Manny our atta team member is a trustworthy driver who works in transportation business came to my house at 7am. We loaded up the truck with 50 buckets, a bag with 50 filters and an electric drill. We hopped into the van and headed towards our destination. As we were driving there were empty streets everywhere. If you’ve ever been to my country you know how that is something we have never seen… empty streets!

Here In El Salvador Police and Military forces set up checkpoints to stop vehicles and ask if their journey is essential (if not they would send us to containment center for 30 days surrounded by strangers… for the sake of context, in three weeks they already sent 1,386 people to the containment center). On top of that we are suppose to have a transit permit which we didn’t have but we did have letters from the community requesting the water filters and one from ATTA explaining we were on our way to donate water filters to the Community in Mizata, La Libertad.  I was praying please God, give us favor with the police officers! In a instant I thought  about everything that could happen, and at the same time God remembered me of a verse “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord...” -  Hebrews 10:35.

TRUST ME…  Everything is going to be ok!!

We came across 4 checkpoints in our 70 mile journey and not one stopped us.

Somewhere between palms trees and a bumpy road Josh and Shon were waiting for us in the hotel; two Americans from California that own a beach front hotel and they are making a radical change in how they collaborate with the community. The surrounding community in that area is very poor, they live on a daily basis of gathering food for the day and they drink contaminated water. In the wake of the quarantine a majority of people have already lost their jobs. The jobs they need to feed their families every single day is now gone. My heart hurts for families like this in our country. But, the good news is that Josh and Shon and their team are providing groceries baskets and now they will provide water filters to all these families. We were able to train them how to use the water filters properly and due to social distancing right now they will have a booth where one member of every family will receive a training video with their filter.

When we were coming back home we found two checkpoints and guess what?

Yes a police officer told us to pull over to the side…

I took a deep breath before Manny opened the window. While we were questioned he showed him the letter, we told him we were returning home after leaving a donation of water filters. The police officer checked the letters and released us to keep going home. It was totally a miracle.

I am so happy we have had the opportunity to reach this community, all these families will have access to clean drinking water before the raining season starts in our country. I am truly grateful to be a part of One Atta Time.

Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we continue providing clean drinking water to families in need in El Salvador.

CINTIA CASTRO
El Salvador Country Liaison