During the month of July 2016, VIS Foundation organized, for the second consecutive year, humanitarian missions in El Salvador. The 21 volunteers who participated came from Spain and France, many of them students or former students of the Highlands School in Barcelona, thanks to an agreement between this institution and our foundation.

The mission was carried out mainly in the Mano Amiga School, located in the La Paz department of the Central American country. During this period, the volunteers lived in the Nuestra Señora de Lourdes clinic, which is located in front of the aforementioned educational complex, which served as a camp for the occasion. The discomforts suffered did not diminish the enthusiasm but, on the contrary, as the days passed, the volunteers expressed greater joy in the development of the humanitarian mission.

The students received the volunteers with great affection. They did different jobs: painting murals in the nursery, tidying up the library, teaching English or values classes, painting the perimeter fence, painting the basketball courts and goals, planting plants as part of training respect for the environment, etc. In addition, the priests of the group offered the students daily Holy Mass and the possibility of accessing the Sacrament of Confession. The most important thing was, surely, the friendship that was created between the volunteers and the students of the school.

On weekends the volunteers had the opportunity to visit some emblematic places of the country: the anthropology museum, the handicraft market, Lake Coatepeque, the Boquerón volcano, the Mayan archaeological ruins of San Andrés and some more. They also enjoyed sports tournament with students, alumni and teachers from the Highlands school in San Salvador. Particularly interesting was the meeting with the businessman "Guillermo Simán", who gave them his testimony as a Catholic businessman.

Another part of the mission was carried out in the mangroves of Estero Jaltepeque, specifically in the “La Colorada” community. There the volunteers were working in the school, cleaning it and completely restructuring the roof with the help of some local people. This was an experience that particularly enriched the volunteers, also due to the natural beauty of the place. There were moments of rest and conviviality particularly appreciated by all.

The bishop of Zacatecoluca wanted to personally thank the volunteers for their work during the mission and went to the school for a solemn Eucharistic celebration in which the entire educational community of the school also participated.

The farewell was particularly emotional. The students of the school, as well as all the staff, were able to express to the volunteers their affection and gratitude for the work they carried out. Everyone said that it had been an unforgettable mission and many expressed the desire that it has to be repeated as soon as possible. In fact, the volunteers agreed that it had been one of the best experiences of their life and that it had strongly changed their way of facing life and their way of seeing the world.

All VIS Foundation's staff would like to warmly thank the volunteers for the extraordinary work carried out, as well as the Mano Amiga School and the other people who collaborated so lovingly to make the humanitarian mission of VIS Foundation 2016 a wonderful success.

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