Global Village: El Salvador 2026

From February 13-21, 2026, eighteen representatives from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati traveled to El Salvador as part of Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village program that combines service-learning and cultural immersion for a weeklong international volunteer experience. We at HFHGC go on annual Global Village trips to our Tithe Partner Countries: El Salvador, Kenya, Nepal, and Cambodia. Since 1987, HFHGC has contributed over $5 million to our tithe partners in regular monthly donations! Given our longstanding commitment to Tithe, Global Village trips have become an even more meaningful way to formalize these partnerships and provide a mutually beneficial experience for our partner countries and our Habitat Cincinnati community.

Habitat for Humanity El Salvador (Hábitat para la Humanidad El Salvador) Habitat El Salvador was founded in 1992, and we have partnered with El Salvador through Tithe since 2001. Since its founding, Habitat El Salvador has welcomed over 40,000 Salvadoran volunteers and over 14,500 international volunteers on their job sites. We were excited to add 18 of our own volunteers to this total, with our team comprising staff members, one member of Habitat Young Professionals (HYP), and one relative of a staff member.

Upon arrival in El Salvador on February 13th, we made our way to our hotel in the capital of San Salvador. We spent the first full day doing some sightseeing in and around the capital city; we visited an important Mayan archeological site (a UNESCO World Heritage Site!), a nearby national park to see an impressive volcanic crater, and went to a soccer match to see two teams in El Salvador’s premier league play. I know our team thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to see more of El Salvador before we began our work week.

The next day, we drove cross-country to the city of San Miguel, where we would be building for the week. Once we got to San Miguel, we quickly learned that we were in for a very HOT week!! Due to its lower elevation, this region of the country was much hotter than what we had experienced so far, and after a particularly cold Cincinnati winter, we felt a little blindsided by the heat! During our build days, the highs were often 95-98 degrees, but evenings were much more temperate and comfortable. I don’t want the weather to dissuade anyone from coming on any future Global Village builds, but navigating these hot temperatures was an integral part of GV El Salvador this year.

Before we began our build week, we had a welcome dinner with Habitat El Salvador staff and the homeowners whose houses we would be working on! The staff also gave us a thorough orientation to their organization, job site safety, and the history of El Salvador. We enjoyed delicious local food during this dinner and throughout the week-- what stands out to me are pupusas, plantains, and the best refried beans I’ve ever had!

The meat of every Global Village build is 5 build days on the job site. In this case, we worked on two different build sites in various stages of completion and split into groups of 9 and 9 each day on each site. Habitat El Salvador builds houses primarily with cinderblock, and their construction style requires demanding physical labor-- we spent the week digging trenches by shovel and pickaxe, moving cinderblocks, shoveling gravel and sand, mixing concrete by hand, and pouring concrete. Some of our team members said that doing this type of work in the heat was likely the hardest they had ever worked before! To accommodate everyone and their abilities, there were also less strenuous tasks, such as cutting and tying rebar and site clean-up. During our build days, we worked alongside local masons employed by Habitat El Salvador, whose stamina in the heat put us all to shame!

On one site, our team fully dug out three-foot trenches and poured the foundation and footers for the whole house! Although we were split into two groups for most of the week, we all came together on one site for our last build day to finish pouring the foundations as a whole group-- which was extremely rewarding to be able to see through as a complete team!

Throughout the week, we were led by Francis and Douglas, two of Habitat El Salvador’s international coordinators, who were absolutely fantastic at making us feel welcome, comfortable, and safe in El Salvador throughout the week. They joined us on the job sites to provide invaluable translation help, and even got dirty swinging pickaxes with us! They are both exemplary examples of the incredible local staff employed by our international partners who we have had the pleasure of working alongside.

Going forward, HFHGC is planning to do an International Global Village build in one of our four Tithe Partner countries- Nepal, Kenya, Cambodia, or El Salvador- every year in February/March, and a domestic homebuilding trip in September/October. Be on the lookout for these opportunities - aside from staff, we would love to have more volunteers, board members, and other parts of the Habitat community join us!