Curt Pflaumer and his son, Curtis, spent a week in El Salvador on a mission trip. They were there from April 9 to April 17 to support an orphanage/school located in Santiago Texacuango. Santiago Texacuango is about 10 miles outside of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. The name of the Orphanage is Hogar Infantil Shalom (in English that’s Shalom Children’s Home). Curt and Curtis were part of a 21 member team that was sent from New Hope Community Church of Tracy California. The team was comprised of 14 women and 7 men.

The cost for sending a team of 21 to El Salvador was about $20,000. That money was raised through a number of fundraisers organized by the church as well as by contributions made by individuals. The people from NCO were extremely generous in supporting this effort. Many employees donated money but others donated items to be sold at the “garage sale” that the church sponsored to raise funds. Rosie Conner also volunteered to make a couple of gift baskets that were raffled off at a benefit concert. Curt and Curtis are very grateful for all the support they received from the people at NCO.

Don Benner, the director of the orphanage, presented the team with a long list of tasks he hoped could be completed during the week. The list included projects that were simple and quick to complete along with ones that were difficult and would take days to complete. Painting an apartment inside and out was one of the larger projects. The projects were assigned to people according to their abilities. Fixing a children’s wagon that had been broken for nearly three years was one of the easier projects but was appreciated by the children more than any of the more difficult tasks.

The largest project involved removing some cracked or broken roofing material and replacing it with new. Only broken panels were to be replaced so the roof needed to be cleaned and inspected before the hard work could begin. The panels were about 3 feet by 8 feet and probably weighed close to 50 pounds each. It took part of Monday, all of Tuesday, and all of Thursday to complete the roofing work.

In addition to the work that was done the team spent any free time playing with the children, singing for them, performing dramas, or speaking to them through an interpreter. Even though, by American standards, these children had very little in the way of possessions they were filled with joy. Most of them were laughing and smiling all day long. Life at the orphanage is much simpler than it is in America. They don’t have all the “things” that Americans have but they seem to have more joy in their hearts than most Americans. Curt and Curtis both came home with a new outlook on what is important in life. It’s not how much you have that really matters, it’s being happy with what you do have that really counts.

One amusing story from the trip is related to something the children were not used to seeing. Curt was standing among a group of the children when a little boy, probably about 5 years old, tugged on his pant leg. At first Curt thought he wanted to be picked up but when he went to pick up the little boy he pulled away. Curt then realized that the little boy just wanted him to get down to his level. After squatting down to get face to face with him the boy reached over to rub Curt’s bald head. During the week several of the kids wanted to touch Curt’s head because all the men in El Salvador seem to keep all of their hair.