Canadian Volunteer Visits El Salvador
The highlight of Margaret McQuiston’s trip to El Salvador was meeting her sponsored child, Sara.
The Calgary resident was in the Central American country for 10 days last April with Destination Life Change (DLC) , a World Vision program that allows Canadians to interact with sponsored children and participate in community projects.
Reaching Sara’s home in the remote town of Tacuba was an onerous journey on bad roads, followed by a hill climb. While making her way, Margaret recalls seeing a girl wearing pants running into the house atop the ridge.
By the time Margaret, her five DLC teammates, and their World Vision staff coordinator reached the top, the child had re-emerged in a lovely dress, the only one she owns.
Meeting eight-year-old Sara was an exciting special occasion, Margaret remembers.
“It was the highlight of my trip because she’s somebody that I’m looking forward to having a relationship with and being able to make a difference in her life. My sponsorship means she will be able to go to school, have health care, and have hope for the future.”
Next to the family’s new cinderblock home lays the remains of their previous dwelling. Like 90 per cent of the houses in the area, it was destroyed by two major earthquakes in 2001.
Margaret and her teammates spent three days constructing a sturdy new foundation for another family whose current home would not have lasted another year. The work wasn’t easy. Labouring alongside the family, the Canadian team dug a hole in the hard ground, carted the dirt away in wheelbarrows, mixed the cement, and poured the foundation. But Margaret says the effort was more than worthwhile.
“If we hadn’t of come, this family would not have received this house this year,” she explains. “They were overwhelmed with our generosity, not just for the building supplies, but also that we were there and were willing to help them.”
Margaret recruited sponsors for six other children in Tacuba before her trip. Since her return to Canada, she continues to make a difference. Now she is an even bigger advocate for World Vision, speaking and presenting to potential sponsors.
“I won’t even know the impact that I’m really having,” she says, “but I know what a difference it is making for the lives of all these other children that I’ve been able to find sponsors for.”
