One woman has sheltered thousands of Venezuelan migrants and has no plans to stop soon

A Venezuelan Migrant Crosses Over into Colombia in 2015. (Wikimedia)

Over the last two years, one Ecuadorian woman has given shelter to over 8,500 Venezuelan refugees fleeing south. Carmen Carcelen, a 48-year-old mother-of-eight, has converted her three-story cement home in Juncal, Ecuador into a migrant hostel capable of housing over 100 people at a time. Conveniently located between the Rumichaca Colombia-Ecuador border crossing and the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, Carcelen provides her guests with desperately-needed food, safety, and shelter, all completely for free.

Many of the migrants who arrive on Carcelen’s doorstep have been on the road traveling by foot for over 20 days. Oftentimes the migrants arrive with harrowing stories, including fleeing from men with machetes and watching fellow travelers fall off the backs of trucks. One migrant, Edgar Soto, said that his night in Carcelen’s home was the first he had spent with a roof over his head in six days.

Since the end of 2015, the number of people fleeing economic and political turmoil in Venezuela has skyrocketed. Over four million people have left so far. Many migrants travel through Colombia to enter Ecuador. 

In late August, Ecuador joined many other South American countries in implementing new measures that would limit Venezuelan immigration. Ecuador will now require all Venezualan immigrants entering the country to have a visa, which cannot be obtained without a passport and a background check. These new requirements would make entry into Ecuador impossible for many Venezuelans who cannot afford to pay the several months salary required to purchase a passport. The new immigration restrictions did not go into place until October, so the last few months have seen a rush of migrants into Ecuador as Venezualans try to get there before it becomes nearly impossible.

According to Juan Pablo Terminiello, a protection officer with the UN Refugee Organization in Quito, citizen initiatives like these are essential when it comes to making migrants and refugees feel protected and integrated into their new societies. However, it is unclear whether grassroots organizations like this one can be sustained in the long term. Carcelen, for example, receives some small donations from international aid organizations, but mostly keeps her doors open using the money her husband makes selling fruit and vegetables. 

It is unclear whether the new Ecuadorian immigration restrictions going into place this month will successfully reduce the number of Venezuelan migrants or will only force them to enter the country through more dangerous, less regulated entry points. No matter what happens, Carcalen has promised that she will keep her home open, providing vital resources, as well as hugs and foot rubs, until the crisis has passed.