Begging for Money

From uninvited Guest Blogger, Rebecca:

On my bus ride to work in the mornings, someone begging for money usually makes an appearance. It's interesting though how different it is here, as compared to the US. First, the beggar gets on and recites a story of how he (or she) is blind - or otherwise desperate - and without any means of earning money except to sell these delicious caramels for 25 cents. I don't think selling small trinkets of stuff is really common practice on the DC Metro, but I'm not a regular commuter, so I couldn't say for sure. Secondly, I'm always surprised at how many people pull out their change purses and either buy the candy, or just gives some money to the person outright. Ecuador's a poor country already, but it seems that the people are relatively generous - at least the people on the buses that I ride. (Likewise, I'm often offered a seat when one becomes available, or even sometimes someone stands up and gives me his seat. The same happens regularly when I get on the bus with the kids. It doesn't seem to work as magically with Paul, even when he's holding a sleeping Jonah. I guess there's something to be said for machismo.)

Anyway, consider this post to be me getting on the bus with a bag of caramels and giving you my spiel:

As you probably know, we're here in Ecuador because I'm volunteering (as in getting no money whatsoever) for Asylum Access, a very young non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance to refugees in Ecuador. By advising refugees of their rights and representing them through their refugee status determination hearings, Asylum Access is helping refugees get legal protection so they can assert their human rights. It's a pretty original idea, and one that no other US organization is doing: providing rights-based aid to get people legal refugee status so that they can get out of limbo and begin to rebuild their lives.

I am constantly amazed at the stories I hear from the people who walk through our doors. They tell of scenarios that we Americans only see in the movies, literally. For example I'm currently working with a 23 year old car mechanic from Colombia who set up shop in January. One day in May, four FARC guerrillas came into his shop, dropped off their car and told him to fix it, "or else." Unfortunately for him, he is a diesel engine mechanic and the SUV they brought in was a gas engine. Apparently there's a big difference, at least for him. He spent 2 days working on the car and it ran okay when the armed guerrillas came to pick it up. Unfortunately, he didn't do it right, because shortly after that, the car broke down on the side of the road, smoke spewing from under the hood. The guerrillas stopped a passerby and sent a message to my client: "We're coming for you." When he got the message, he and his assistant took off immediately, abandoning their shop, and a week later were seeking refugee status in Ecuador.

Another client I'm working with is a 30-year old mother of two young children. (I'm most affected by the clients with little kids. I always imagine myself in their place, fleeing with Maya and Jonah in the dead of night, with no snacks or toys.) She was lucky enough to find a job in Medellin, Colombia, where unemployment is pretty high. She sold shoes and earned a decent living. Unfortunately her boss was involved with the paramilitaries, sold stolen cars, and probably was a big time drug dealer, based on the enormous amounts of cash he kept hidden in his mom's house. Her aunt worked as a cook in the boss' mom's house and unwisely started stealing some of the cash. Three weeks ago, the aunt decided to take advantage of the boss being out of town, enlisted my client's husband, and planned a larger theft. They were caught in the act by the boss' sister. The next day, the aunt's body turned up decapitated and otherwise mutilated, with obvious signs of torture. She hasn't heard from the husband since then. That night, she fled Medellin, with her 7- and 2-year old children. She arrived at the Colombia-Ecuador border, alone, afraid, and penniless at 10pm. Maya and Jonah would have been absolutely melting down. I can't even imagine. She crossed into Ecuador, arrived in Quito, and tried calling her family to tell them she was okay. She hasn't been able to get in touch with any of her three sisters or her mother in the 2 1/2 weeks that she's been here. The boss knew where they lived and she now fears that they're dead.

The mechanic's case was initially denied and we're helping him prepare an appeal.

The woman has her interview tomorrow morning to determine whether she is in fact a refugee and whether she will get to stay in Ecuador legally. We think it's a pretty strong case, so we're cautiously hopeful. If her application is approved, this woman will be allowed to start a new life in Ecuador and enroll her children in school. (Unfortunately she's Colombian and black, so she faces enormous discrimination in Ecuador, even if she is legal, but that's a subject for another post.) If her husband is still alive, he'll be able to live here too.

I’m asking you to consider supporting this cause. Our resources are scarce. Of the 9 people on our staff at the moment, only one person, the Program Director, gets any salary at all. All the rest of us are volunteers, committing a minimum of three months to being here and working with desperate people. It's a pretty low-budget operation. Our annual budget for 2007-2008 is only $200,000, so even a small contribution goes a very long way.

Having been relatively successful since its inception less than a year ago, Asylum Access is trying to expand to keep up with demand. Colombians constitute the largest refugee population in the world, and Ecuador is where most of them flee to. Our name is becoming known among the refugee community and more and more people are coming to us for assistance. The clients whose cases we have worked on are getting approved. At the same time, we are working on public policy initiatives to help more than just our clients. The legal standard here is shockingly low and we are working to make the refugee status determination process more professional and up to international standards.

Refugees in the “global south” are generally off the radar for most large funding organizations, and being a young organization, it is difficult for us to run expensive fund-raising campaigns. This is why all of us who work in Asylum Access are turning to those people who we know would take their time to learn about our work and needs (or at least to those people who have enough time on their hands to read this blog.)

I tease Paul about writing long rambling posts, so I will end mine here. If you would like to support the work of Asylum Access, even a small donation will have a great impact. (We are looking to hire a legal director at the bargain salary of $300 a month!) You can donate online here or at http://www.asylumaccess.org/donate.html and you can specify that you want your contribution to go to the Ecuador project. You can also send a check to Asylum Access, PO Box 14205, San Francisco, CA 94114.

Thanks for reading (and donating).