When Christian Aid’s Sian Curry revisited El Salvador and Chus, the boy who featured in 2007's Christian Aid Week materials, she expected a joyous reunion. Instead, as she explains, she found a family grieving over the murder of a loved one
Chus was the star of Christian Aid Week in 2007. His face beamed out of our leaflets, flyers and DVDs, helping to inspire people across the UK and Ireland to dig deep, and raise millions of pounds.
I was dispatched to El Salvador to deliver copies of the materials to the family and thank them for their help. Chus’ family was to be my first stop on a three-week trip. It should have been a happy occasion.
Instead, I arrived at the home of a family deep in shock and sorrow. Four days earlier, Chus’ guardian and brother-in-law, William, had been murdered. He had been shot twice in the head while selling crabs in the capital, San Salvador.
Despite their grief, the family was adamant that I should still come.
The morning after William’s funeral, his widow Domenica welcomed me into her home. She greeted me with real kindness, but the tears never left her eyes.
I brought the traditional mourning gifts of coffee and sugar, as well as copies of all the Christian Aid Week materials, and some large colour photos of William, taken the previous year. One was placed at the centre of William’s shrine, a porch table covered in flower garlands and candles.
Chus, 17, was quiet and watchful, and gently protective of his older sister. ‘I’m the man of the house now,’ he’d told Domenica when he heard the news of William’s death. ‘I’ll always stay with you.’
Domenica is heavily pregnant with her and William’s fourth child. Having saved hard for years, the couple were adding a second room to their house, to make space for their growing family. Now it sits unfinished. There is no money for the roof.
No one knows who shot William or why. El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Along with neighbouring Honduras and Guatemala, the country is plagued by brutal street gangs, known as maras.
Born out of poverty and hopelessness, these gangs cause untold misery. William is just one of thousands of people slaughtered each year in Central America, leaving behind another fatherless family.
But as Chus steps up to take on the role of ‘man of the house’, his future, though much harder now, is far from bleak. Christian Aid’s partner Aprodenhi, which already helps the family with school fees and flood defences, is stepping up its support for Dominica, Chus and the children.
With Aprodenhi’s help, Chus will still complete his schooling. And his family, though grieving now, is still loving and strong. Perhaps most tellingly of all, William, interviewed last year, had every faith in his young protégé. He spoke proudly of Chus, and how well he’d learnt his trade as a fisherman, with the ultimate accolade, ‘he’s learnt all that I can teach him.’
As Chus steps forward to fill William’s shoes, we must hope that this is enough.