El Salvador: As children flee, Lutheran families,


Lutheran youth opened the National Youth Congress of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church with a procession on Aug. 2. The church is working to raise awareness about the dangers of children emigrating to the U.S.


mental vulnerability are challenges. But they don’t explain the expo- nential increase in the number of unaccompanied children entering the U.S. from Central America—less than 7,000 in 2011 to a projected 90,000 in 2014. In the nine-month period end-


RAFAEL MENJIVAR SAAVEDRA By Stephen Deal “ W


alls and more border police will not stop the flow of Salvadoran emigrants. ... Tey need hope. ... Tey need a sense that they can accomplish


something here in El Salvador,” said Bishop Medardo Gómez of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church. Gómez leads the largest Lutheran


church in Central America with more than 50 congregations and missions—all located in poor com- munities. While the church can’t resolve the child immigration issue, it does what it can with limited resources. “As pastors we invite our parish-


ioners to keep working together for a dignified life here in El Salvador,” said Blanca Irma Rodríguez, who coordinates the church’s migrant ministry. “We make them aware that they are risking their lives if they emigrate ... and of the dangers for their loved ones who are leſt behind.” Te Lutheran church also assists


28 www.thelutheran.org


impoverished families at an experi- mental farm, built on land that was a refugee camp during the Salvadoran civil war. Tere the church trains farmers to diversify and improve crop yields in ecologically respon- sible ways, helping families stay on the land. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,


storms, flooding, landslides and drought make El Salvador one of the most vulnerable countries in Latin America. So Lutherans here work with ecumenical partners in the ACT Alliance to help poor com- munities reduce disaster risks and prevent catastrophic losses. Economic poverty and environ-


ing June 30, Border Patrol agents detained more than 13,300 Salva- doran minors as they entered the U.S. Te numbers were slightly higher in the case of Honduras and Guatemala. “Te cause is the increase in


gang-related violence,” Rodríguez said. “El Salvador has become unsafe for children. Tey should enjoy the affection and security of a family. Instead they are highly vulnerable. Teir lives are at risk.” Recent studies confirm this. Te


U.N. High Commissioner for Refu- gees found that nearly 50 percent of migrant children interviewed from Mexico and Central America were personally affected by social violence in their countries. And when U.S. researcher Elizabeth G. Kennedy interviewed 322 children repatriated back to El Salvador from Mexico, she found that nearly 60 percent emigrated primarily because of “threats, insecurity and violence.” Interviews with Lutheran fami-


lies and pastors of teens who leſt El Salvador from May through June validate these findings. Virtually all


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