Ecuador Diary

The hotline has been funcioning for about 2 weeks now. It operates in the afternoons from Monday - Friday, and all day during the weekend. At least 5 women a day call for help, plus more calls come from people who are curious, journalists, and of course people against the hotline. However, the number of people only calling to be insulting are going steadily down. At first, the calls were only coming from Quito. However, with the national news coverage and actions/flyering in other cities calls are coming in from different parts of the country, such as Guayaquil and Ambato. Although much of the news coverage has been surprisingly positive, thanks to some of the negative coverage aired nationally, women around the country have seen the hotline number and have been able to recieve lifesaving information.

About a dozen doctors attended the training for medics on medical abortion. It was a very interesting discussion since, although all the participants were in favor of therapeutic abortion, the participants ranged from doctors firmly in favor of abortion rights to doctors against abortion in all cases except for protecting the life of the mother, in case of severe genetic defects, or if an insane woman is raped. Even though therapeutic abortion is legal in Ecuador, it is very difficult to get good training on how to perform them. Therefore, some of the doctors had crossed half the country to come to the workshop, coming from a variety of regions of Ecuador.

Unfortunately, we have no photos from the workshop due to the wishes and needs of the doctors to remain anonymous.

Abortion is suddenly a hot topic in Ecuador. Yesterday, the whole day in the constitutional assemblies was devoted to the subject of a woman´s right to choose. Next to the football game, it was the biggest story of the day. After a reporter saw a stencil for the hotline, he called and invited a member of the Coordinadora to participate in a radio debate about abortion.

Today the help telephone number was launched at the hill overlooking Quito. The night was short, everybody were busy with preparations till late. We had to get up early to finish the tasks and then we went to the Panecillo. Everyone was curious to see what the action might bring.

New action plans, now there is no ship to launch the hotline.
After all, the ship could only have helped a few women, and the most important aspect of the campaign always was the helpline, which will be in place here so that women will still get help after the campaign ends. The question remained: How can we launch the hotline without the attention that the ship would bring?

Chiel and Dolf, the crew, tried to push the ship back in the sea during high water. It did not succeed but the ship was in a better position. A day later they tried again after a tractor made a ditch. Despite their frantic attempts to pull her in sea, the Harmony ended up higher on the beach.

Just one day after setting sail for Ecuador the ship was caught in a severe storm and stranded ashore. Fortunately the crew Chiel and Dolf survived and are unharmed.
It is still unknown what the damage to the ship is but it is almost sure it will not be able to arrive in Ecuador for the planned campaign.

We just needed to find a ship near Ecuador. We did and since a few weeks Women on Waves is the proud owner of its own "ship"!
After all, in order to be able to sail to international waters to allow women to swallow the abortion pill, one does not need a huge ship with a hospital on board. There is no risk at all that a medical problem associated with the medication can happen at high sees. A medical abortion is like a miscarriage (20% of the pregnancies spontaneously end in a miscariage). The miscarriage (like a menstruation) takes place only hours after the second part of the medical abortion (the use of misoprostol).

The Coordinadora Juvenil por la Equidad de Género (Youth Committee for Gender Equity, ‘CPJ’) invited Women on Waves to come to Ecuador to support them in their stuggle to legalize abortion. CPJ is a youth led organization of men and women between ages 13 and 30 years old. It fosters the voice of young people, promoting a future of inclusion with equity, solidarity, justice and respect. The organization is committed to reaching a society of associative cooperation and sustainability, for both women and men.

The banner strikes again! This time, the banner was flown from the municipal building of the coastal city of Machala. The action, which took place in the central plaza of the city, was accompanied by an awareness action in which a woman dressed as Death raised awareness about the realities of unsafe abortion.

In the morning, a team of activists participated in a procession through Quito that was part of the Inti Raymi Equinox festival, a traditional Andean spiritual festival. Then at night, in the polar opposite environment, we held a festive street parade through Mariscal, the district that is central to Quito´s nightlife.

Everyone was excited by the success of the banner drop at the Virgin, and wanted to do another audatious visibility action as soon as possible. All eyes in Ecuador were focused on the big football game against Columbia. Where else to go and be seen than the stadium?

A group of activists swarmed the city and sprayed the hotline number wherever they could. They worked all night. Next morning before 7.30 the first woman called for help!!!

We arrived!! After a long and sleepless flight, we arrived in Quito. However, there was no time to rest. That same afternoon we met with the local activists to start making the plan of action for the week. Since there is no ship, how are we going to have a successful hotline launch?

We still hope the damage is not too bad and can be fixed in a few days.

The last meeting 2 weeks before the campaign will start. All the volunteers are ready. Emergency search for security firm.
They all predict trouble in Esmeraldas.
Tasks are divided, but nobody really feels like becoming part of the security group. Do we have to wear bullet free vests?

Ecuador is actually claiming 200 miles territorial waters instead of 12 miles like other countries like Colombia.
Fortunately Esmeraldas is only 24 miles from international waters. This is still a bit far but possible.