Tree of Life Imports

	EL SALVADOR: The Economy
	In this economy where population grows much faster then job creation, many choose to make the hazardous journey to the United States. The statistics are gross estimates but as parameters they suggest the enomity of the problem. Somewhere between one quarter and one third of all Salvadorans live abroad - mostly in the United States. Although more women are traveling north now, still the majority have been men. So many of the households among the urban poor and rural areas have no male head of household. The immigrants from La Palma have gravitated either to St. Paul, Minnesota, or to Boston. Many are former neighbors from the village crowd into a single house or apartment to pool their resources since employment is neither steady or well paid. Transportation and a guide (a coyote) have cost as much as seven thousand dollars, paid by a loan against a family plot with the lender charging five percent per month. The pressure mounts when you have literally bet the farm. The Flores Dubon sister-Aracela, Isabel and Carmen paint wooden crafts. A fourth sister went to the U.S. two years ago. Frequently unemployed in St. Paul she sat in a croweded house and told of floating across the Rio Grande River on an inner tube. Recently her fourteen year old son died of leukemia, and she could not attend his funeral. The amount of money sent home to families reached a high in 2007 of over three billion dollars, but has fallen by a third in the recession. Such a large scale influx of unearned income drives up the price of food and land. The dollars sent back home are essential to keep the population above absolute destitution. Basic office supplies such as a stapler are cheaper in the U.S. than they are in El Salvador. The average wage for a day laborer is six dollars (in Guatemala and Honduras it is half that). The Bush administration secured the CAFTA Treaty (Central America Free Trade Agreement) which was to open up greater access to Central American markets for U.S. products and vice versa. Today price of agriculture and goods remains shockingly high.

meat is sold in the open-air like most other goods	store front in La Palma	folkloric dances in traditional dress
washing & cooking done away from the house	Aresela, a partner of crafts, holds her grandson	the standard passanger pick-up truck

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