Fundación El Vínculo de Amor / The Love Link, Inc.

I wrote about visiting Fundación El Vínculo de Amor (Spanish for “The Love Link Foundation”) while I was on my trip to El Salvador back in February, and I’ve noticed people keep finding me while looking for their information.  So I contacted Sam and Julie Hawkins to get more details on what they’re up to and how to support them in order to be able to post it here.

MISSION: 

The mission of Vínculo de Amor is to provide temporary care to children in El Salvador under the age of two who are suffering from malnutrition.  At their facility in the capital city of San Salvador, they feed them, love them, address any medical issues they may also have (in cooperation with local hospitals as well as on-site doctors).  Simultaneously, they provide the childrens’ parents with resources and training in order to promote the children’s future growth and development. 

The babies they help stay with them for several months, are reunified with their families, then return for follow-up visits with their parents after they return home.  Vínculo de Amor also occasionally takes in abandoned babies from local hospitals and babies and toddlers from state-run orphanages or the national child welfare agency who are severely under-weight and then nurtures them to health as well.

STORY:

Sam and Julie Hawkins, American missionaries who went to El Salvador to serve during their retirement years, set up Vínculo de Amor in 1987 after caring for one severely malnourished baby who died despite their best attempts at help.  They began the ministry in their own home in San Salvador - doing all the late-night feedings and constant care themselves.  Over the past 23 years, though, the organization has grown, become formalized, and now is housed in its own facility with round-the-clock staff. 

 

Severe malnutrition is one of the leading – if not THE leading cause of death of children under age 3 in El Salvador.  But given El Salvador’s (very recent) history of unrest and sometimes outright genocide by government-backed entities, the country’s people are reticent to turn to government-run care organizations for assistance.  When I was there, Julie told me that it usually takes a lot to persuade people – especially those in the rural areas of the country – that the privately-sponsored Vínculo de Amor is there to help, truly free of charge, and that the children will be returned to their families once they are healthy.  Most often they help one child, and then after that child returns to his or her village having been restored to health, other families bring tiny fragile infants and toddlers out for assistance.

In the last three years, the successes of their baby-care program led them to initiate a program they call Proyecto Canasta de Amor (Project Love Basket), an annual 6-month tour of El Salvador during which they provide assistance and food for the poorest families throughout the country.

Their recent newsletter included pictures of an 8 year old boy named Omar they were able to help through Canasta: 

As Mamacita to two 6-year-olds I can easily imagine what seeing this transformation has meant for Omar’s family.  To go from thinking your son is probably going to die to looking again at a healthy, vibrant young boy must seem like nothing short of a miracle.

And as a 32 year old looking at this “retired” couple from Texas, I can only hope I am so meaningfully engaged in this world when I am where they are.

And so I feature Vínculo de Amor again. 

DONATIONS/CORRESPONDENCE:

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photo credits – Logo & Omar’s Evolution:  The Love Link