Interested in learning more about how policies in the US and Colombia affect farmers who grow coca? Check out this video made by Witness For Peace by clicking on the link below. It's well worth watching.
http://www.witnessforpeace.org/article.php?id=705
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
"Refugees Excluded in the Workforce"
This article was published in "El Comercio" newspaper on Sept. 11, 2011. The subtitle highlighted that among the 53,678 Colombians who have been given official refugee status or the refugee visa in Ecuador, 99% of them are not working as hired permanent employees despite the fact that the refugee visa grants them equal labor rights in Ecuadorian society. In other words, 99% of them either work in the informal sector of the economy or are working in temporary conditions.
It's worth noting that this statistic and the article in general does not include the thousands more who are awaiting an answer regarding their application for the refugee visa, some of whom have waited more than 2 years yet continue in limbo with regards to their status in Ecuador (according to the Ecuadorian constitution, these cases must be resolved within 3 months, yet due to the volume of applicants, the government is falling terribly behind in this process). This population in limbo is even more vulnerable to lack of work in the formal sector.
To read the original article in Spanish on the "El Comercio" website, click the link below:
(I used google translator to put this article in English and briefly skimmed it checking for errors, but sorry for any grammatical errors and/or things that dont make sense :)
Refugees Excluded in the Workforce
Clara P. (Name withheld) did not wait to flee. In March 2008, a paramilitary group in Colombia killed her husband and took possession of his house in Villavicencio (eastern region of the country). Nor did she wait to bury his body, give a statement to the police or have someone to investigate his murder. She just fled ... the trip was 36 hours of anxiety.
Her journey included three trips in interprovincial buses to get to the border with Ecuador (Ipiales). From there she moved to Quito, where she applied for refugee status with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador.
"It's hard to start again," she says with a trembling voice. She is distraught. Despite the difficulties, Clara calms down, convinced that since she is willing to work, she will be able to once again have her own home and rebuild her life.
But that task has not been easy. She has met many setbacks. One of the most complex, said Clara is the lack of knowledge that Ecuadorians have regarding the hiring of refugees. "They tell me they can only give me work with the Ecuadorian ID, but I explain that my refugee visa is valid for me to be hired (...)".
Jose Sandoval, director of Refugee Ministry of Foreign Trade and Integration, clarifies that there is no problem in hiring a refugee as they "have the same rights and obligations of a citizen of Ecuador." In fact, the document and a permit from the Ministry of Labour Relations can work, joining the Social Security Institute (IESS, etc.).
This information is also confirmed by a spokesman for the Ministry of Labour Relations, which called for the reserve, which indicates that the process of obtaining the work permit is simple and only requires the card.
In 2011, 363 refugees of various nationalities requested. In Ecuador, 53 678 Colombians have this status, so the number of permits reflects a high informal employment, says Sandoval.
Support programs
This lack of opportunity is one of the ways in which works Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Over 13 Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), national level, offer credit, support to agricultural production, training and promotion of entrepreneurship, and so on. "The goal is the local integration of refugees," said Luis Varese, deputy representative of that organization.
One of the NGOs working in that program is the Fundación Ambiente y Sociedad (FAS), which in 2011 received by the UNHCR, which borders a budget of USD 400 000 to implement projects for inclusion. Maria Rosa Banks, National Coordinator of the Protection Program and Community Support and Integration of the foundation, acknowledges that serve thousands of people with this status is difficult and must prioritize resources to those most vulnerable individuals and families, including women heads of household, with young children.
One of the mothers benefit from this program is Claudia R., who fled Cali (Colombia) in 2000, by threats of illegal groups that arrived in your community. She arrived in Quito and served as assistant cook, maid, saleswoman at stores ... But the maximum contract for three months, they said that the document of refugee was an impediment.
Looking for job security in 2009 set up a stall selling empanadas on the street, which remains. This year she enrolled in FAS for courses of entrepreneurship.
She was trained for 15 days, learned to develop a business plan, management costs, etc.. She also received cooking utensils and a blender, pots, jars, among other things. With this help, Claudia rented a small store of 25 m², which now sells arepas con chorizo, chili sauce and stew. She is happy with the help and hopes to move forward and provide a better future for their children, she says, stroking her belly eight months pregnant.
For her condition, she has repeatedly gone to public health services, where she says, is attended with no discrimination. There "I feel like an Ecuadorian more," she says, because they do not ask for your card and give medicines, in case of need.
Carlos C. shares his view. He fled the coffee region of Colombia and arrived in Quito in 2001. Since then, and seeing the lack of opportunities, is devoted to the sale of accessories for mobile electronic devices on buses and streets. His work includes passing days 12 hours a day, selling under the sun. This is reflected in the brown spots you have in your hands white.
This involves eating too hectic at any time, which has generated gastritis and other ailments that have been addressed promptly and free of charge at health centers. At that point, Carlos had no inconvenience and appreciates that there is no discrimination in that sector.
The Journal requested an interview with officials from the Ministry of Health to address the issue. However, there was not a favorable response.
