Rostro de cristo
MISSION:
Rostro de Cristo is a Catholic program that provides spiritual and educational opportunities for people of faith to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Ecuador. Our name, the Face of Christ in English, reflects the vision that calls us to a new awareness and desire to love others in the likeness of Christ. It fosters an encounter with Christ. It compels a response from every person involved in Rostro de Cristo – volunteers, retreatants, supporters, and directors. And, it inspires our mission:
The Rostro de Cristo program invites participants from the United States to:
rostrodecristo.org
Rostro de Cristo is a Catholic program that provides spiritual and educational opportunities for people of faith to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Ecuador. Our name, the Face of Christ in English, reflects the vision that calls us to a new awareness and desire to love others in the likeness of Christ. It fosters an encounter with Christ. It compels a response from every person involved in Rostro de Cristo – volunteers, retreatants, supporters, and directors. And, it inspires our mission:
The Rostro de Cristo program invites participants from the United States to:
- Be in relationship with the Ecuadorian people and reflect on the face of Christ in their joys and struggles.
- Support the Ecuadorian People in their work to meet basic human needs and achieve a justice rooted in Gospel values in their developing communities.
- Lead a simple lifestyle, build an intentional Christian community, and immerse in the local culture and reality with respect and humility.
rostrodecristo.org
Invasion Communities
Like many other places in Latin America, Ecuador experiences much internal migration, that is people moving within their country's own borders. The reasons for migration vary, many people will move from el campo, the country, to be closer to cities for work, education, and other social service opportunities. For some, it is their only option due to safety and well-being. Additionally, not all people are from the campo, in fact, some people move out of the city as urban life grows too expensive. This internal migration leads to the creation of invasion communities on empty, unoccupied land. Families will squat or invade the land to take claim to it.
However, the land that is being squatted is often owned by some government body or large land owner, which is where the issue of land rights gets tricky. Families moving onto the land can easily build a cane house in a few hours, so in certain areas it is common for mass invasions to take place overnight. Homes might start off as one-room cane houses on stilts to avoid flooding and mud.
The original landowner of the large empty space will illegally sell a portion of the land to people who want to build on the land. The sales are unofficial and undocumented leaving room for further exploitation to take place. Landowners might charge homeowners more, claiming they never paid, lock them into harsh agreements that tie the homeowners to the property, thus prohibiting them from ever leaving. Additionally, landowners will often give notice to the government about an invasion community that has taken form, at times even receiving a payoff for doing so. Sometimes communities will be given a warning that the area will be bulldozed in the next 24 hours, week, or month. The bulldozers either come following a different timeframe than given, or sometimes they never come.
As more people move into the spaces of land, schools, shops, and prayer spaces are organized. With more time and increasing population in an area, bus lines are expanded, giving people a bit more access to urban life.Homeowners might make progressive improvements to their homes by adding brick or cement walls or flooring, but this of course is based on the resources a family can access. Invasion communities will often have half-finished homes. However, even with this community development and organizing, communities still face a number of problems.
The other community of volunteers lives in an area called Mount Sinai or Monte Sinai. This community was recognized by the federal government in January of 2011 and is a relatively young community on the outskirts of Guayaquil. It is similar to a community of Duran that I work in, called Gregorio II in that they both have unpaved roads, unleveled ground, unreliable water and garbage days, and stolen electricity. Mount Sinai and Gregorio II are younger in development than Arbolito and they rely heavily on community organizing and activism to put pressure on local governance to provide them with basic resources and recognize them as a community. Of course, none of this happens overnight and requires a lot of patience and people power. This next year I will continue to witness the bureaucratic frustrations and immense fortitude of these communities.
To learn more about Rostro's presence in these invasion communities, click here.
However, the land that is being squatted is often owned by some government body or large land owner, which is where the issue of land rights gets tricky. Families moving onto the land can easily build a cane house in a few hours, so in certain areas it is common for mass invasions to take place overnight. Homes might start off as one-room cane houses on stilts to avoid flooding and mud.
The original landowner of the large empty space will illegally sell a portion of the land to people who want to build on the land. The sales are unofficial and undocumented leaving room for further exploitation to take place. Landowners might charge homeowners more, claiming they never paid, lock them into harsh agreements that tie the homeowners to the property, thus prohibiting them from ever leaving. Additionally, landowners will often give notice to the government about an invasion community that has taken form, at times even receiving a payoff for doing so. Sometimes communities will be given a warning that the area will be bulldozed in the next 24 hours, week, or month. The bulldozers either come following a different timeframe than given, or sometimes they never come.
As more people move into the spaces of land, schools, shops, and prayer spaces are organized. With more time and increasing population in an area, bus lines are expanded, giving people a bit more access to urban life.Homeowners might make progressive improvements to their homes by adding brick or cement walls or flooring, but this of course is based on the resources a family can access. Invasion communities will often have half-finished homes. However, even with this community development and organizing, communities still face a number of problems.
- Running water is nonexistent, as is clean drinking water. Tanqueros or water trucks will come through communities on random, unreliable schedules, and people pay to have buckets, barrels, or cisterns filled.
- Roads are unpaved and given the climate of Ecuador it can become very dangerous. Half the year is rainy season (Dec-May) and during this times, roads become muddy and flooded, sometimes leaving it impossible to pass and perfect breeding ground for bacteria to build. Dirt roads during the dry season creates a lot of dust or polvowhich leads to a number of lung related illnesses.
- Invasion communities are not on electrical power grids, since the government does not acknowledge their existence. Electricity is stolen from nearby areas which often leads to power outages and electrical fires.
- Trash pickup is unreliable as well so it is more common to see neighbors burning trash or seeing it piled up on the sides of the road.
- Depending on the age of an invasion community, schools and health clinics are not readily accessible, forcing long commutes for kids to go to school and for people to receive health care.
The other community of volunteers lives in an area called Mount Sinai or Monte Sinai. This community was recognized by the federal government in January of 2011 and is a relatively young community on the outskirts of Guayaquil. It is similar to a community of Duran that I work in, called Gregorio II in that they both have unpaved roads, unleveled ground, unreliable water and garbage days, and stolen electricity. Mount Sinai and Gregorio II are younger in development than Arbolito and they rely heavily on community organizing and activism to put pressure on local governance to provide them with basic resources and recognize them as a community. Of course, none of this happens overnight and requires a lot of patience and people power. This next year I will continue to witness the bureaucratic frustrations and immense fortitude of these communities.
To learn more about Rostro's presence in these invasion communities, click here.