Dozens of Ecuadorian families in Queens head to local video conferencing centers every day to chat with family members in Ecuador, as opposed to simply emailing or calling, according to an article today by Gloria Medina in El Diario La Prensa.
Whether families are divided voluntarily or by the strictures of immigration law, the burgeoning business speaks to a desire for relatives to stay connected. Video chatting has become so popular that since 2009, the Ecuadorean National Department of the Migrant has even offered its own free video conferencing service for Ecuadorian immigrants.
From the article:
“On weekends, we schedule up 30 video conferencing reservations,” said Mireya Palacios, one of the people tending to clients at a financial center located on 80th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. “As slow as we might get in a day, we never have less than six reservations.”
Image courtesy of kevin yezbick via Flickr.
