Building home in El Salvador touches Ankeny man's heart

A Wonderful Story of a man with a warm heart building homes in El Salvador

Original Story HERE

While El Salvador and Ankeny are miles apart physically and socially, Jeff Olson finds many similarities among the residents.

“I now realize people are people wherever you are,” the Ankeny resident said. “They laugh the same, cry the same, and have the same concerns and love for their families.”

Olson worked side-by-side with Salvadoran families late last year on a nine-day volunteer mission to assist a Habitat for Humanity project to build homes.

“One-third of the population of El Salvador lives in substandard housing. By our American standards, the Salvadorans have very little. In spite of that, the people we met were so generous and so excited to live in their own home,” Olson said. “Because it’s very difficult for landless Salvadoran families to own a home, Habitat for Humanity El Salvador has developed a neighborhood model providing families with access to land, a house, basic services and social infrastructure, such as green areas and a community center.”
Habitat for Humanity has an active Ankeny organization with affiliations through several churches. Olson has also participated locally, assisting in building homes in Des Moines.

He is a financial consultant with Landmark Financial Group, Greater Iowa region, under the umbrella of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, located in Johnston.

Olson joined 27 other Thrivent representatives as a team to assist the El Salvador project in Central America. The project was located in Santa Ana, El Salvador.

“Our team cleared a large jungle-like field of brush and trees with machetes and pick axes. That area will become the foundation for many family homes. I nearly got whipped by a tree I was trying to remove,” he said. Some of the team assisted local Salvadoran construction masons in building a community center by leveling dirt, digging trenches and laying block walls.

“In the mountains where we were located, people primarily live off the land. The housing is very poor,” Olson said.

“To apply for the homes being built, the families have to be there to help with the construction of their own homes and others. Habitat for Humanity has a cost of $5,000 per home. The cost to the family is $2,000.
“The homes are built to sustain earthquakes. They have two bedrooms and a living room,” he said.
Olson and his wife, Sara Jo, a certified massage therapist, have a daughter, Autumn, 9, and son, Zach, 6, both students at Southeast Elementary.

“I was attending a church service and really missing my family. A girl, Sophia, 11, and a 6-year-old boy were sitting beside us. I was taken with Sophia because of her beautiful eyes. We later attended a fiesta and I met her parents. I won’t ever forget her,” Olson said.

The Lutheran church they attended was named Cristoray. A wooden cross was displayed, constructed from the rubble of a previous church that was blown down in a storm, killing several members.
To support Habitat for Humanity El Salvador, Thrivent Financial committed up to $1.3 million to build the model community. When completed, there will be a new community with as many as 75 homes in Santa Ana, all supported by the Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity alliance and built by hundreds of Thrivent Financial member volunteers.

The nine-day experience in Central America invigorated Olson, and he encourages others to get involved in similar service work and to raise awareness of the burden of poverty housing while building decent, affordable homes worldwide.

“Going on an international volunteer trip definitely affects your passion for helping others,” Olson said. “The experience will change the lives of those you serve and it will change you, too.”