Daysi

In May 2020, Daysi’s community was destroyed by Storm Amanda, which brought torrents of rains, floods and damage to El Salvador. Her family was one of the worst affected given the proximity of their house to the river and they lost almost all their belongings in the panic to escape the flood waters.

For about two months afterwards, Daysi and her family lived in a hostel which is where she met Viva, Toybox’s partner in El Salvador, who were running education and fun activities for children affected by the upheaval. Through this connection, Viva were able to support Daysi and her family with food, hygiene products to help them protect themselves during the pandemic and blankets to keep themselves warm. Daysi tells her story here.

“I’m Daysi and I’m 10. I live with my parents and three siblings in San Salvador and every day, I wake up at 6am ready to start the day. I go to school and I love it because I can learn more things that I already know.

My community is really beautiful and generally happy, although there are some bad men. The worst thing they do is take away family members who are innocent. We also have the river which is pretty, but it’s also scary because it ruined all our houses before.

This was when I started going to Viva’s activities, when the river ruined my house. Before coming to the project, I was really sad and I didn’t have any friends. Now I like to paint, do crafts and play with my friends which I never did before. We also learn important things like how important it is to respect every person who we meet.

I’ve learned about my rights as well. I’ve learned I have a right to family and to healthcare. Everyone has these rights, boys and girls, because we’re all equal – although sometimes we don’t get the same things as boys do."

“My dream in the future is to be a doctor to be able to help my nan and a vet because my little dog died recently. My nan is my role model because she works so hard and loves me a lot.” Daysi