Election campaign tarps are used to build dog houses

Collecting the canvases for the electoral campaign is the first step of the Minka initiative, which builds houses for dogs that live on the streets of Quito.

In the first weekend of work, the initiative managed to build 38 dog houses.

In the San Blas neighborhood house, around 20 people gather to build homes for the furry ones who are cold at night without a home.

Juan Carlos Rojas, a member of the initiative and president of the neighborhood, says that residents from other sectors are also collaborating.

This is the fifth electoral period in which the group works on the development of the houses. Only in the first weekend of work, 38 structures were delivered.

Tatiana Tipantuña is another of the volunteers who is dedicated to painting the canvases. “With the colors and the details, the children get excited”, she details.

Although it is so, many people do not agree with the project and several houses have already been vandalized. Rojas says that a couple were burned and destroyed in the north of Quito.

Others have already been delivered to communities outside the capital. “The idea would be for more people to join in other neighborhoods,” Rojas exhorts.

What he regrets is that during the electoral campaign some candidates offered to deliver the banners at the end of that stage, but none complied and now it is the young people who are organizing to remove advertising from public space. This is even though before the Carnival holiday the deadline for political movements to remove the elements expires.

The time it takes to make each house is two hours. Among the materials they use are also scrap wood and recycled bottles.

What they lack to continue their mission are tacks. They prefer not to use nails that could hurt the animals.