By Deborah Payne

I am traveling through El Salvador this week to visit our CoCoDA partners. I took a small break from writing this morning and wandered down to a park in Suchitoto overlooking lake Suchitlan. The Sunday morning was calm and families were walking, resting, and chatting in the shade of the mimosa trees. It was one of the most distilled feelings of peace one might find. Music played through someone’s window, parakeets chattered up in the branches. The warm air was cooled by the shade of the trees.

San Martín Park, Suchitoto, El Salvador.

But it was not lost on me that 40 years ago, this was not the case for this park.

Forty years prior, the park had been taken over by the government’s military and served as an outpost to fire upon communities in rural areas outside of Suchitoto around the lake. In a civil war that lasted more than 12 years, communities woke up on Sunday mornings not to quiet walks in the park, but to a need to take shelter from the very people who were supposed to be guarding their welfare- their own government. This narrative was feeling too familiar.

Forty years on, CoCoDA continues to work with these communities, building relationships where trust had been erased. Now we gather for time together to see the smiles of children in a school that CoCoDA supports. We have coffee and talk about goals for the coming year, for water projects, and community centers. CoCoDA represents what happens when we invest in peace. Slowly we move from parks with bombs, to parks with families gathering together for a quiet Sunday morning.

Deborah Payne during her visit to the Midwives Association of Suchitoto in El Salvador.

So if peace has been achieved, why do we continue this work? Why do we support projects when there is no longer a crisis? Why so many years later?

The reality is, that without constant work to nourish the wellbeing of communities, to provide safe water, to keep families healthy, to support the education of children, as well as that of adults in human rights workshops, there may come a time again when this peace is challenged. In this current era of global fear and violence, nothing is certain. The only way to prevent another crisis is to help create a future where children are strong, healthy, educated leaders who can keep building the future that they want to see.

As I listened to the morning sounds of a day progressing in El Salvador, I found myself going back to the news in the US that left me fearful. How do we rebuild peace that is shattering before our eyes? How do we feel safe when faith leaders, poets, and nurses are attacked? – How can our neighbors who have family from all over the globe feel safe? How do we feel safe when our government is not guarding our own welfare? Right now it is nothing but terrifying.

Deborah Payne, CoCoDA Executive Director

Yet within these frightening times, I find hope.

The evidence is clear in this small corner of the world. When we invest in each other, when we invest in communities, children, and families, we can keep that arch moving towards peace. Education creates peace. Healthy mothers create peace. Resilient families create peace. This is our best hope. We cannot stop working towards it. We have to meet the realities of the morning news with resolve that is not broken by guns, violence or teargas. That is our best chance for hope. In this time of fear, may we never stop moving towards a world that maintains peaceful parks on quiet Sunday mornings.

🔍 Read more:

  • Join Us for the 2026 Febrero Fiesta!
  • Education that transforms communities
  • Discover with us the history, hope and community-based projects with the 7-day CoCoDA tour in El Salvador.
  • Believe in the Possible.

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