Support for Venezuelan Refugees in Ecuador

Hello! We are a family of three Sayana, Euan and baby Angus and we usually live in Edinburgh. At present we are spending some time in Ecuador with Sayana's  Ecuadorian family and since our arrival we have been shocked by the amount of Venezuelan refugees who are homeless, in poverty and begging in the streets of the capital (Quito).

Some background information:

Around 400,000 Venezuelans have settled in Ecuador since 2015 due to the internal crisis in Venezuela which has led to the second-largest displacement crisis in the world.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuelan refugees in Ecuador were already struggling to access social services such as healthcare, education and housing and were victims of sexual violence, gender-based violence and xenophobia. After the crisis brought by the Coronavirus pandemic, their situation has worsened as many of them have lost the ability to support themselves. Women, children, disabled people and members of the LGBTQ community are particularly vulnerable. 

Our insight and little project:

We have approached Venezuelan refugees in the streets of Quito, you can find them at almost every traffic light in the north of the city. Many of them are families or women with babies and young children who are malnourished and have health problems. The current government in Ecuador hasn’t done anything significant to support them. They tell us that they sleep in hostels or in the streets and they have resorted to asking for money, clothes or food to people in cars at traffic lights from dawn until dusk. They tell us that they feel very ashamed about having to do this, they would much rather work.

As Christmas is approaching, we fear that their ability to raise money to support themselves during the holidays will be very limited as there is less traffic in the city and people go out less. We know it has been a difficult year for everyone and many of us are uncertain about our financial future, but we decided that we want to do something for these families. So we are asking for your help to raise some funds. The idea is to put together packs with food, clothes, face masks, supplies for babies, vitamins for children, medicines and toiletries (including feminine care products) so that we can deliver them during the Christmas holidays. By buying most of these items in bulk and prioritising things like non-perishables we are estimating that each pack will cost 20 GBP and will support a family of two adults and two kids during the Christmas holidays. 

To do this we have started a crowdfunding campaign and we kindly ask you to donate anything you wish to contribute and to share this appeal with your friends.

Our promise: 

We will personally purchase, prepare and hand the goods to each family/person, we will upload receipts of the goods purchased, lists of the packs and photos of the families. Everyone involved at our end will do so as a volunteer. Our family here in Ecuador will support us with the collection of additional items such as clothes, toys, blankets and will fund the transport to deliver the packs as well as fresh goods such as fresh fruit and vegetables.

We won’t be able to reach out to every Venezuelan refugee here in Quito, but we will try our best to help those who really need it.

Thank you so much for your interest and support!

Sayana and Euan