The “Bet on the Future” campaign (Apuestan por su futuro in Spanish) is a community-based effort that aims to remodel and maintain school reinforcement centers, strengthen infrastructure and obtain resources to provide extra educational support to children who may be struggling with their studies in traditional schools. The program is a collaboration between the community of Esmeraldas, the Salesian Society in Ecuador and the Don Bosco Solidarity Campaign, Madrid, Spain.

Ecuador is one of the most inequitable societies in the world, according to UNICEF. The richest 20 percent of the population receives almost half of the national income, while the poorest 20 percent receives only 5 percent. Many of the poorer urban population receive $2.70 a day and indigenous populations receive just $1.30, according to a study of 12,000 urban homes conducted by the National Institute of Statistics as part of a UNICEF report.

“We know that there are a great many factors that prevent children and youth from finishing school, even when education is their basic right. In Esmeraldas, the community has determined they must strengthen the support system to help children succeed with their studies,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Fr. Hyde adds that the main income-generating activities in Esmeraldas are agriculture, livestock and tourism, all of which require parents to spend long hours working, leaving little time to care for their families. Therefore, tutoring has also been identified as a key need by the community and eight school reinforcement centers have been selected based on the need for maintenance and basic infrastructure.

The “Bet on the Future” campaign is just one example of a community-based partnership developed with the Salesians in Ecuador. Another is the Salesian Center for the Young Worker, which has been recognized by UNICEF as an exemplary social and educational institute. There, students are trained in auto mechanics, woodworking, baking, beauty care and cooking. Parents help provide meals for the students, and weekend student volunteers help build houses for the families who have come into the city looking for work. Approximately half of the students come to the Center without an elementary education—and not only do 85 percent finish elementary or middle school but 64 percent continue to study after they have completed their training.

“In many communities—in Ecuador and around the world—parents understand the critical importance of education for their children, even if they lack the resources to provide it. These parents want a better life for their children,” says Fr. Hyde. “Because the Salesians are already part of the community, it can work with parents and community members to help make education a reality.”

Other Salesian projects in Ecuador include:

• At “Project for Street Children” sites throughout the country, vulnerable and at-risk boys gain an all-around education that allows them to take the lead in developing their own skills and potential. The project uses an active presence on the streets, technical training and schools and the support of families and communities that care for the boys and their rehabilitation.

• Through a microfinance credit program from Salesian Missions, indigenous and rural populations have access to funds for agricultural and microbusiness activities. Currently, 12,000 people are taking advantage of this opportunity in 85 different communities.

“Education provides the best opportunity for reducing inequities that many in the communities across Ecuador struggle with on a daily basis,” says Fr. Hyde.

In more than 130 countries around the world, Salesian Missions programs range from classroom education and feeding programs to agricultural and trade schools. They have provided orphanages and shelters for homeless youth to more than 3 million children. The focus of the Salesians’ work is on making education a reality, even for the poorest youth, while also providing the essentials such as food and housing.

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“We came because two paramilitary factions and one guerrilla group were wreaking havoc in the area where we lived. They are killing a lot of the local people,” Padilla told UNHCR. Growing numbers of people have been arriving in northern Ecuador‘s Esmeraldas province this year and asking for asylum. Like Padilla, they cite increased violence across the border.

Significant numbers of people have been crossing into the province to seek shelter for years, with government figures putting the number at 1,200 to 1,500 people a month, said Oscar Sánchez Piñeiro, head of UNHCR ‘s field office in Esmeraldas.

But he added that the number had risen due to “the deteriorating conditions” in and around Tumaco, the main Pacific port in south-west Colombia‘s Nariño department. In one week earlier this year, UNHCR estimates that there were 600 arrivals.

Sánchez Piñeiro said that a further 1,000 people are believed to have arrived in Esmeraldas province during the same time, but had not been able to file asylum claims because it was difficult getting from border areas to the provincial capital, Esmeraldas, where the government registers new arrivals.

“The new arrivals say the situation in Colombia remains volatile,” the UNHCR official said. “Among the arriving population there are many women and children who had to flee because of threats, assassinations of relatives or the occupation of their land by irregular armed groups. Many live in precarious conditions, especially due to their proximity to the conflict zone and increasing violence in the border.”

UNHCR visitors met Padilla and his family at a shelter in San Lorenzo, where they were receiving assistance until they could find somewhere more permanent to live and look for a livelihood. They decided to leave Tumaco after one of the armed groups killed three people in their neighborhood, Padilla said, adding: “It was rumored that three more people were missing.”

But Padilla did not have enough money for transport to the border and he and his wife made the tough decision to leave their two oldest children – a 10-year-old girl and a boy aged 13 – with relatives in the hope that they could later reunite in Ecuador. His wife worries about the two children. “It hurt me a lot when I had to leave as I had never been far away from them, never.”

Many of the families arriving in this area stay with local communities on San Lorenzo’s stretch of coast, while others – like Padilla’s family – are provided with temporary accommodation. “We have several locations where we provide shelter for the new arrivals, especially for the vulnerable ones in San Lorenzo,” said Piñeiro, adding that needs surpassed UNHCR’s capacity.

UNHCR offers weekly briefings for the new arrivals in San Lorenzo, which is the first point of entry for many. The sessions include orientation on how to access the asylum process and also arranged information meetings through the provincial Refugee Directorate, which is the state entity in charge of providing registration and conducting the asylum process.

One priority for UNHCR is to work with the protection networks established in the border region to help trace the separated family members and to enhance protection activities along the northern border with Colombia.

Debbie Elizondo, UNHCR’s representative in Quito, noted that Ecuador is the largest refugee-hosting country in Latin America, with more than 55,000 recognized Colombian refugees. But she also expressed concern about the dangers asylum seekers face in the border areas inside Ecuador .

“Many people may think that perhaps there is no more conflict in Colombia , but the reality is that we continue to see thousands fleeing the increasingly volatile areas and fragmented fighting,” she said, adding that the border area was dangerous.

“Just last year, 15 refugees or asylum-seekers were assassinated in the province of Esmeraldas. There is also an increased presence of illegal armed groups along the border and they operate in the region and foster systemic human rights violations,” Elizondo added.

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By Babar Baloch in San Lorenzo, Ecuador (UNHCR) | PHOTO: B. Balach/UNHCR

See this news article in its original location.

See related article: “New Beginnings” Program Expands to Assist Colombian Refugees in Four Countries

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