OLDS — Sixteen people, primarily from Olds and area, headed to El Salvador in Central America Oct. 26 for just over a week to build homes for residents there in conjunction with Shelter Canada.
Spokesman Dave Anderson says they built homes “for the poorest of the poor.”
Except for a couple of years of COVID, a group of primarily Olds residents has made the trip every year since 2013.
“We couldn’t travel, but we were still able to send money down for houses to be built,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
“It’s been a project where we thought we’d make one trip and that would probably be it, but it’s just become a part of who we are and what we do.”
Anderson, a member of the First Baptist Church, said the tradition started after a friend of his overheard a couple of guys in a coffee shop in Airdrie talking about making the trip.
The friend indicated interest in joining those two if they did it again. That led to an invitation to Anderson to join.
“My first reaction to that was, ‘where is El Salvador,” he said.
“We went down to the first meeting, just to kind of get some information. Then we went to the second meeting and signed up to go.
For the first couple of years, Anderson and company made the trip with Airdrie residents. Next year will be the 10th one with an Olds group.
“We’ve just been led by Jesus to go every year and I have enjoyed it immensely. It’s always a challenge, but it’s always good.”
Anderson said the plan was to build 18 houses during the trip, bringing the total constructed over the years to more than 160.
“That’ll get 18 families out of the dirt and into a safe and secure home,” he said.
The group consisted primarily of Olds residents but also included people from Didsbury, Airdrie and even Leader, Saskatchewan.
The budget for this year’s project is $108,000. Last year it was more than $140,000.
He said the difference in those two figures is due to the fact that this year, 16 people were expected to make the trip. Last year, 26 people did so and built 20 houses.
Money is raised via fundraising events such as a golf tournament, providing food for events like horse and car shows – even painting lines in parking lots.
“We will do just about anything,” he said.
Anderson was asked how safe it is to work down there, given the country has experienced a high level of drug and gang violence.
He said that used to be the case, but noted the government there has instituted a severe crackdown on such violence.
In fact, by 2023, El Salvador had the highest incarceration rate (rate of people in jail) in the world, according to Wikipedia.
“It sounds harsh to us, but for the people of El Salvador it’s become a tremendous thing,” Anderson said.
“We had an interpreter two years ago, 21 or 22 years old. He said that that summer, before we came in October, that summer was the very first time in his entire life that he felt safe walking down the street in the town that he lived in,” Anderson said.
“We have a hard time understanding that, because here in Olds, it’s pretty safe. My grandkids can walk from their house to my house and I don’t really worry about them too much.”
He said they choose late October as the time to make the trip because that time of year seems to work best for participants.
The houses are completely made of sheet metal with square steel tubing for the frame and the rafters. After each house is built, a concrete floor is poured.
El Salvador is a very hot country. Anderson was asked if houses made of sheet metal are too hot for residents.
Anderson said he wondered that same thing the first time he made the trip.
However, “when you put the roof on the house, the temperature probably drops by eight to 10 degrees inside, which is amazing,” he said. “The sun is deflected by the sheet metal and so the heat’s not penetrating the way it is outside.
“And then when they put a concrete floor in that house after we’re gone, it drops the temperature by a few more degrees. They’re actually quite comfortable inside.
“It seems crazy, but it works. Whoever designed the place came up with a design that works well.”
Each roughly 300-square foot house consists of two bedrooms and a main living area. A porch is constructed across the front of the house.
There’s no bathroom in the house. No real kitchen either. Anderson said that’s because most people down there do their cooking outside anyway.
Anderson estimates the cost to construct each house – including the floor -- to be about $3,800 Canadian.
They‘ve housed anywhere from one to 14 people.
The doors and windows of the homes can be locked, which is a huge safety feature.
“We build a lot of houses for single mothers and in El Salvador unfortunately, a young girl, if by the time she’s 10 to 12 she hasn’t been raped, she’s the exception as opposed to the norm,” Anderson said.
“This gives them a safe and secure house where they can lock the doors and be protected and the mother can go away and work during the day because she can lock her house.
“Their old house would have been mud and bamboo and whatever sheet metal they could find and screw together. It would have a blanket, an old blanket for a door, which is no security at all, so there was no protection for the kids during the night.
“And then somebody had to stay at the house all the time during the day, because if you left your house alone, whatever you had in that house would be gone when you came home.”
The age of participants ranges from 14 to more than 70.
“Some people have come once and never gone back and that is OK. Some people come every year. Some people come once and then three or four years later, they’re ready to come again,” he said.
“We’ve been blessed – been able to go every year; only because of the support of our church and people who support the fundraising things that we do.”
“The houses are a gift from God for each of the people that are receiving them in El Salvador, a 100 per cent gift from God, because we have no idea where that money’s going to come from when we start, but He does, and so we depend on Him 100 per cent and He provides, so we’ve been blessed,” Anderson said.
