Rozalén travels to Ecuador with Entreculturas

Day 3: Getting to know the work with refugee and migrant populations

“After 16 days of walking I slept 3 days in a terminal and then I was in a hostel where we slept in overcrowded conditions. I knocked on the door of JRS and they opened it for me, but not every door opens. JRS has been that angel in our path.”
“I feel accompanied and protected, I don’t feel in danger. I have felt very welcome and my children are studying, they come here to do their homework and the families come to do workshops and we help each other.”
“All of us here are a new family; those who were here when we arrived welcomed us with a huge smile and a hug that I needed.”
“Do everything you can to make sure your children study, education is the only thing they will have left.”

These are some of the voices of refugees and migrants that we heard with Rozalén and Beatriz in the La Argelia neighborhood, south of the city of Quito, where a Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) shelter is located, which is much more than a shelter. In the words of Fernando Lopez, JRS Ecuador Director, “it’s a door that opens, it’s a friendly embrace, it’s family”.

“We seem to forget that this happens in so many places around the world,” said Rozalén during the meeting. “The number of times we Spaniards have been emigrants…. Some times in history you have to migrate and others to welcome. Thank you for sharing your story with us.”

Since 2000, this space, made up of several individual houses, has been home to migrant and refugee families who have been arriving in Ecuador for years, mainly from Colombia and, currently, from Venezuela (60%).

In addition to housing, JRS offers psychosocial care, legal advice, support for children’s schooling, health care, basic necessities such as food and clothing kits, and support in finding work if they want to settle in the country. In the words of Ximena Moreno, head of the JRS Shelter House, “the migration journey is not easy, but being here makes them brave.

JRS-supported shelter of Fundación Nuestros Jóvenes in La Mitad del Mundo

After visiting the JRS reception space in Quito, we went to La Mitad del Mundo, where we learned about the work of the Fundación Nuestros Jóvenes, which supports JRS, an entity founded 40 years ago. It was born with the objective of assisting drug addicts and, later, they began to address the reality of gender violence and started a program to rescue girls who were victims of trafficking.

With the arrival of Venezuelan migration, they saw the need to put their facilities at the service of this reality and, since 2018, JRS has been their main partner. The center has capacity for 120 people, although in the hardest months of the pandemic they exceeded this number because all the shelters in the area were closed, except for this one and the one in JRS.

During the meeting with migrant and refugee women, moments of emotion were experienced as they shared the interpretation of ‘La línea’ and ‘La puerta violeta’. ” We have to open many violet doors”, said Fernando Lopez, JRS Ecuador Director, at the close of the meeting. “There are a lot of hard things we live through, but also a lot of joys.”

Day 2: Santo Domingo and gender colloquium

The Special Education Unit of Fe y Alegría in Santo Domingo accompanies more than 150 students with disabilities, focusing its work on the transition to working life of its students through entrepreneurship or their involvement in different productive sectors.

This Tuesday was visited by Rozalén and Beatriz, who had the opportunity to get to know the work of this and inclusion center, and toured the facilities of the center. 4 classroom-workshops (the audiovisual classroom, the home classroom, the painting and silk-screen printing workshop and the sewing workshop) in which hearing-impaired and intellectually disabled young people from Santo Domingo receive training in the following areas integral accompaniment.

“There was a super big change in me when I learned sign language. As it evolved, I felt that it was my language and my identity,” explained Juan Carlos, a former student and now a teacher at the center, during the meeting.

Beatriz and Rozalén shared a moment of music and art with students and their families, with an emotional dramatization entitled “The life of a deaf person” and an artistic representation of the song “Sunflowers” starring the students themselves.

Colloquium on violence, gender and education

Last year in Ecuador 172 women were killed by gender violence (including transfeminicides). Of these deaths, 11 were under 18 years of age and 5 were over 65 years of age. In 46% of the cases, the femicide had a sentimental link or was part of the victim’s circle of trust. In addition, these femicides left 161 minors orphaned because 53% of the victims (93) were mothers. The murder of women has also been linked to other previous crimes such as disappearances, trafficking or sexual abuse.

