Rebuilding lives after Hurricane Stan

Girls from El Rosario at the inauguration

On 1 June 2007 the inauguration of a housing project for 49 families took place in the municipality of El Rosario, Department of Cuscatlán, in El Salvador.
 
This municipality was one of the worst affected by the floods caused by Hurricane Stan in October 2005.

View video of the project (4mb | 1.44 minutes)

Plan teamed up with the Mayor of El Rosario and the City Council, the European Commission and community members to implement a housing project for the families - most of them headed by women who lost their houses and crops in the disaster.
 
The event was presided by Mr Wouter Wilton, representative of the European Commission delegation in El Salvador; Mr Odilio Portillo, Mayor of El Rosario; Ms Evarista López, project participant and community representative, and Ms Rossana Viteri, country director of Plan El Salvador.

Mr Wilton and a child reporter

Working in partnership

"People have made a commitment to take good care of their houses. They acknowledge that this is the result of a partnership among them, the City Council, Plan El Salvador and the European Union," said Mr Wilton at the inauguration.

Ms Viteri added: "These houses belong to the women who built them. They worked hard for several months to have a safe place for their children."

The inauguration of the houses was made just before the full force of the rainy season which runs from May to October in El Salvador. 
 

49 families now have new homes

Ms López concluded: "There were times when we doubted we would finish the houses. It has been difficult, and exhausting, but at the same time it is so rewarding to know that we did it for our children and to show other women who have no man by their side that they are capable of doing great things, like building a house!"