Environmental Disaster in Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador

The Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas, including San Lorenzo (the mission site of this year’s Tehlička collection), is currently facing a severe environmental disaster. Due to damage to an oil pipeline, an oil spill has contaminated 80 km of water bodies. Many communities depend on these contaminated rivers as their only source of drinking water and livelihood through fishing. The disaster has affected over 500,000 people. Many of them cannot afford to buy bottled drinking water or food. Due to low awareness of the impact of the environmental disaster, many people continue to use contaminated water, causing serious health problems. Therefore, our goal is to increase the resilience of local communities through quality education and raising awareness.

Educated people integrated into the labor market have better mental and financial capacity to respond adequately to crisis situations, such as the one currently faced by Esmeraldas province. You can also support education in San Lorenzo in Esmeraldas province, Ecuador, through this year’s TEHLIČKA public collection. More information at www.tehlicka.sk.