Safety and Security in Shandia

Safety and Security in Ecuador and tena area

Ecuador is an amazing country with an incredible amount of culture, food, and natural beauty to share with guests. The area that we live and the community that we work and live next to is no exception, with stunning water falls, white water rafting, howler monkeys, chicha, and open doors.

However, like in every country in the world, Ecuador also has its moments of politically motivated unrest and influence from the international narco-trafficking. Understanding the context of these acts is incredibly important to understanding the daily safety of an international volunteer in Ecuador and so as an organization, we would like to give more context to the situation in Ecuador as well as affirm Manna’s continued commitment to safety and relay our confidence that the internationally publicized events will not impact international volunteer participation moving forward.

Like in much of Latin America, the rise in crime is influenced heavily by the increase in international drug trafficking going further north (to Mexico and the US). In the time that we have been in Ecuador (about 15 years), we have seen some increase locally in petty crime, but have not experienced any of the violent crime statistics that you see on TV or read in the news. Much of this tends to stay closer to the coast and largely in the province of Guayaquil, which has been sadly most impacted with the growth of drug trafficking as it serves a major thoroughfare from one country to the next.

Manna is located in the rural community of Shandia, which is located near Tena, in the Napo province. It is about a 4 hour drive from Quito and even farther from the coast and any of the major political or economic centers of the country. It's a community of 365 people and is considered, both on a national and international level, to be a very safe place. To give a few anecdotal examples, most people leave their doors unlocked and most do not have windows on their houses, instead using curtains for privacy and letting the fresh air enter into the home; children will finish school at 1 pm and are often left to their own devices in the afternoon, meaning they will play soccer in the field or at the school, only returning home at dark to eat dinner or have a snack before activities in the evening time. We have not had a single staff member, participant, or parent of a participant (both locally or internationally) feel unsafe within the community of Shandia in the past 2 years that we've had relationships there.

We value safety very highly and take all precautions when assessing risk for our international volunteers. In doing so, we have a wide array of precautions and rules that we put in place to mitigate risk and ensure that volunteers from ages 16 to 96 are able to grow and learn during their time with us. A few things that we do:

• We follow all US State Department recommendations - this means that we do not allow travel to Carchi, Sucumbíos, the northern part of Esmeraldas provinces (including Esmeraldas city), Guayaquil, south of Portete de Tarquí Avenue.

• Short term volunteers must always walk with a buddy (never alone) and are to stay within the town limit.

• Long term volunteers always walk with a buddy after dark.

• No one is permitted to participate in any sort of political event, both for safety as well as to protect our status as a non-governmental organization in Ecuador.

• No one is allowed to attend protests of any sort or any large gathering for political or other reasons.

• We have a zero drug policy and no alcohol is allowed in the community.

• Our international volunteers and interns are busy. Volunteers are often in classes at 7:30 in the morning in the public school and frequently have community events, classes, or meetings at 8 or 9 pm.

• When we do cultural activities away from Shandia, at least 2 local guides accompany the group in addition to Manna leaders who are fluent in Spanish and know the community well.

• We only use trusted partners, providers, and companies for any activities that have a deemed health or safety risk (such as hikes, waterfall adventures, or cooking classes).

• Our long term volunteers live together in between two houses - one located in the center of Shandia with multiple trusted Manna partners on all sides and the other in the community of Talag (15 minutes away), where the landlord lives on the property and runs a small shop on the bottom floor.

• We house our short-term groups in a community run hotel. Each room has a door lock and a safe for personal belongings. The lodge has a gate that is locked after 8 pm every night and 24/7 staff on-site. This hotel is within the community of Shandia and we have had a long and trusting partnership.

• We only use trusted private transportation with short term groups and when arriving / going to Quito.

MPI has experience keeping our volunteers safe for almost 20 years across 3 Latin American countries, and we continue to feel very comfortable providing our volunteers in Ecuador with a safe, rewarding experience in the community of Shandia.

If you have any questions about safety and security, do not hesitate to reach out to Abby Pauley, abby@mannaproject.org.