A large part of our work down here in Ecuador is working to
identify entrepreneurial women but, just like with any NGO that does
development work it is essential that we have the trust of the communities we
are working in before we begin. This being so important, we work heavily in
developing relationships with local, respected NGOs that can then refer us to
the women they feel would work well with our organization. These relationships
can be some of the most powerful tools when trying to do development work in a
community and nurturing these relationships takes a lot of time. This is how we
ended up finding Fundacion “El Arenal” and spending the morning learning their
story.
Fundacion “El Arenal” is a nonprofit organization here in
Cuenca that works with at-risk youth and their families. The goal of the
organization is to get kids enrolled in school and off the streets and empower
these adolescents to become proud, responsible citizens. Basically this
organization searches for kids who are working in markets or on the street
instead of going to school and works with their families to get them in school
and then provides homework help, meals, and activities for the rest of their
day while they aren’t in school. It sounds like a typical youth development
organization right?... well I was so amazed at some of the problems they have
to combat while doing their work.
The area in which this organization serves is extremely poor
and drugs are very prevalent, so, not only are they dealing with lack of
education, but also drug abuse. To add on to this, many of the young girls they
were working with (and I mean 11, 12, 13 year olds) were getting pregnant.
Another obstacle was legitimacy. If a child does not have the last name of
their father here in Cuenca (and this may be true for all of Ecuador) they do
not legally have the same identity or rights as others. This is incredibly
difficult for many children to deal with especially during adolescent years
when they are trying to figure out who they are. Some kids are barely even
recognized by their mothers, many mothers have 10 kids in the campos but in moving to the city they
only take the oldest and the youngest and abandon the middle children. Finally,
domestic abuse is incredibly common which obviously leaves deep deep emotional
scars for the entire family. There is a saying down here: “he may hit you, he
may even kill you, but he is still your husband”. Because of all of these
problems and more, this organization has branched beyond simple homework help
for kids, and now includes family counseling, and workshops to better the life
of the whole family.
But, just as we experience cultural apprehension, so does
Fundacion “El Arenal”. Primarily, it is difficult to convince the families that
their child’s education is more important than having them work. With many
families dependent on the income of the adolescents, it is difficult for them
to rearrange their priorities. Even after they realize the importance of
education, it is very difficult for some of the families to open up about their
issues. Some mothers are ashamed or even afraid, which then becomes a long process
of gaining their trust in order to help them address these problems.
The greatest thing of all though, is how much the kids truly
want to learn. It could be so difficult working with problems that are sadly so
deeply rooted in these cultures, but it’s so inspiring that through it all
these adolescents want to better their lives and the people at Fundation “El
Arenal” are not giving up on that. I love the nonprofit world, especially the
smallest local organization like this one, when you see people who dedicate
their lives to bettering the lives of others, I can’t help but be so incredibly
inspired.
Lots of love from Ecuador,
Jen
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