Her journey included three trips in interprovincial buses to get to the border with Ecuador (Ipiales). From there she moved to Quito, where she applied for refugee status with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador.
"It's hard to start again," she says with a trembling voice. She is distraught. Despite the difficulties, Clara calms down, convinced that since she is willing to work, she will be able to once again have her own home and rebuild her life.
But that task has not been easy. She has met many setbacks. One of the most complex, said Clara is the lack of knowledge that Ecuadorians have regarding the hiring of refugees. "They tell me they can only give me work with the Ecuadorian ID, but I explain that my refugee visa is valid for me to be hired (...)".
Jose Sandoval, director of Refugee Ministry of Foreign Trade and Integration, clarifies that there is no problem in hiring a refugee as they "have the same rights and obligations of a citizen of Ecuador." In fact, the document and a permit from the Ministry of Labour Relations can work, joining the Social Security Institute (IESS, etc.).
This information is also confirmed by a spokesman for the Ministry of Labour Relations, which called for the reserve, which indicates that the process of obtaining the work permit is simple and only requires the card.
In 2011, 363 refugees of various nationalities requested. In Ecuador, 53 678 Colombians have this status, so the number of permits reflects a high informal employment, says Sandoval.
Support programs
This lack of opportunity is one of the ways in which works Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Over 13 Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), national level, offer credit, support to agricultural production, training and promotion of entrepreneurship, and so on. "The goal is the local integration of refugees," said Luis Varese, deputy representative of that organization.
One of the NGOs working in that program is the Fundación Ambiente y Sociedad (FAS), which in 2011 received by the UNHCR, which borders a budget of USD 400 000 to implement projects for inclusion. Maria Rosa Banks, National Coordinator of the Protection Program and Community Support and Integration of the foundation, acknowledges that serve thousands of people with this status is difficult and must prioritize resources to those most vulnerable individuals and families, including women heads of household, with young children.
One of the mothers benefit from this program is Claudia R., who fled Cali (Colombia) in 2000, by threats of illegal groups that arrived in your community. She arrived in Quito and served as assistant cook, maid, saleswoman at stores ... But the maximum contract for three months, they said that the document of refugee was an impediment.
Looking for job security in 2009 set up a stall selling empanadas on the street, which remains. This year she enrolled in FAS for courses of entrepreneurship.
She was trained for 15 days, learned to develop a business plan, management costs, etc.. She also received cooking utensils and a blender, pots, jars, among other things. With this help, Claudia rented a small store of 25 m², which now sells arepas con chorizo, chili sauce and stew. She is happy with the help and hopes to move forward and provide a better future for their children, she says, stroking her belly eight months pregnant.
For her condition, she has repeatedly gone to public health services, where she says, is attended with no discrimination. There "I feel like an Ecuadorian more," she says, because they do not ask for your card and give medicines, in case of need.
Carlos C. shares his view. He fled the coffee region of Colombia and arrived in Quito in 2001. Since then, and seeing the lack of opportunities, is devoted to the sale of accessories for mobile electronic devices on buses and streets. His work includes passing days 12 hours a day, selling under the sun. This is reflected in the brown spots you have in your hands white.
This involves eating too hectic at any time, which has generated gastritis and other ailments that have been addressed promptly and free of charge at health centers. At that point, Carlos had no inconvenience and appreciates that there is no discrimination in that sector.
The Journal requested an interview with officials from the Ministry of Health to address the issue. However, there was not a favorable response.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
A Roller Coaster Ride
The last few months have been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and twists and turns. I think part of the reason I've neglected this blog is the feeling that I haven't been able to fully get off the roller coaster to process much of what has happened.
In late July, my entire family was able to come down to Ecuador for a wonderful family reunion. We shared some really action packed days together and were able to spend time in a few of my work related activities, but also did lots of sight seeing and meeting lots of people from my community here. It was a really special time to be with my family and have the opportunity to show them where I live and work.
In early August, I traveled with my parents to Bolivia to the community where they lived for 2 years during a service term with MCC. It was a truly amazing gathering after more than 30 years had passed without my parents knowing anything about the status/well-being of the community and vice versa. Within 10 minutes of arriving to the small village an old woman approached my parents and said "my teachers!". It was a realization for me that my parents had actually been in that exact remote location many years before I was even born and that people still remembered them for being the first teachers in the community. The whole experience was surreal on many levels. We were received with such hospitality and my parents were treated as long-lost honored guests during various community celebrations including independence day and the anniversary of the inauguration of the school (which had happened exactly 34 years before while my parents were there). Of course part of being the honored guests meant that we were asked to be judges of the annual beauty contest...a unique experience to say the least :)
In Bolivia, we also had to the privilege to spend some time with Reuben Maldonado-Nofziger's family in Santa Cruz as well as Benito Miller's parents in Cochabamba. All were excellent hosts and showed us a great time.
