La Frate News and Updates
The New Year is underway!
Ecuador elected a new president towards the end of 2023, promising safety and prosperity for Ecuador. In his acts to revitalize the nation, President Noboa declared a state of emergency due to the recent surge in violence in Ecuador as the increasing influence of drug trafficking gangs spiked. A notable incident involved armed gang members storming the set of TC Television in Guayaquil during a live broadcast, causing panic by claiming to have bombs, and holding the news reporters hostage.
This turmoil is linked to the escapes of notorious gang leaders from Ecuadorian prisons, leading to a series of violent incidents, including the abduction of police officers and innocent families. In response, President Noboa declared a national state of emergency, suspending certain rights and mobilizing the military. He also labeled these drug trafficking gangs as terrorist groups, authorizing military action and recognizing the situation as an "internal armed conflict." Since then, more than 5000 criminals were arrested, about 2000 illegal arms, and more than 43 thousand tons of drugs were seized.
As mentioned on La Fraternidad Ecuador website, these terrorist drug organizations are all across Ecuador but are mostly present in the hometowns of the young students of La Fraternidad Ecuador. Drug gangs have direct influence on the students and their families as they live in constant fear and pressure to join these gangs.
We hope that with the declaration of war against these gangs and the intervention of the army and the police, security can be restored in Ecuador, and we hope that we can help La Fraternidad Ecuador can do its part to save young Ecuadorian students that live in areas where these drug gangs are most prominent and improve their quality of life through education opportunities.
Meanwhile life goes on at La Frate.
In the home there are currently 9 students, one desktop computer, and a laptop which is Leo’s (the founder in Ecuador) that he lends to the kids for their assignments or when they have to present at the university. This causes difficulties often since the students often clash in some assignments or classes when they are online. Since this increased violence and insecurity, La Frate must spend more because now more students have lunch at La Frate rather than in the city since some universities mandate virtual classes during these unsafe times.
The students celebrated Christmas together for the first time.
They spent Christmas together, and volunteered around the community to help local elementary schools and daycares; making bracelets with them, cooking for them, and helping them with their schoolwork. They also hosted a dinner at La Frate where some alumni, family members, and friends came to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Thanks to you, La Fraternidad Ecuador was able to feed and meet the basic needs of the now 9 students currently residing in La Frate. In addition to addressing their basic needs and providing support in their academic formation, we were able to supply them with a key tool - a laptop. As mentioned before the students were in desperate need of another device to attend online classes and do assignments with, and thanks to your help we made that possible.
With what we have used from what has been raised and what we will continue to raise, we hope to continue to provide for La Frate students’ essentials like food and clothes, their educational needs among which being another laptop and desktop, and hopefully better living conditions such as raising money for house repairs and mattresses.
So far we are halfway to our fundraising goal on GoFundMe, and we will continue working to complete our goal and continue to raise money for these students.
We encourage you to join us in sharing our mission, donations are always available, and any contribution helps!
