Project focus, Pana, San Salvador

Pana helps children who work alongside their parents in the main central market in San Salvador. These are children who spend whole days in the market. Most of the children are with their mothers, their fathers having left. Those who do attend school go either in the morning or the afternoon, the rest of their day spent on the market stall with their mothers.

This is where Pana comes in. Pana is made up of a group of volunteers from a local church. From a congregation of only 150, there are around 15 meeting with 170 children three times a week. They are working with five families who actually live at the market itself. There are 50 families in total who are permanent residents of the market place - 50 families who have no real home and who find shelter under the tables of their stall.

Pana’s main purpose is to try and improve the quality of life for these market children through schooling, educational games, family support, teaching about hygiene and children’s rights and by simply showing the children and their mothers that someone cares for them and that their situations can be improved.

• Pray for the children who attend Pana. Pray that through attending the project they will have the chance to break out of their poverty.
• Pray for the church that supports Pana. Pray that they will be a great witness in the marketplace and many more families will begin to attend.
• Pray for the volunteers who give up their time for Pana. Pray also that many more people would volunteer to help run the ever-growing project.