Dreaming Big in El Salvador: Daniela’s Story

At 5:30 every morning in Palín, El Salvador, nine-year-old Daniela gets ready for her day. After breakfast, she catches a bus to school, far from home, arriving before seven.

Daniela is in third grade. She loves studying and spending recess with friends. But there’s much more to her than the classroom. She loves dancing and making videos. Her favorite color is purple, she adores roses and dolls, and after school, one of her favorite things is playing dolls with her two-year-old sister.

Her days are full. Home by one o’clock, she eats lunch, rests, and finishes her homework. Then she helps her mother, Amalia, by washing her uniform and the family’s dishes, sweeping the yard, feeding the chickens, and gathering firewood.

Daniela already knows what she hopes all her schoolwork will lead to. “When I grow up, I want to be a police officer to protect my country,” she says. Her dream is tied to her family. She wants to succeed so she can one day help them.

But food has not always been something they could count on. Before joining Feed the Children’s Child Sponsorship program, Daniela remembers times her mother could not buy enough to eat — and how much that weighed on her.

“I felt sad and wanted to feel happy like the other children, but I knew my mom couldn’t give me what I wanted,” she recalls.

Her mother remembers, too: “The hardest thing was seeing the sadness in my daughter’s eyes, wanting to give her everything and not having a way to do it.”

Through Feed the Children, the family has received boxes of food, and Daniela a school backpack. She knows that the food provided means a lot for her family’s nutrition.

Today, Daniela’s dreams are her own. The support her family receives simply helps them meet her needs while she learns, grows, and imagines what comes next.

Before a child can chase her dreams, there are needs to meet today.

It all begins with food.