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