Sr Sabina Melania appealed to your generosity to help the Daughters of Charity community in their prevention work at the beginning of the pandemic because very few people had the means or the knowledge to limit the spread of the virus in the San Lorenzo region of Ecuador at that time.

She was able to set up a joint health awareness and food aid project for these particularly poor people.

She explains:

We first proceeded to identify potential beneficiaries for this project, hoping to receive a favourable response to the aid requested.

Once Rosalie's projects had received approval, we proceeded to quote the selected products through a market study to obtain the best quality/price ratio for the food products and hygiene kits to be distributed.

We then contacted the beneficiaries to coordinate the day and time of the food and training collections to avoid crowds. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, we facilitated a workshop on "Training in Covid-19 preventive measures".

A "Nutrition Talk" was held at the Comboni Missionary Community, which also contributed to the project.

A special organisation was set up so that the training and deliveries of food kits and hygiene products took place in the homes of elderly and/or disabled people, who could not travel to receive them.

The implementation of this beautiful project has allowed us to get closer to 130 families, each with a life story marked by suffering, illness and poverty.

Here we share with you the case of the Estacio - Batioja family, made up of 17 members who live in the same house.

Mirtha, 28 years old, and Daniel Estacio, 24 years old, work in charcoal making to support the family. They have 4 children and 4 nieces and nephews who have been orphaned because their mother recently died of poisoning. Two disabled people also live with the family, an elderly person who is paraplegic due to thrombosis and an adult who suffers from epilepsy but collects and recycles waste to help the family survive.

Their combined income does not exceed US$2 per day, which does not meet their basic needs. They are constantly in need and do not have enough to eat. They also need help to get the elderly person into a nursing home because they cannot take care of him at home due to lack of resources. The children are not currently studying because they do not have internet access to follow their courses from a distance.

As far as housing is concerned, they all live in a small space that does not belong to them, and they are regularly asked to leave it.

The food aid received through the project has enabled them to feed themselves for at least 10 days and they are very grateful for this. The approach with these people has given us the opportunity to identify their needs and to negotiate with other civil and governmental organisations a way to help them survive in the long term.

The poverty situation in the village of San Lorenzo is manifested in the lack of values, food, health and education.

The delivery of food and hygiene kits allowed us to alleviate, at least for a few days, the situation of poverty and hunger of the 130 families we were able to support with this project, but above all it allowed us to get closer to their reality, which will help us to propose systemic change projects to get them out of dependence

They were also encouraged to manage projects in which they are the main actors to improve the situation in their homes.

Finally, in this period of pandemic, it was essential to raise their awareness and train them in the barrier measures to be observed in order to limit the contagion as much as possible.

A big THANK YOU for your precious help, may God keep you safe

The beneficiaries' thanks in video