History

The Simple Way was first introduced to Alex and Ruth in 2003 through our friends at Central Baptist
Church (Wayne, PA) who have known this Salvadoran family since the 1980s. Our lives have been
increasingly woven together through visits with us in Philadelphia and our own visits and internships in
their communities in Santa Ana and Atiquizaya.

From 2003 to 2009, the original Orantes Fund supported the Orantes family in their pastoral work.
Beginning in 2010, the newly renamed Cielo Azul Fund is committed to an even broader level of
support not only for Ruth, Alex and their son Victor Hugo, but also for the programs that have arisen
out of their ministries in the communities where they work – construction of a community center at
Iglesia Bautista Shekina, health clinics and social services, youth leadership workshops, art and music
activities for children, community Bible studies, education scholarships, and more.

In the weeks and months after the March 2009 election of Mauricio Funes as President of El Salvador
(“the first President to support the needs of the poor in 150 years,” as one Salvadoran activist put it),
that has been a new sense of great hope for the future of a people who have struggled so long for a
dignified life free from political, economic and criminal violence.

Our choice of a new name (Cielo Azul means“blue sky” in English) is an attempt to symbolize this new
reality. And there are signs of a move in that direction. But continued reports of economic struggles
and violence in El Salvador remind us that hope can be very fragile.

Cielo Azul is a growing community of friends from El Salvador and the United States.  In solidarity, we live in hope while struggling for justice and dignity.  Learn more about us!