When you first meet Selena you notice the sparkle in her eyes, if you look a little closer you can see a girl wiser and more mature than most her age. In many ways Selena Romero is like any other 13 year old girl I’ve met. She likes to hang out with her friends, play basketball, listen to music and loves fashion. She always makes sure her earrings match her shirt and spends more than enough time fixing her long dark hair before school. What you don’t notice right away when you first meet Selena, is that she uses a prosthetic leg.

Last year after complications from thrombosis (a severe blood clot), Selena lost her left leg. Doctors were forced to amputate above the knee after severe damage due to oxygen loss from the clot. She spent just over three months in the hospital recuperating and several months in physical therapy. After receiving continued peer support from Dimas Gonzalez, outreach worker for the Red de Sobrevivientes, she was determined to get back to life and finish the school year with her friends.

Selena received a prosthetic leg from the Red de Sobrevivientes just four months ago. They say that children learn fast, they bounce back, they’re resilient. In Selena’s case nothing could be more true. She practiced for hours every day with her new prosthetic leg until she was strutting like a model on the catwalk. She doesn’t use her crutches anymore and hasn’t sat in a wheelchair since the day she received her prosthetic leg. She started playing basketball again with her friends, and two months ago she picked up her old rusty bike and re-taught herself to ride.

“I fell a lot and scratched my arms,” she said, “but now its easy. I ride to school everyday and can still beat my little cousin in a race.”

Selena will be in seventh grade this year. She is excited about going to middle school, her favorite subject is math, and she aspires to be a medical doctor one day. A typical teenage girl with a very special personality trait. Selena is a survivor. She took the trauma from her amputation and turned it into motivation

Red de Sobrevivientes is giving people the tools they need to improve their lives. Just three weeks ago, Cruz Almendarias received economic assistance in the form of a new table saw. A talented carpenter by profession, Cruz has been crafting furniture for years. He has been working for other businesses in town, but now with his own tools he can begin to work from home and has dreams of opening his own workshop in the near future.

Cruz Gaberti Almendarias working with his new table saw Arcatao, Chalatenango Department, El Salvador, Photo by: Carolyn Ramsdell, July 2009

Cruz Gaberti Almendarias working with his new table saw Arcatao, Chalatenango Department, El Salvador, Photo by: Carolyn Ramsdell, July 2009

“This new machine is more than a new tool,” Cruz said, “its independence.”

After participating in a series of courses about accounting and small-business management from the Red de Sobrevivientes, Cruz said he feels ready to take the steps necessary to open his own workshop.  The Red de Sobrevivientes began working in Chalatenango just last year and has helped form an association of persons with disabilities so they may begin to advocate for inclusion of disability rights at the municipal level. Red de Sobrevivientes outreach worker, Dimas Gonzalez, has been working with Cruz and other survivors in the area also providing peer support, medical referrals, and job training courses.

As a guerrilla fighter during the civil war, Cruz lost his right leg just below the hip to a grenade explosion. He says his disability does not make him any different or that he has less than anyone else, it just makes him appreciate more what he does have. Today Cruz is happily married with two young children and helps care for his nephew.

As an integrated part of the Red de Sobrevivientes’ many ongoing projects, the NGO is assisting people in rural areas to improve their living conditions. As survivors become part of the growing network of people with disabilities in their area, they commit to doing community service projects, attend local advocacy workshops, and help provide peer support for one another.

The Red started working in Ilobasco just over a year ago. They are now assisting more than 45 people in the surrounding area, several of whom expressed to me that they had felt neglected and left behind until outreach worker, Armando Fabian, began to visit them in their homes.

Along with other programs, such as; health, social empowerment, and economic opportunities, the Red supports survivors most in need with basic repairs to their homes, as well as much needed relief in the form of food, medical supplies and/or furniture. This is the story of one couple and the improvements the Red is helping them make to their home.

When I met Isidro and Francisca last week, their hospitality and openness left a huge impression on me. They are both a little camera shy, and admitted to being embarrassed by their living conditions. I hope this short video does them justice and captures the kindness, warmth and gratitude I felt from them that day.

CLICK on the link below to watch video

To Keep Out the Rain