Ambato

Her family had never dreamed of leaving their home in Ambato, a city in the highlands of Ecuador.

"The only information we've had is from the guards who managed to get out. They're the only ones who have told us that our relatives are OK," he tells me from outside the Ambato prison, where he's spent hours waiting for news.

Having grown up in Tottenham and on an organic farm in Ecuador’s Ambato, rapper and youth worker Guala also found it hard to find peers with his complex heritage.

Ambato, Cuenca, Santo Domingo de los Colorados and some other cities in Ecuador face a similarly difficult situation, said Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos.

In December, Mr. Moncayo rented a small room in his modest East Elmhurst home to Mr. Garces, who arrived from Ambato, Ecuador, three years ago.