Yesterday, we were at the Apopa youth center providing sanitation supplies. Due to a mobility restriction, communities have had a difficult time getting proper sanitation supplies such as hand sanitizer, bleach, liquid soap, and gloves. Working with the sisters, who are trusted members of the community, we determined that the most helpful thing we could be doing is supplying these same things to the neighboring community of Suchitoto. The Suchitoto efforts were led by sister Peggy and The Color Movement. Together we were able to get enough supplies for the sisters to provide cleaning supplies to 86 communities! Sister Peggy joyfully told us, “thank you for all you’re doing for all the communities we serve!” We are so proud of our Color Movement team member Raquel who has been an amazing mover and shaker on the ground making sure these projects happen under such difficult circumstances! Thank you Raquel! … [Read more...] about Sanitation for Suchitoto

Changemakers 365 is all about doing to the doable. With the global pandemic of COVID-19 growing, Changemakers 365 is a great tool for providing small support that can stop the spread of the virus and empower others to protect their communities! Our first stop is the Apopa youth center in El Salvador. In El Salvador, there is mobility restriction to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This has made it difficult to get the proper supplies for keeping things sanitary. At the youth centers, the sisters are focused on keeping everything clean and sanitary and also providing sanitation supplies for the community to use. Raquel Orellana of The Color Movement told us "In times of adversity, the sisters unite efforts and work shoulder to shoulder for the most vulnerable communities, even exposing their lives. Their service, it’s an amazing expression of love." We wanted to do whatever we could to help these sisters keep their communities healthy, so we brought them hand sanitizer, … [Read more...] about A Healthy Community

Today, we’re in El Salvador, continuing our work at the youth innovation lab in Apopa. One thing that is certain about the community center is that when it’s filled up with children and adults alike running around, it gets hot. For safety reasons, Sister Conchy will often keep the door closed, trapping the hot air inside with little opportunity to cool the place down when participants have left for the day. They used to have a screen door that would keep items in the building secure while still letting the airflow through, but it broke and they weren’t able to pay the costs to fix it. So today, we finally got that door fixed again! Now this way, people can run around and have fun in the center, and Sister Conchy can use her new fans and fixed screen door to keep it cool. If you’d like to support doing the doable and making change each and every day, make a donation to fund Changemakers 365.   Meet Sam! Sam developed an interest in forced … [Read more...] about A New Screen

It’s our last day in La Chacra—at least for now—and we’re sad to be leaving them, but making sure that we do so on the right note. Similar to how we ended up celebrating with a taco party in Apopa, we had the group decide together what they wanted to do as our last activity together. A short debate ensued, as it wasn’t long before people decided what they wanted was to have a pizza party. So Sister Betty and our driver Moises piled into the car to pick up boxes of pizza, bread sticks and sodas to make the party possible. Everyone lined up to get their portion and munched happily away on cheese and pepperoni slices topped with extra cheese. If you’d like to support doing the doable and making change each and every day, make a donation to fund Changemakers 365.   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 … [Read more...] about A Little Italy in El Salvador

Hello, hello! Welcome back to La Chacra, where we’ve got a day full of laughter and fun ahead of us. When reflecting on the ideations that we held with students, one of our favorite ideas was to play board games together. It wasn’t hard to agree amongst the team that this was something we wanted to do, and Roberto, one of the human-centered designers from LERO studio, beelined to boardgame section of the store as soon as we arrived there that morning. He picked out games like monopoly, chess, and Uno that would be known internationally, as well as some games specific to Central America. When we first pulled out the games, the students weren’t totally sure what to think. Many new how to play card games, and many others associated cards with gambling, but were unfamiliar with the games we picked out. After dividing into two groups, one, larger group, started playing Uno and giggling all the while. Another, smaller group with the younger boys, went out with Roberto to learn how to … [Read more...] about The Students That Game Together Stay Together

Welcome back to La Chacra, El Salvador. It’s another sunny day in a colorful community, and our Changemakers team has spent the morning working on the next project so that it will be ready by the time the students get out of school in the afternoon. The youth innovation lab is positioned to be many things for these students. On one hand, it would be a creative space with tools, computers, and other supplies they could use. On the other hand, it would be a safe space away from the gang violence that their neighborhoods struggled with. Today, we’d be focusing on the former. The team had picked out computers for the computer lab portion of the space, but they didn’t have any way to print from these computers. We didn’t feel like the space would be complete without it, so we set up a printing station with a high-quality printer and scanner, lots of paper and plenty of ink! If you’d like to support doing the doable and making change each and every day, make a donation to … [Read more...] about Ink and Paper for La Chacra

Welcome back to another day in La Chacra, El Salvador! The neighborhood is known locally for suffering from gang violence, but despite this, we’ve found it to be vibrant and full of people who want to be known for more than just that. This was something we really love about working with the group in La Chacra; people show up every day to spend time together, mess around, and have become another family of sorts for each other. We wanted to help capture this, so we did a photo project similar to the one recently completed in Apopa here. Initially, the group was a little bit shyer than the youth in Apopa but quickly they warmed up and everyone wanted a turn both in front of and behind the camera. One of our favorite moments when they were fooling around with the camera and taking pictures was when they took a picture of Sister Betty. The small group congregated behind the camera to make sure that the one capturing this woman, who had become a mother figure or, at the very … [Read more...] about Photo Op!

¡Saludos desde El Salvador! We’ve got another day in La Chacra, and we’re busy finishing up their new youth innovation lab with Sister Betty and the neighborhood kids. In order for them to complete all of the projects they wanted to, they’d need the necessary equipment to do so. And as we talked about constructing planters for fresh flowers or shelves for the space, we knew that this meant getting some heavy-duty tools like a Dremel and electric drill, as well as other basic tools like hammers, nails, a leveler and clamps. We picked up all of these and then some, plus a big orange toolbox to keep all the small bits and bobs in order. Right away, we used these tools to hang up a mirror in each bathroom, and then construct a wooden box to be hung for storage along the wall. It was surprising to see how exciting a power tool could be to a 10-year-old, and all of them were eager to lend a hand and work on these projects. If you’d like to support doing the doable and … [Read more...] about The Right Tools For the Job

It’s our second day in La Chacra, a—quite literally—colorful community on the outskirts of San Salvador. We’re busy working with Sister Betty and the youth who have started to assemble around her to make a space that will be warm and welcoming to those who want to use it. Yesterday, we met a need expressed by Sister Betty. Today, we want to meet a need expressed by the youth. To do so, Leo and Roberto, the human-centered designers of LERO studio, led a handful of ideations with the youth to see what they might want for the space. One of the things that came up was reusable tableware—plates, forks, spoons, knives and glasses. As across the rest of the world, concerns about the environment are becoming increasingly common amongst young people, and the same is true for El Salvador. The idea was easy enough, and something we also heartedly supported, so we got some durable, reusable tableware that they’d be able to use for years to come. If you’d like to support doing the … [Read more...] about Reuse. Recycle. Repeat. Eat.

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 … [Read more...] about Cleaning Up La Chacra