“Behind each of these official figures there are women and girls with names and surnames. We must put a face to this violence and analyze its causes.” With these data and this reflection, educator Genit Barberan (Fe y Alegría’s zonal accompanier) started the colloquium promoted by Fe y Alegría Santo Domingo. A colloquium to which Rozalén and Beatriz Romero were invited, along with families, teachers and students of the school.

Verónica Proaño, a teacher at the Bernabé de Larraul school (San Miguel de los Bancos) stated: “The school has the obligation to make equality visible, name and refer to it through, for example, the use of inclusive language, the creation of safe spaces, socialization and the creation of mechanisms for expression and denunciation. The educational center must be prepared for identity searches and also the non-rejection of diversity and, above all, to flee from the naturalization of violence”.

Together -teachers, principals, students, mothers and fathers- discussed the different alternatives that the school can propose. And they analyzed the lyrics of Rozalén’s songs such as “La puerta violeta” or “Girasoles”.

Rozalén and Beatriz were also able to narrate and comment on their experiences and impressions regarding the power of music to generate transformation and support dynamics of inclusion and equality:

“To help Maria’s message reach more people is a gift. Having deaf people and their families come to a concert… I couldn’t have imagined it. It has given her a prominence that I had not seen before and that helps to normalize sign language and encourages more people to learn,” she said. Beatriz.

“Thank you for this much-needed debate. We have to keep moving forward… For example, in our field, we have hardly had female singer-songwriters, but there are more and more of us. Many women tell me ‘I feel represented by you’. We need more women leaders, women in leadership, women and men like you opening spaces for equality and from education. Thank you for inviting us, for sharing your struggles and your work,” she said. Rozalén.

• Fe y Alegría Ecuador broadcasted this meeting live on its Facebook channel: https://fb.watch/c43ESR04nw/.

Day 1: Emmaus Educational Unit and Mobile School “Tell me everything Quito”.

The morning started in Quito with a visit to the Emmaus Educational Unit of Fe y Alegría. The entire student body of the school prepared an exciting welcome event with music and dances with which they showed the cultural richness of Ecuador, from the coast, through the highlands to the Amazon. “When art, music and culture are united with the right to education and human rights, justice, love and peace are reborn. That is why they have come to sing for us today: for the right to inclusive quality education for all,” he said. Carlos Vargas, National Director of Fe y Alegría Ecuador.

“The commitment to love, justice and human rights we learn from you,” said Raquel Martín, our Director of Communications and Institutional Relations.

Rozalén and Beatriz gave an exciting performance together with Stefany and Martina, students from the first year of high school and 7th grade, before visiting the center’s inclusion and educational transit classrooms. With its model, Fe y Alegría works to achieve inclusion that guarantees the right to education, learning and a dignified life for all children and young people with disabilities.

“The inclusive education model was born with the objective of a horizon in which there is equal access to education. Attention to diversity is a challenge we take on with enthusiasm and joy,” said Washington Chafla, Regional Director of Pichincha.

In the afternoon, they participated in a community meeting organized by the mobile school “Cuéntamelo todo Quito” (CTQ), a socio-educational project of Fe y Alegría Ecuador that has been working for 10 years offering education and support to children and adolescents in street situations.

Twice a week, the Fe y Alegría team and volunteers set up a mobile school in one of the main squares of Quito’s historic center, where 30 children have access to educational and recreational activities every day. The psychosocial support provided by Fe y Alegría and its work with families is also fundamental for children.

After learning first-hand about the school’s work, Rozalén and Beatriz gave a small concert for the children and families gathered in the square, and also sang along with Anahí, one of CTQ’s young volunteers. “I am thrilled by the reception we have had,” expressed Rozalén at the close of the concert, “and the great love we are feeling.”

Rozalén, Beatriz and Entreculturas

It is not the first time that Rozalén and Beatriz collaborate with Entreculturas, they were able to know first hand the work we do Entreculturas with the program “La LUZ de las NIÑAS” in Guatemala (2019) and in Chad (2020). You can follow the trip through the social networks of Rozalén, Beatriz and Entreculturas.