SalvAide is continuing to build its partnership with Ottawa Catholic School Board schools to facilitate exposure trips to El Salvador. Currently, students from Holy Trinity and St. Francis Xavier High Schools have the opportunity to share with Salvadoran counterparts in an immersion experience.

In addition, each school has a long-term solidarity partnership with organized rural communities in El Salvador.  Holy Trinity is "twinned" with San José Las Flores in Chalatenango province.  Las Flores was one of the first communities repopulated by refugees who had been driven out by the Salvadoran Armed Forces during El Salvador's civil war from 1980-1992.  Despite great odds, the community is an example of what solidarity and collective organization can achieve.  To date, Holy Trinity students and teachers have contributed close to $15,000 for education-based community projects in San José Las Flores.

St. Francis Xavier partnered with the Cabañas province community of Cinquera in 2011.  Like Las Flores, Cinquera was also repopulated during the war.  The community boasts a beautiful forest and protected area that attracts eco-tourists interested in the political-cultural history of the former conflict zone.  St. Francis Xavier began its new partnership by supporting a high school and post-secondary scholarships program in Cinquera with an initial $7,000 donation.  Click here for photos from the school's Christmas for Cinquera Gala fundraiser on 6 December 2011.

If you are a teacher or student interested in developing a solidarity partnership with young Salvadorans, please contact us.