In the country with the world’s worst gang problem and highest murder rate, social workers go where police fear to enter

Social work in El Salvador: 'We either do something – or let the children be killed'

In a country with the world’s largest gang problem and the highest murder rate, El Salvador is not an easy place to practise social work. Tens of thousands of children have been abandoned, abused, trafficked, organ harvested, and denied access to health or education services.

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The social context dates back to the civil war, which ended 25 years ago and caused large numbers of people to abandon their homes and flee violence and poverty. During the war, many children were forced to become child soldiers, the legacy of which is still felt in the country today.

Despite the immense dangers, social workers in El Salvador are facing up to the problems. They work in communities the police are too afraid to enter. They put their lives at risk every day, negotiating with gang leaders to access children who are abused and desperate. “There is no choice,” one social worker told me. “We either do something or let the children lead a terrible life of exploitation until they are killed.”

In May, I had the opportunity to visit a social work-led agency in the capital city, San Salvador: the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Children and Adolescents. Over the last four years, social workers have transformed an agency that used to offer aid and help, but ignored the root causes of social problems. Now they offer a range of programmes that connect children to their birth families and provide guidance for families on their social and economic development and wellbeing. “Often, we have to provide temporary care with the extended families of the children while we support the parents on how to gain control over their lives,” a social worker explained.

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The institute offers community therapy, which provides people with a safe space to talk about themselves and the problems in their community – and how to resolve them. Social workers facilitate the process, ensuring all participants are respected, respectful and learning and contributing.

They also offer programmes to support traumatised teenagers, but acknowledging the young person’s right to self-determination, the programme is only offered to those who want to partake. In addition, they offer education, vocational training and special programmes to help people take control of their lives.

“In these programmes we get people to talk,” a social worker explained. “We have a saying here: ‘When the mouth stops talking, the body gets sick’.

“We focus on change, we focus on transformation – not just for the children, for their whole communities.”

The social workers at the institute are mostly women in their 40s, 50s or 60s. They are deeply compassionate and possess a wealth of human experience. During their long working lives, they have encountered every kind of social injury – and forged a career in seeing and supporting the strength in everyone. Their manner, calm and confident, reveals skill and humility.

It normally takes a lifetime to attain such wisdom; yet all of this is accelerated in social workers who have learned to respond to prolonged trauma, deal with their own sense of responsibility, and master their craft. Out of the sheer terror of war and poverty, absolute beauty grows.

Rory Truell is secretary-general of the International Federation of Social Workers

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