I spent the better part of late August in Colombia with a Witness For Peace delegation in order to learn more about the complex issues in Colombia. My hope was that through this experience I would be able to relate better to the Colombian refugees that I work with on a daily basis here in Quito and understand more fully their context and background. The delegation greatly exceeded my expectations and broadened my perspective of the Colombian conflict immensely. During the delegation we met with an Afrocolombian community that had been the victim of a massacre by paramilitary groups, a human rights worker defending the rights of sugar cane workers, an indigenous group defending their territory using non-violent strategies against armed guerrilla groups, parents whose children were killed by the military, wives who have lost their husbands to the violence, a displaced indigenous community in which more than 60 members of their community are currently living in a one room shelter as they await the day they can return to their land, people working on conserving the memories of lost family members, and other internally displaced people who are currently in hiding. The content of what I heard and experienced was actually not too far from what I deal with daily here in Quito with refugees that come from very similar backgrounds. Nevertheless, the power of meeting these people, hearing their stories and being in Colombia took my understanding/knowledge to another level. The injustice marked by their experiences and those who have been forced to migrate to Quito is greater than any other that I have witnessed on a personal level.
I know that summary doesn't give you a very good idea of what our actual encounters with these people were like, but I hope to write a bit more about specific experiences that were especially moving and powerful.
Inspired by my experiences in Colombia, I arrived back in Quito with a few new ideas of ways that I can make a significant impact in the lives of refugees here. My rough ideas are to work compiling the stories of different individuals/families, help them with goal setting on a short and long term basis, and work on compiling a list of all of the resources available to refugees in Quito in order for people to have a guide of how to get oriented and where to seek help for specific issues.
I'll leave it there for now so your eyes dont get too tired...but I will hopefully write more very soon.
In late July, my entire family was able to come down to Ecuador for a wonderful family reunion. We shared some really action packed days together and were able to spend time in a few of my work related activities, but also did lots of sight seeing and meeting lots of people from my community here. It was a really special time to be with my family and have the opportunity to show them where I live and work.
In early August, I traveled with my parents to Bolivia to the community where they lived for 2 years during a service term with MCC. It was a truly amazing gathering after more than 30 years had passed without my parents knowing anything about the status/well-being of the community and vice versa. Within 10 minutes of arriving to the small village an old woman approached my parents and said "my teachers!". It was a realization for me that my parents had actually been in that exact remote location many years before I was even born and that people still remembered them for being the first teachers in the community. The whole experience was surreal on many levels. We were received with such hospitality and my parents were treated as long-lost honored guests during various community celebrations including independence day and the anniversary of the inauguration of the school (which had happened exactly 34 years before while my parents were there). Of course part of being the honored guests meant that we were asked to be judges of the annual beauty contest...a unique experience to say the least :)
In Bolivia, we also had to the privilege to spend some time with Reuben Maldonado-Nofziger's family in Santa Cruz as well as Benito Miller's parents in Cochabamba. All were excellent hosts and showed us a great time.
I spent the better part of late August in Colombia with a Witness For Peace delegation in order to learn more about the complex issues in Colombia. My hope was that through this experience I would be able to relate better to the Colombian refugees that I work with on a daily basis here in Quito and understand more fully their context and background. The delegation greatly exceeded my expectations and broadened my perspective of the Colombian conflict immensely. During the delegation we met with an Afrocolombian community that had been the victim of a massacre by paramilitary groups, a human rights worker defending the rights of sugar cane workers, an indigenous group defending their territory using non-violent strategies against armed guerrilla groups, parents whose children were killed by the military, wives who have lost their husbands to the violence, a displaced indigenous community in which more than 60 members of their community are currently living in a one room shelter as they await the day they can return to their land, people working on conserving the memories of lost family members, and other internally displaced people who are currently in hiding. The content of what I heard and experienced was actually not too far from what I deal with daily here in Quito with refugees that come from very similar backgrounds. Nevertheless, the power of meeting these people, hearing their stories and being in Colombia took my understanding/knowledge to another level. The injustice marked by their experiences and those who have been forced to migrate to Quito is greater than any other that I have witnessed on a personal level.
I know that summary doesn't give you a very good idea of what our actual encounters with these people were like, but I hope to write a bit more about specific experiences that were especially moving and powerful.
Inspired by my experiences in Colombia, I arrived back in Quito with a few new ideas of ways that I can make a significant impact in the lives of refugees here. My rough ideas are to work compiling the stories of different individuals/families, help them with goal setting on a short and long term basis, and work on compiling a list of all of the resources available to refugees in Quito in order for people to have a guide of how to get oriented and where to seek help for specific issues.
I'll leave it there for now so your eyes dont get too tired...but I will hopefully write more very soon.
The whole family on the mountain overlooking Quito
Visiting Mauricio and Denis Chavez' family in Otavalo
Cheering on La Liga in Quito
Sharing Photos with people in community of Aguas Calientes where my parents lived in Bolivia
The parade on Independence Day in Aguas Calientes, Bolivia
We had a wonderful time with Dave and Barbara Miller (Benito's parents) in Cochabamba
The contrasts of life in Buenaventura, Colombia
The wonderful people from the WFP delegation group.
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