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Why El Salvador?

The Northern Triangle countries of Central America - El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - have been experiencing a child rights crisis for a very long time. This has led to high levels of migration of unaccompanied minors to flee to the United States and Mexico borders. 78% of the minors evaluated by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) had experienced physical violence, 18% sexual violence, 71% threats of violence or death, and 51% witnessed acts of violence in their home countries.

Not every child in El Salvador has the resources to leave their current environment. The more we interact with and interview minors in different parts of El Salvador, the more we hear of past severe trauma cases. Our goal is to foster a safe environment for youth to heal from trauma, learn leadership skills and develop emotional strength to lead their lives to a world of positive impact.

Our mission is to empower youth in El Salvador with resources for developing emotional intelligence, building leadership, and healing from trauma.

Learn more about our programs

Eddy Monge

Founder & Executive Director

As a survivor of abuse, it has always been in my heart to use my own journey in healing as a tool to help others rewrite their stories. I was raised in El Salvador until the age of 14. During my early childhood I experienced sexual violence, bullying by family and community members, and I saw many of my childhood friends end up in prison or the victims of violent crimes.

As a young adult at UC Santa Barbara, I started to see the fruits of trauma manifest through anxiety, excessive drinking, a suicide attempt and depression. It took me until I was 25 years old to find the Crime Victims Treatment Center (CVTC) in New York which became my saving grace.

The healing I experienced at CVTC, the counseling by Pastor Bill Hoffman, and coaching by my friends Bryan and Sia Boehler have inspired me to take action and create Tu Lider, an organization that is providing resources and opportunities to youth and their communities in El Salvador, to heal trauma, develop themselves and become leaders of change.

Our Board and Advisors

Sia Boehler

Board of Directors

With over a decade of experience in business and leadership, Sia Boehler is a well respected and humble leader, who has impacted thousands around the world. Sia offers a unique insight on leadership, vision, and influence. She has a love for Human Development and her straight-from-the-heart, motivating, and strategic communication style, always has people engaged. Sia has dedicated her life to raising up qualified individuals personally and financially. Her impact and lifestyle is a true testament to what she has been able to unlock by working hard, utilizing connections and applying leadership. She currently serves on the board for Operation Impact.

Carolien Hardenbol

Board of Directors

Carolien Hardenbol is the Strategic Partnerships & Programs Manager at New Women New Yorkers, an organization that focuses on the economic empowerment of immigrant women, and co-founder of United Immigrants of New York. Carolien has served as the Director of the Immigration Intervention Project at Sanctuary for Families, one of the country's largest immigration legal services programs for survivors of gender based violence and human trafficking. She strongly believes in the transformative power of holistic and client-centered services. A particular focus of her work has been to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers enjoy equal and easy access to high-quality information, opportunities, and legal representation. She is on the board of Voces Latinas and is the immigration panel advisory coordinator for the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York.

Gerardo Alas

Advisory, Psychology

Gerardo has experience working with teenagers and young adults. As a psychologist, he considers adolescence a critical moment in which an important part of a person's life can be worked, where aspects of childhood that may have left wounds can be healed and thus allow adulthood to be accepted in the best way possible, with confidence and security. He believes that by working with youth in this area, we can leave the future of our countries in the best possible hands. He currently teaches Evaluation Methods, Psychotherapy, and Clinical Psychology Practices at Pedagogical University of El Salvador. He also serves as a psychotherapist at the Gabinete de Psicologia.