A marching band of poverty-stricken kids from El Salvador, who were at risk of not making it over to the UK due to high costs, will get to perform in the New Year’s Day parade, after reaching their target, with the help of a Southwark charity.
Peckham-based charity, Carnaval del Pueblo, the official Latin American partner of the London New Year’s Day parade, were heart-broken when they heard the band were not going to make it over.
Boinas Verdes Marching band, from San Juan Opico in El Salvador, asked Carnaval del Pueblo back in January if they could perform, after seeing last year’s parade on social media.
Marching band from El Salvador might not make New Year’s Day parade due to visa costs
But the band – made up of children in poverty – faced higher costs than they orginally thought to come over including hiked visa charges.
Carnaval del Pueblo initially set up a fundraiser – but Director Nuala Riddell-Morales said she realised early on it would be difficult to do alone.
“The only way to do it was to collaborate and get lots of people on board. I met the British ambassador, David Lelliott, here in London and we talked about working together – as I realised early on, it would be difficult to do it just with the online fundraiser.”
Last month, she made the decision to go out to El Salvador and work on raising the funds over there.
She said going really motivated the kids, who “were all waiting” for her as she arrived. “The impact of the pandemic means they only have three mornings a week of school – which means the rest of the time they practise, compete and try to raise money to come to England.”
Whilst she was there, she joined them as they travelled all over the country to competitions.
Despite being the ‘most disadvantaged kids in the competitions’ they were successful. “I was only there two weeks and they won two whilst I was there.”
For every competition win, they got about $300. “At the competitions, the kids were making crafts and selling them, and all their parents were taking on extra jobs in a bid to help the kids achieve their dream.
“They were so determined to come to London,” Nuala told the News.
In terms of the visas, which were imposed in May by the UK government, Nuala helped to get them – “I wrote 39 letters to apply for a visa for each child. It wasn’t just the cost; it’s a very complex process. Some of the kids didn’t have passports either.”
She said that got the ball rolling and then the bigger donations started coming through, including plane tickets from airline Avianca and tech firm Dataplex, and money from Gabriela de Bukele, the First Lady of El Salvador.
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Parents and children from The British School in El Salvador – “which is full of wealthy families” – also made some notable donations. “All those doors were opened by going around and raising awareness in the country,” Nuala said.
Band-member, Alexia Méndez, 17, said: “We’re so happy to be able to able to represent our country so people can see that Salvadorans are fighters.”
The group will be staying at a hostel in Elephant and Castle and they arrive on Christmas Day.
Nuala said all they need now is a flat-bed truck to make a float for the parade on New Year’s Day. She said in return, whoever donates it could have their logo advertised – “half a million people will be there and it’s televised!”
Anyone who can help can email Nuala here.
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