Located in Central America, El Salvador is one of the smallest countries in Latin America. It is best known for the delicacy food dish called Pupusas. These come in many different flavors such as beef, bean, cheese or a mixture of all three. Unfortunately, another reason it is widely known is because it is home to one of the largest gangs in the world.
I am first generation American and I was born from Salvadorian parents who came to the US in the 1980's. During this time, they came fleeing a nationwide war of the people against the government. They were called the "guerillas." Growing up, my mom would tell me about horrific stories of them growing up hearing bombs and gunfire at all times as the days pass them by in their own homes. It was a devastating time for our country and the people.
After the war, these gangs were developed to protect certain people but it just caused havoc and fear throughout the nation. Since then, they have been growing and they were widely known where I grew up in NYC. Today there is a large population of Salvadorians in Los Angeles, Virginia and NYC. Many times when I tell someone where my family comes from, they joke and say we are dangerous. It is a stereotype that these people don't realize they provoke on the rest of us.
Last year, I went to El Salvador to visit my sister whom I had not seen in over 17 years. Unfortunately, my grandfather had passed away just months before but I got to visit him at the cemetery. During this time, I watched the news and found out that seven bus drivers were killed by gangsters in business suits and they were threatening to kill more people of the public by bombing cars. It was a very scary time to experience this while I was there. It amazes me how this was not on the news anywhere else around the world. Bombings are so common now that it doesn't even make headlines and is really tragic. However, this is not the worst of it. There is a large number of human trafficking, poverty and malnutrition in this country and there seems to be no way out.
El Salvador really, truly needs our help. There needs to be more exposure to the violence that is occurring in our countries– not just overseas. How can we be so caught up with Paris, Iraq, Afganistan and so on, but my country, the land where my parents came from, be forgotten?
To this day, El Salvador is one of the deadliest places to live on the Western Hemisphere. You can read more about this here.
To donate to Mission to El Salvador please visit http://www.missiontoelsalvador.com/.
