May Compassion Offering: Madison Arcatao Sister City Project (MASCP)
The May compassion offering is for the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project. Arcatao, El Salvador, is one of Madison’s ten sister cities. Since 1986, Madison and Arcatao have worked together to learn from each other in solidarity across international boundaries. As part of the U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities (USESSC) network, MASCP works for social change by building and defending sustainable communities and economies. They communicate regularly with the community in Arcatao and lead delegations to learn what’s happening there and to share what’s happening here. The delegations then share what they’ve learned with the wider Madison community.
Your donations will support college scholarships for students from Arcatao and projects in the Arcatao community and surrounding rural areas. Specific priorities are set locally by the community board, with community members or local businesspeople providing the labor. Recent efforts have included building a wall to protect against flooding and repairing two wells to filter out dangerous heavy metals. The wells will provide safe drinking water for over 500 families for the next 25 years. See the well project.
Video:
https://youtu.be/JIXu3gFZnDU (37 seconds)