El Cuco: Where 100 Smiles meets Soul

Before I get into today's post, one of the biggest updates that I forgot to mention is that I decided to change my plans and have been staying in El Salvador during my entire 1 month stay.  I didn't have the personal funds or the time to make my way to Guatemala or Nicaragua, so those places will have to wait until I'm back in Central America this coming December or beginning of the 2015 year.  Also there were a number of opportunities that came up in other areas of El Salvador other than El Tunco which required 100 Smiles Project support.

A new friend of mine, an ozzie named Ahren who has been living on the second floor with me at Casa Makoi for the past month had recommended that I go to Punta Mango to check out the waves.  I was on the fence about going because the whole purpose of my 100 Smiles Project trip was to surf AND volunteer.  Not just surf.  A couple of days later I ran into Adrian, a guy I had met when I was in El Tunco back in January, I gave him the details on why I was back, he then told me that I should connect with a friend of his named Lisette Perez, who owns Azul Surf Camp in El Cuco (which happens to be near Punta Mango) and owns a charity called Surf Sun Soul Project.  Adrian put me in contact with her, I got in touch with her and I made my way to Punta Mango for some waves that I could barely surf (cause they were so big and fast), and to meet up with Lisette to support her needs for her Surf Sun Soul Project.  

Making my way to El Cuco and Punta Mango

Surf Sun Soul Project focuses on expanding educational opportunities for children and providing opportunities for economic stability within the community.  Last year they partnered up with Surf For Life and built a brand new high school for the El Cuco community to give kids an opportunity to change their lives.  Since the high school is in an impoverished community, they feed the students lunch every Saturday.  I thought, this is something I could definitely put some 100 Smiles Project dollars towards.  I also read up on her site that the government provides very little school supplies for the high school and are in need for more.

Prior to leaving for Punta Mango, I decided to stop off at Remar Orphanage to purchase some school supplies at the Library that was built with some of the 100 Smiles Project funds from when I was here back in January.  I thought it would be a great idea to purchase all of the Surf Sun Soul Project school supplies from Remar to bless the orphanage.  The Library just opened it's doors last Sunday and 100 Smiles was their first customer :)

Purchasing School Supplies at Remar Orphanage Library

When I got to the Azul Surf Club in El Cuco, I didn't have a chance to meet Lisette in person since she was back at home in LA visiting family.  She put me in touch with Christina (who is working there for the year) and Skyped Lisette so that I could at least meet her virtually!  Lisette and I hit it off really well.  She's warm, friendly, has a big heart for the El Cuco community and has the drive to continue making it a better place.  

Christina took me around the grounds which Surf Sun Soul Project runs out of, invited me to join her for a delicious fish lunch, took me on a tour of the community, showed me the high school they built last year, and both her and Lisette chatted with me about their future plans that I might be interested in partnering up with.  

Azul Surf Club

They're future plans for the community is to build a playground for the orphanage in El Toro, build a health clinic/community centre in El Cuco and start a Surf Club to encourage kids to go to school and stay and school.  Since 100 Smiles Project starting off with small projects I thought it would be great to take on the Orphanage Playground project for this coming December/early 2015.

Prior to leaving Lisette (on Skype) and Christina, I presented Surf Sun Soul Project with the big box of school supplies we had purchased from Remar for the high school and $500USD dollars so that they can put towards the following:

Saturday School Lunch - $80
Childs Doctor's Visit - $10
Kids Medicine - $20

I told Lisette that she can distribute the funds where it's mostly needed.  She'll be taking pictures of the Saturday School Lunches so that we can see the happy kids 100 Smiles Project will be feeding :)

Here some videos from the El Cuco High School Project you should check out:

http://vimeo.com/31401957
http://www.surfforlife.org/press/gq-com/

Thanks again to all funders of the 100 Smiles Project!

Hasta Luego!
Elly
xoxo