Wile discussing the economy of Ecuador, one of the things I was surprised to learn was that one of the largest exports of the country is people. We learned that 10-15% of Ecuador's population migrates to find work outside of the country. After hearing this startling statistic I was excited to do more research for my facilitation project and to learn more about the causes and history of these high migration rates. We found that the highest immigration rates were in the late 1990s when the financial crisis hit. Poverty was as high as 56% and unemployment rose to 15%. Between the years of 1998 and 2004 500,000 Ecuadorians migrated out of the country mainly to Spain. Even today migration rates are still very high especially those to the United States. Many immigrants choose to settle in New York City where many immigrants live as well as various parts of Europe including Spain and Italy.
Last week in class we had a speaker who was the daughter of migrant parents speak to us about the effects migration has on children. She described to us how the migration of one or both parents really tears apart a family and is very detrimental to children here in Ecuador due to the strong emphasis placed on family. Children go through many emotional difficulties like sadness, depression and angst as well as having social problems and difficulties expressing affection. Since children are often separated from one or both parents for long periods of time, they experience a lack of love from their parents resulting in fear, taking on responsibility of their parents actions themselves, and concentration problems in school. They often times have difficulty creating interpersonal relationships, exhibit aggressive behavior, and display behavior problems in school. While I can see the reasons why many parents choose to leave the country in order to support their families, it made me so upset to hear all of these effects the action of migrating has on children. I was glad to hear however, schools are now beginning to integrate an educative psychology program that focuses on diagnosing children going through the phases of dealing with migrating parents as well as offering therapy and support. The programs allow for open channels of communication between the school as well as the family that is still in Ecuador in order to provide the children with the best support possible.
Another aspect of migration I really enjoyed learning about in class today was the formation of cooperatives by many of the indigenous women that are left behind by their husbands. I think it is so empowering that women are able to form these organizations in order to provide support to one another as well as themselves financially. We discussed three cooperative groups in class today. The Centro de Barados is known for their embroidery work. The often times sell embroydered goods like shirts, table cloths, and cards. The Tejemujeres are famous for their wool sweater that are mostly exported to Canada and Europe. Finally, we discusses the Tejedoras de Paja Toquilla who mostly craft straw objects like placemats, hats, and baskets. I believe I saw some of these items when shopping at one of the markets in Cuenca. Such beautiful objects can be created by weaving straw, especially when they are died in many beautiful colors. I love the idea of women forming these cooperatives because it not only gives them an additional source of income, but they provide workshops so women can better their lives. For instance, women are taught about running a small business so they can successfully work with the cooperatives as well as information about personal finances so they can apply that to their lives. They are also taught about their rights to health care as well as nutrition. While the thought of Ecuadorians immigrating and breaking up their families saddens me, I was really glad to hear about the several programs in place to provide support to family members in order to help make this difficult time easier.
