Berkley Center

Maria Emelina Orellana de Ayala is the administrator of a potable water project in Carasque, Nueva Trinidad, Chalatenango in El Salvador. Though her family was originally from Carasque, she spent her early childhood in a neighboring region as a result of the civil war. She returned to the village after the signing of the peace accords, attending the local popular school through the ninth grade. As a high school student, she became one of the first recipients of a Desarollo Hermano Popular scholarship. She remains an active member of the Carasque community, working at the local artisan cooperative and serving as the treasurer of a women’s microfinance group. She is married to the director of the Carasque public school and the mother of two students, a preschooler and a fifth grader.