For nearly 30 years, Twin Cities Ecuadorian families connect at volleyball picnics
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. — Thousands of immigrants call Minnesota home, but building a new life in a new place is not easy.
But a tradition that has helped make the Twin Cities feel like home for families from Ecuador has been going strong for almost 30 years now.
What true community feels like can be hard to put into words, but you know it when you see it.
"We're together for like anything. We always help each other," Nixon Orellana said.
This gathering, picnic, celebration — all of them fit — has been happening in Minnesota's Ecuadorian community since the 90s.
"I have been playing volleyball since 1996, since I got here to Minnesota, so it's been a long time," Orellana said.
Every weekend during the summer, families come to relax and — they're not shy about saying it — keep their culture alive.
"Language, we try to speak Spanish with the kids, so we don't want to lose that," said Orellana, who helps organize the events.
Columbia Heights resident Stephanie Puma met her husband at one of the picnics
"My dad has been here, and then my siblings and I, so at least two generations. Actually three because of my kids, so it's three generations," Puma said.
She says everyone there is family or on their way to becoming family. And it's growing quickly, with more people coming from different regions of the South American nation.
According to the last census, more than 15,000 people of Ecuadorian descent live in Minnesota.
"A lot of people choose Minneapolis I think because it's a small city, you know, kind of like back home," Orellana said. "Good school system over here. Better life, I would say."