The story is a common one: a person immigrates to the United States out of necessity, but vows to return for the rest of his or her family. The promise is kept and the family also leaves for the States. The new vow is to return home one day, when things get better. This doesn’t usually happen. Sucked up by the daily strife of just making it in a country as daunting as the U.S., that dream is easily erased for some.

Fortunately, that isn’t the case of a group of Salvadoreños from Houston. Not only are they helping their pueblo, Olomega, solve some very basic infrastructure issues such as the building of bridges and roads, they are taking it one step further: they plan to make their pueblo a destination, and hopes that tourists begin to see it for the beauty it as for them:

Standing on the shore of the serene Lake Olomega, Nora Pineda envisions passenger boats cruising its surface, amateur fishermen lining its edges and musicians serenading tourists along a boardwalk.

She said hundreds of tourists could visit Olomega on weekends if restaurants, hostels and fishing spots are built near the water.

The dream is about to become a reality, and will be funded by the Olomega immigrants themselves:

More than 1,200 miles away, inside a southwest Houston home, working-class immigrants from Olomega meet every month in hopes of making that vision a reality. For years, the group has raised money, mostly through small donations, to help fund roads, bridges and schools.

But lately, the 15-year-old organization, like hundreds of other Salvadoran hometown associations in the U.S., is shifting its focus to business development.

“Your heart is in your pueblo,” said Pineda’s uncle in Houston, Felix Pineda. He’s explaining why he continues to financially support his relatives and the community he left behind but never forgot.

The tourism project (which will create jobs for townspeople and generate revenue for the town) will be centered around the town’s lake, and is expected to cost $900,000. Part will be paid by the Olomega expats (via donations and fundraisers) and another by Spain’s Agency for International Cooperation.

Info: Comité Pro-Olomega en Houston

Via / Chron.com and Tim’s El Salvador Blog