CETAP-Lucy Child Sponsorship Program

CETAP-Lucy is an educational-support organization in Chilcapamba, Ecuador. It provides technical support, speech therapy, psychological counseling, and tutoring for disadvantaged children and families.

A lot worth celebrating has happened wince our last report in January!

All our students who have been using the computers at CETAP-Lucy for on-line learning received passing grades and were promoted at the end of the semester that ended in January. Since then, the students are back in their regular classrooms. Not all of our former afternoon students are attending now because their school hours conflict, but we have eight new enrollees. All the new students have emotional or intellectual problems. As COVID has subsided, we are able to have our psychologist, Dr. Pablo Tapia, back on site. The lockdown, financial issues, and family deaths have caused many stress-related conditions in the community, and he is able to provide counselling once again. We are also very pleased that one of our teachers, Mayra Quito, is now a certified child psychologist. She evaluates children to assure their learning disabilities are properly diagnosed and that they are placed in the proper special education classes in various schools.

The English-language course scholarships provided by the California-based Children of the Night program has been renewed. Originally, we had ten children receiving on-one instruction three times a week. This semester, eight more children have been accepted into the program, bringing the number to eighteen. We hope that the Ecuadorian university students who volunteered during the school closure will be able to return soon.

During the surges of COVID, we were able to have our preschool students only three times a week. We have returned to a five-day schedule. In addition, our gringo-retiree volunteers have returned, bringing the small children fun art projects and games every week. The children benefit from the attention of their “abuelos y abuelitas.” 

In addition, CETAP-Lucy and the new Lucy Bakery continues to act as a collection and distribution center for food for poor families, in cooperation with the Cuenca Soup Kitchen, a sister Hearts of Gold supported foundation.

We are blessed by the gift of support by GlobalGiving and we do our best to use the funds we receive in the most responsible and frugal ways possible. We are proud of our ability to be flexible and to respond to changing circumstances. We thank you every day!