Project Launch:

Like many other rural areas, the youth in El Tular, El Salvador, a small agricultural community, lack structured after school activities and rarely have the chance to express themselves artistically or creatively. With a $215 grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program, students at the Centro Escolar Caserio El Tular, a school located in the municipality of Cuisnahuat in Sonsonate. painted a large 4 meter by 2 meter world map on the side of the school. The World at our Fingertips project worked with a small group of youth from El Tular to make a beautiful map across the wall of their school and provided these children an opportunity to work with other members of their community productively in a way that would benefit their community for years to come. The result: not only did the program allow children time to play with others, it provided them with a chance to show their artistic talents that they otherwise had no outlet for and gave participating youth an opportunity to take on leadership roles outside of the classroom. The kids participated in the entire scope of the project, from the organizational stage to the preparation stage to the rough draft and then to the finished product. Now the children love showing off their finished mural to all members of the community. It's considered a masterpiece within the town, and everyone is proud of what the youth have accomplished. Some youth even started another afterschool arts program where they could continue to show their talents. The mural is now used regularly in the education setting by teachers for geography lessons, and kids love being able to learn from what their classmates have created.