For senior government and politics major Erica Fuentes, helping an Ecuadorian community on an Alternative Breaks trip inspired her to spread awareness at the University of Maryland about the lack of school supplies provided for some students in the South American country.
Now Fuentes, a member of this university’s Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha sorority chapter, is working with her organization to give back to one Ecuador school that has a high indigenous population. “While we were there, we were able to immerse ourselves in the indigenous culture, but also learn about social issues that indigenous people are facing in Ecuador,” Fuentes said. “At the school, a lot of us saw a really large need to help.”
Sigma Iota Alpha, the American Indian Student Union, and this university’s chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha, a Latin sorority, will be hosting a school supplies drive throughout Hispanic Heritage Month for the Efrain Naula Primary School in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Because of the lack of school supplies for students at Efrain Naula, Fuentes, along with two other students from her Alternative Breaks trip, wanted to do something to help after returning to the U.S.
“We wanted to partner with our sororities as well as other student organizations on [the] campus to start a movement to fulfill the needs of the school,” she said.
This fundraiser is a great way to spread the word to students about this indigenous community, said Karla Casique, the American Indian Student Union president.
“One of my goals for this year was to branch out and tap into the other forms of indigenous identities,” said Casique, a junior journalism major. “When people think of AISU, people have only focused on Native Americans in the United States, but I wanted to tap into the other forms of indigenous identities, such as … the ones in Latin America.”
The idea that children would not be able to go to school because they don’t have supplies was a surprise, senior communication major Britney Sagastizado said.
“During the trip, my class [at the school] was Pre-K through first grade, and in our class, I asked the teacher where do [the students] get the supplies from,” said Sagastizado, member of Lambda Theta Alpha. “She said that all the school supplies have to be provided by the parent and if [the parents] can’t afford the supplies, then the kids cannot go to school.”
During the course of the month, there will be donation boxes in the Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office located on the main floor of Stamp Student Union, Fuentes said.
The supply drive will also bring attention to an aspect of Latino identities that people don’t often address, she added.
“There are so many indigenous communities that continue to thrive, continue to exist in Latin America,” Fuentes said. “That isn’t necessarily a narrative that you hear when you are talking about the Latino community.”
A fundraiser such as this one would allow more people to become aware of what is going on internationally, Sagastizado said.
“Oftentimes we close our eyes to live the American way, and it is actually a very privileged way,” she said, “where we have free education and all these things are provided for us and we fail to realize that this isn’t how it’s happening in other places around the world.”
