House #5

This story is the life story of Santo and Marina El Saville.

Santo is 41 years old and Marina is 45 years old. They met in another community where Marina grew up. She was in school and Santo was visiting a friend when he saw Marina and fell in love. She was in grade 9. Santo grew up in San Felipe and after they married he brought her back to live in San Felipe. She only finished grade 9 because she got pregnant and so they were married.

They have 10 children. They have 8 sons and 2 daughters. They lost one child, a son, when he was 20 months old due to pneumonia. He died 17 years ago. Only one of their children go to school because the older children are farming to help with the family. The children cannot read or write other then their names.

Their youngest son is Armando. He is 5. When he was 10 months old he pulled down a pot of beans that were cooking on the fire and burned his chest and the side of his face. He was in a coma for 3 weeks and the Doctors did not think he would come out of it. They prayed as a family and he did. They call him their miracle child. He has had skin grafts to repair his chest.

They shared that they are so thankful to God for the new house. It will help them in the rainy season because the house they had did not keep them dry during the rainy season and they were always sick. Marina said she is so thankful that God sent this Canadian team to build her the new home.

They dream of  a better future for their children. They want to send them to school but cannot afford it as the government only pays to grade 9.

Santo was in the military during the civil war. He fought against the Gorilla's. He stopped fighting in 1990 and the war ended in 1992. He was injured many times and he showed us all his scars from the war. He shared that he probably killed 300 men during the civil war. Marina is so thankful that he is alive as she was so afraid that he would be killed during the war. He fought for 4 years.


Santo and Marina are Catholic and used to go to church very often.

by Brian & Daniel Nikkel