Donna Siberry Trip To Ecuador

The trip was amazing. I met some wonderful people. I lived with an Ecuadorian family in North Quito and worked at the project, CENIT in the

South of the city. My day usually consisted of travelling to a localmarket to do outreach work with the children who work there with their families. Most don't receive any formal education and all are very poor.
Their living conditions can be at best described as squalid but the children I worked with were absolutely beautiful and so full of fun.
We used to gather them up. We would walk around the market  and by the time we'd got to the end we were like the Piped Piper with childrenhanging off our arms and legs. We then would wash their hands and brush their teeth as their basic hygiene awareness was very poor. Most of the children had rotten teeth and this was the only time they would get theirTeeth cleaned. The numbers we had varied daily depending on how busy the market was. On our quietest days we would have 10-15. On Fridays we hadabout 45!
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Over the last few weeks we have had access to a room where we used to deliver (basic) education (kindergarten level) We would do that, in reparation for at least some of them attending school in the future and then afterwards sing songs and do craft activities. Prior to being given
the room, we used to conduct all our activities with the children outsidein the market.

Cenit's aim is to encourage and support the parents in sending them to school, including the one that Cenit runs. They also have Social Workers who identify and support families that are in serious poverty or have health or vulnerability issues. ( There is no welfare state or free health
care in Ecuador)Cenit's school is a compromise as they condense 6 years education into 3 years, thus giving the children more opportunities to hep
support their families financially. In the afternoons I also taught English in the school to the students. This was challenging but also a lot
of fun.

I hope the pictures give you an idea of the work I did there and once again, many thanks for your sponsorship. It was the best thing I have ever
done.