San Salvador Base House

A physical presence in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, has been established through the development of a base house. The base house serves as a residence for mission staff with space to accommodate additional volunteers on an ongoing basis.

Base house staff serves as a liaison with El Salvadoran non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to identify, screen, and coordinate volunteer projects.

Stairs from dining room

The Sisters live at the two-story rental property, financed through the mission's budget. It has a total of four bedrooms, kitchen, private bathrooms, dining room, living room, modern appliances and a computer, TV and VCR. Electrical outlets in the house use the same current and are the same shape as those in the U.S., eliminating the need for converters.

Three of the bedrooms, a bathroom and a landing comprise the upstairs of the base house. The landing has been converted into a work area that the Sisters use as an office. A computer station connected to a cable modem is set-up here for volunteers to send e-mail. The Sisters occupy two of the three upstairs bedrooms. The third bedroom has a private bath and large walk-in closet.

Downstairs you'll find a small kitchen with modern appliances and just off the kitchen, a small bedroom with a private bath. This floor also hosts a dining room, living room with cable TV and a VCR, and an enclosed porch out back. Although the base house has no clothes washer, dryer, or hot water, a pila (a combination washboard and water-holding tank) is provided for washing clothes by hand.

Meals

The Mission provides accommodations and meals. You can expect the meals to be a mixture of Salvadorian and American dishes. Purified water is also provided at the house.

Security

The base house is surrounded by a tall concrete wall with a gated-entrance. It is considered to be very secure considering that in addition to the wall, a guard is stationed out front to keep watch on houses in the immediate area.

Transportation

Transportation

Just like the base house, a vehicle is financed out of the Mission's annual budget. From this budget, a 1996 Toyota 4Runner was purchased for transportation needs. Currently, the Sisters meet all volunteers at the airport and transport them to or arrange for transportation with the group that volunteers will be working with during their stay in El Salvador.

© El Salvador Health Mission