March 21, 2010- Palo Alto Friends Meeting "El Salvador Projects" Celebrates 20 years of work in rural El Salvador. See photos of the event that was held in the Art Center for Peace(Centro Arte para la Paz) in Suchitoto, El Salvador. Over 150 people came from around the country to join us in this historic celebration. Photo Link

Since our university student loan program began in 1999, we have now helped more than 60 students to graduate. Our students come from low income families in four rural communities of the poorest departments of El Salvador. These students have graduated as teachers, nurses and technicians in various fields. See photos of some of our past graduates

In 2006 our first Business Administration major graduated, Javier was the top student in his class and received what is known in El Salvador as the Agila de Oro(Golden Eagle award), and was elected to give the speech to the graduating class. See photos of Javier's graduation

In 2007, 6 more students we have supported will graduate. 5 will graduate with B. S. and B. A. degrees(1 in Law, 2 in Education, 1 in Computer science and 1 with as B. S. in Nursing). In El Salvador B. S. and B. A. programs take six years to complete, 5 years of study and 1 year for thesis, profession practice, social work or investigative studies. Technical careers, teachers and nurses aids, require between 2 and 4 years of studies. See photos of this years graduating students.

We have 7 continuing students who will be graduating in the coming years, they are as varied as the fields in which they are studying. See photos of our continuing students.

In 2007 we have accepted 10 new students into our student loan program, 3 will study at a 2 year technical school(ITCA) and the others at the national university of El Salvador(UES). See photos of our new students

We celebrated our annual student meeting in February of 2007 in Suchitoto, this year we invited graduated students as well as our current and new students. Altogether over 52 students attended. It was quite inspiring to here our first graduates giving advice to the newer university students. See photos of our meeting.

Our local committee is made up of members from each of the four rural communities where we work. Recently some of our university graduates have been incorporated into the committee. We generally meet 4 times a year and try to meet in each community at least once a year. See photos of some of our members.

Project Photos