Monte Sinai

“Para nosotros, un problema tal vez más grave que el narcotráfico son estas invasiones, y ni siquiera está tipificado el delito adecuadamente, ni siquiera existen las sanciones drásticas del caso.”

 - Rafael Correa, Presidente de Ecuador

   According to the president of Ecuador invasive communities are the biggest problem of Ecuador, more than the traffic of drugs. Monte Sinai is such community. And so, I would like to share with you a brief history written by a former volunteer of the place and people I now call home.

   As an invasion community in the Northen Perimetral region of Guayaquil, Monte Sinai is both like and unlike the invasion communities of Duran. The area that is now referred to as Monte Sinai used to be farm and swamp land. A few wealthy men monopolized the land and began selling it to fellow Ecuadorians. Drawn by the opportunity to own their own land, many people migrated to this area from the mountains and city. Although residents did indeed pay for this land, paid the pseudo-owner, the government fails to officially recognize the land as properly theirs. The land had been sanctioned off by the government for agricultural use before the land-trafficking began. Monte Sinai got “on the map” and on the news after a six year old girl was murdered last year. Since then there is police presence in the area, and a census has been conducted. Population estimates are around 50,000 inhabitants.

   In January 2011, the President stepped in and arrested the land traffickers. Some families who had paid the pseudo owner for their land were evacuated. President Correa has legally recognized the community but it is still in the early stage of development. Ecuador has no legislation that deals with land trafficking and so the President is in a difficult position. Evacuating the people or legalizing the land. So far he has paved the main road from the highway to the entrance of Mont Sinai and has established two mobile police units. There is much confusion in regards to this matter, but Ecuadorians have begun organizing themselves, working towards legalizing the land and developing the local community.

   As a Rostro de Crsito volunteer our mission is to accompany the people in their plight. Each family has a unique story that brought them to this land, stories we take the time to listen to, stories of struggle and survival, but also of hope. All of the people I have interacted with so far have so much to say about the land-trafficking, yet their hope remains in God, a God that provides for them day to day. As I learn about the history of Mount Sinai, I also learn the faith of the people. Though I am not Ecuadorian, poco a poco, with the hospitality and love of the people, Mount Sinai is becoming my home.