Home About Us Gallery Projects History of El Salvador Support Contact
	El Salvador achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and from the Central American Federation in 1839. In the 1980s El Salvador was ravaged by a bitter civil war, fuelled by gross inequality between a small wealthy elite, which dominated the government and the economy, and the overwhelming majority of the population, many of whom lived, and continue to live, in abject squalor. The war left around 70,000 people dead. The economy depends heavily on the money sent home by Salvadorans living in the USA. Poverty, civil war, natural disasters and their consequent dislocations have left their mark on El Salvador's society, which is among the most crime-ridden in the Americas. -source, Compassion.org.au website   El Salvador is the smallest but also one of the most violent countries in Central America. The country is still recovering from civil war which ended in 1992. The inequality between the wealthy and the poor, which led to the war, still exists. Natural disasters including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as well as a crisis in coffee production have resulted in more hardship. Child labour is pervasive on sugar plantations in El Salvador. Children as young as eight use machetes to cut cane, working for up to nine hours each day in the sun. Gashes on the hands and legs are common. Medical care is often not available, and when it is, the cost is usually borne by the families of injured children. Children frequently do not attend school during the harvest, which runs through the first few months of the academic year.
	Page Design by Nicola Goldie Copyright © 2009 Mission to El Salvador