International Aid Tents – From Post-Earthquake Tent City to Traveling Circus

What happened to tents from Ecuador’s post-earthquake tent cities?

After the April 16, 2016 devastating 7.8 Ecuador earthquake, international aid organizations raced to Ecuador, assisting those who lost everything. Aid organizations set up tent camps where families who lost their homes lived, some for a few weeks, some for many months, a few for more than a year.

As Ecuador recovered from the earthquake, families, one by one, vacated the tents and moved into new homes.

A second life with the circus

When the circus came to Puerto Lopez recently, performers set up their own tent housing behind the big tent. Two of the tents looked familiar. On closer inspection, they were from the tent camps like those my friend Pastor Gary Vance visited after the earthquake.

Tent behind circus big top in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador

Gary is the founder of Tears2Water and installed water filters at many of those camps to provide life saving clean drinking water (read my previous posts about his incredible efforts here and here).

The tents at the circus had come from a Chinese aid organization who came to Ecuador’s aid in 2016. See the tents in the background in the photo below – they are identical to those traveling with the circus.

See the tents in the background? The circus has two now. Photo courtesy of Gary Vance, Tears2Water

Reading the tent situation incorrectly

A visitor in town saw those tents, too and later laughed as she said “Did you see the circus brought tents with Chinese written on them? Why would they do that?” When she learned the tent origins, she went back to the circus to take photos of the tents. Thankfully, it was the closest she came to seeing tent camps during her Ecuador travels since former earthquake homeless families now have places to call home.

From post-earthquake tent city to traveling circus

How did the circus end up with these tents? They purchased them. Once the tent camps no longer needed them, they sold tents to the public. Nice to see the tents recycled.

A tent like that would be handy if I still lived in the US, where I did a lot of tent camping. Would you buy a tent like these if they were for sale in your area?