Educate and empower 200 kids at-risk in Ecuador

We have renovated our Early Childhood services: This has allowed us to improve their effectiveness, providing access to quality early education to more than 250 children in vulnerable conditions. 99% of our children in the 'Ojos de Cielo' nursery and the 'PelCa' Home School Program have developed skills and abilities in accordance with their age. Approx. 130 malnourished or extremely needy preschool children received nutritious meals, and you are an important part of this progress!

In this school year that is ending, the 2 key words have been: Play and Exploration.

Our 'Ojos de Cielo' already has its "Atelier". It is an educational space that prioritizes creativity and research through languages -mainly artistic- with a variety of materials, tools and resources. The 'Atelier' has allowed us to reinforce the learning experiences and improve the attentive listening and observation of the child, the environment, the documentation of the process and the use of unstructured and -mostly- environmentally friendly materials.

In contrast, now in 'PelCa' the activities with the children have been developed through free play, setting the space with stimuli (deconstructed toys and resources easily available at home) according to the child's age, while their parents learn to observe and intervene. Only what is necessary, aided by an instrument that indicates the skills that the child should develop in the month. This approach has taught parents to measure their children's progress, to use their creativity to stimulate them even more at home, and to discover the usefulness of unstructured materials instead of buying plastic toys.

This is just one example of how our children, feeling cared for, loved and accompanied, begin to change:

Maycky is 3 years old and lives with his parents (Jonathan and Anahi), who met at our Youth Center, when they were part of the youth education program. Her father works as a cook and her mother is a cleaning assistant in a company.

Maycky -when she entered "Ojos de Cielo" in 2020- was very shy, she barely spoke and was very reactive, she used to get angry, cry, yell and reproach (sometimes violently) her classmates, she had trouble following instructions and trying nutritious food. Little by little, thanks to the constant accompaniment of her educator and the day to day with her classmates, Maycky began to change positively, especially in her behavior, he became more conscious of her actions and more sensitive to the feelings and actions of others. In addition, he learned to respect classroom agreements, he realizes when he makes mistakes and apologizes, he likes to collaborate and help in the classroom and develops with more autonomy and responsibility.