The children who lived to tell these stories, have now grown and can tell them with a laugh. These are the kind personal histories a Kiva Fellow can hear as one begins his work with PADECOMSM Credito, Kiva’s newest field partner in El Salvador. PADECOMSM’s strength has come from supporting areas most affected by the civil war.

On a good day, the baker’s children could sell their sweet bread to the army in the morning, and in the afternoon they would be selling the bread to the guerrillas. It was not unusual to ask the young bakers how things were on the other side. Both sides...