Betty.
When we were figuring out what exactly the space needed, Sister Betty quickly brought up cleaning supplies. Having been re-purposed for the lab, the space didn’t have any of the basic supplies needed to maintain it. And people wanted to ensure that the space was respected and could keep that initial shine for as long as possible.
So, we started by buying the space come cleaning supplies—brooms, mops, cleaning solutions, hand soap and refillable soap dispensers, toilet brushes, the whole deal. And even though, from the outside, it doesn’t appear to be our most exciting idea, people were none the less excited to have a bit more control over their own, new space, and the ability to keep it as nice as they wanted.
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Meet Sam!
Sam developed an interest in forced displacement, food insecurity, and identity while working on her master’s degree. She’s now using this knowledge to support Changemakers 365 across our country programs. When she’s not off on a work trip, she’s busy fermenting beverages, training for half marathons, or listening to podcasts at her home in Minneapolis.
