SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - The New Hampshire National Guard delivered 36 retrofitted computers to a school and women's shelter in El Salvador this past weekend as part of its long-standing partnership with the Central American country of nearly 7 million people.
Donated by the University of New Hampshire's chemistry department, the computers were given to the Dr. Salvador Mendieta School in San Jose Villanueva, La Libertad and the Ciudad Mujer Project in San Salvador by a group of senior leaders from the N.H. Guard that included the adjutant general, Air Force Maj. Gen. William Reddel.
"For many of our National Guardsmen, teachers, students and civic leaders, the experience of participating in the partnership has been life-changing," Reddel said. "They are learning about a different culture. They are learning different ways to see and do things, and they are realizing how much in common we share."
Founded 12-years ago in a friendly, professional exchange of military expertise between the N.H. Guard and the Salvadoran Armed Forces, the partnership has flourished to include civic, educational and business opportunities. The partnership averages 10 to 15 events or exchanges annually and is one of 65 state-nation partnerships under the National Guard's State Partnership Program, which began 20 years ago as a way to engage former Warsaw Pact countries.
As part of the weekend visit to El Salvador, the N.H. Air Guard's 157th Air Refueling Wing participated in the Ilopango Air Show with one the state's premiere military aircraft, the KC-135 Refueler.
"We look forward to growing our partnership over the next decade, and finding new ways to foster deeper connections that eventually become self-sustaining," Reddel said. "In military-speak, we call it 'nation-building,' which is just another way of saying we all live in the same world and we never know when we are going to need their help, or when they are going need our help."