A few days ago I woke up to the terrifying news that El Placer, the tiny rural village that is home to my beloved Ecuadorian host family, had been destroyed by massive landslides. I was thankful to my core when I finally was able to hear news from the family that all of them had been able to escape the landslide unscathed, but am heartbroken at the news of how completely their home and community has been shattered. It won’t be possible for the Recalde family to return home, and they and their entire community will be forced to completely start over and rebuild elsewhere.

I lived with the Recalde family and the community of El Placer at the age of 22, when I was conducting research in the awe-inspiring mountain rainforests surrounding the village. The Recaldes took me in as one of their own from the very first day that I met them, and I knew I would always be able to count on them. My host dad and good friend, Abdón, worked with me in the forest the whole year I lived there. He constantly ensured my survival while macheteing our trail through the jungle and singing his favorite love songs. And my Mami Rocío is the sweetest matriach -- a mother of 8 and also grandmother of 8 -- and you just have to melt into every hug she gives. I'd spend my afternoons running around the paths and alleys of the village with the kids, playing endless games and being greeted everywhere as neighbor, cousin, sister, daughter, auntie, or often my given nickname 'Alita de KFC' (little KFC chicken wing). The Recaldes showed me and everyone around them an infectious radical kindness that I have rarely seen. Their unrelenting generosity has made Abdón and Rocío true pillars in the Placer community, where interdependence is the way of life.

The recent floods in Ecuador have laid waste to rural communities across the small South American country, but El Placer, my home away from home, is among the worst affected. Torrential rains caused massive landslides that covered large parts of the village. The death toll has reached 8 people, 11 are still missing, and 22 people seriously injured. In a farming town of just a few hundred people, the entire community is completely devastated. To make matters even worse, the structures that are left in the village are no longer safe or habitable and are being pillaged while the inhabitants remain away.

The Recaldes have a small farm outside of the village where the family of 22 are all currently taking refuge in a cabin (see photo). They are hoping to raise enough funds to purchase building materials so that they can rebuild their houses on the family farm. Any donation you are able to give truly means the world to me and to my familia placereña. The Recaldes and their community cooperate to skillfully build all of their own structures self-sufficiently, so even a little bit will go a very long way.

The Recaldes are some of the most caring, hard-working, honest, and humble people I have had the honor to get to know. They have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps over and over again, and despite all of the pain and hardship they have recently endured, they remain optimistic for a future in which they can rebuild their family homes, as well as their shattered community, on safer ground. Please help us to get their lives back on track.

TLDR Please donate whatever you can to help my beloved Ecuadorian host family rebuild after their entire village was destroyed by massive landslides. Every little bit will go a long way!

El Placer, devastated by a massive landslide that covered much of the village.

The Recaldes all together in their cabin on the family farm, safe from the devastation of their village.

Me and some of the kids of El Placer playing together one afternoon.

Me with my host dad/assistant Abdón Recalde, showing off our berry-stained tongues during a trip to the forest.