La Salesiana Frente a la Movilizacion Popular de Octubre de 2019: Memoria De una Accion Solidaria

During the week of October 7-14, the country experienced days of tension and violence that affected everyone in different ways. In this context, I accepted that the Salesian Polytechnic University - El Girón Campus became a zone of peace and humanitarian shelter for indigenous communities marching towards Quito during the days of social protest. On October 7, we received requests for accommodation from several communities with which we have a relationship because they are those where many Salesiana graduates live or because we carry out community outreach projects there or because of historical relations of our university with the indigenous peoples and nationalities of the Sierra and the East, mainly. Therefore, I considered that it was a matter of reciprocity to receive them at the university. After a more relaxed balance at the end of the days of protest, I believe that the decision taken was the right one, since it was appropriate, as a university, to open our doors to those who, as we well knew, came to participate in the national strike, because they felt affected by public policy decisions. The response of the academic community was overwhelming and more than 100 volunteers per day were called - mainly students, alumni, teachers and administrative staff of the Salesiana, but not exclusively - who were present to effectively manage the main lines of action of humanitarian shelter, health care, food and sanitary conditions. In this way, a solid and very supportive "we" acted, of which I am very proud, and which had very concrete results.