Project Launch:

Few people in the community of El Higueral, El Salvador, especially young people, have had the opportunity to make music themselves using instruments. Deeply impoverished and isolated by rugged mountains, musical instruments never quite make it up the ridgeline to El Higueral. Young people, however, mobilized around a vision of getting their hands on a selection of instruments and creating a musical group to perform for the community and teach younger children how to play. With a grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program in 2011, the kids’ dream was realized. Young people in the community led this project from beginning to end, making decisions collectively and learning from every step of the process. The youth elected their initial set of leaders who worked together to learn the instruments and formed a musical group. They held concerts for the community and after began teaching instrument classes to their peers. This opportunity brought creative expression, positive, youth-to-youth activities, and leadership development opportunities to this small community and made its young people sure that they can achieve anything they set their minds to.