![Alba Pavón, a community leader in the Caminos de la Libertad neighborhood, bathing in a small spring near her home. When she arrived in the city, she performed sacred rituals and practices at this spot to keep her ancestral faith alive.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20191119225528im_/https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/31/lens/31Alarcon1/99eee846f51b43158be8b189ab65fa34-jumbo.jpg)
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Afro-Ecuadoreans Maintain Identity Through Spiritual Practices
The photographer Johis Alarcón documented not just the indelible influence of African culture in Ecuador, but also how the descendants of enslaved women maintained their culture.
By David Gonzalez and