The Sunrise, Esperanza and Sunrise + projects for economic reconstruction and psychosocial rehabilitation launched after the earthquake hit Macará (Ecuador) in 2016 have also enabled women to become protagonists in their country’s development. Maricelda is one of them and is currently employed in chicken farming and pork sales which is enabling her to earn an income and contribute towards the family finances.
“It’s been important to participate in the group work. We now raise chickens and then sell them along with the pork. We are very proud of everything we have achieved and want to keep going because we’re also helping our community”.
In fact, Maricelda and the group of women from Macará have decided to put acts of reciprocity into practice so as to give others the opportunity to change and think of those who are still living in difficult situations.
With the project’s support, they decided to start a special fund to support vulnerable families and a number of initiatives to benefit the community.
“There are families who are going through financial and health difficulties. We recently heard about a neighbour suffering from cancer who needed support so we decided to organise fundraising activities such as bingo or food sales to help her while she was undergoing treatment. We also offered part of the income we received from our chicken and pork sales.
Recently, with support from the project and our own contributions, we were also able to install six computers in the community house. Parents in the community congratulated us and, seeing this concrete fact, pledged to take care of this space where their children would be able to study”.