Johana is 10 years old and is in the six grade. She is the fourth of five siblings.   Johana’s mom works selling vegetables in the Camal market in the south of Quito, Ecuador, and her dad works when possible in construction. Johana and her siblings help her mom sell vegetables on the weekends. Both parents are illiterate, and Johana and her siblings weren’t exposed to reading or writing at an early age. Because of this she’s had a hard time keeping up with her peers in school. Since Johana started attending after school homework help sessions at CENIT’s CEA (Centro de Apoyo Escolar) program, she no longer struggles with the pace of class. She has been responsible, reliable and very motivated at these sessions, and hopefully her hard work will lead to better opportunities for her and her family.

Thank you, Melissa, for helping Johana gain a lifelong skill she can pass on to future generations!

Anita works at CENIT as a health educator. She teaches students and parents about living a healthy lifestyle, and she also teaches sexual education, a subject that many students know very little about. This class is an important way of preventing teenage pregnancies. Anita also works with parents, many of whom are unfamiliar with many illness and their causes. Improved education helps them have healthier homes and families.

Thanks to your donation, Anita will be able to keep up her work helping people in her community stay healthy!

Jorge is 10 years old, and he is in first grade at CENIT’s primary school, ESTAR. This school is specially structured to accept kids of all ages who are behind in their studies because their parents haven’t been able to put them in school. Because of this setup at ESTAR, children like Jorge have a chance to study hard and catch up to their peers academically.

Jorge lives with his mom, his four brothers and sisters, and his step father. His mother is an ambulatory vendor who works selling flowers in various parks in the city. His stepfather works collecting fares on a city bus. His family is very poor: they don’t have a municipal water connection to their house, instead relying on rain water for consumption and daily use. Sometimes when it doesn’t rain and his family has no water, neighbors give them some of theirs.

There is also a lot of domestic turmoil at home, which often affects Jorge’s ability to focus at school. Despite all of these obstacles, he is working hard, happy to be in ESTAR, and grateful to have a warm, healthy lunch every day – one less thing to worry about.

Thanks for helping to keep Jorge well-fed and in school!

Rosa (affectionately known as “Profe Rosa” by her students) has been working at CENIT’s primary school ESTAR in Ecuador for four years. She has been a teacher most of her life, and is very passionate about the arts. At CENIT she teaches ceramics, since CENIT received some funding several years ago to install a ceramics workshop. Her class is a great opportunity for CENIT’s students to relax, learn, and express themselves artistically. It’s an experience that many of these poor children from conflict filled households don’t have in other parts of their lives.

Rosa has a lot of patience with her students, and likes them to see her as their friend. Thank you to all of the generous donors who will keep Rosa at CENIT.

Roberto is 9 years old, and is in 5th grade at the Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra school in the south of Quito. He really likes art class (especially drawing) and sports, especially soccer. He lives with his parents and his siblings. His father is a security guard, and his mother sells fruits and vegetables as a mobile vendor. Roberto thinks he would like to be a security guard like his Dad when he grows up. This profession earns a minimum wage of $32o per month.

Roberto’s behavior at school has improved a lot recently with the help of CENIT’s psychologist.  He is now able to pay better attention at home, and is completing his homework.  For the past 2 years he has been attending CENIT’s homework help center.  He likes attending because he gets help with his homework, is able to see his friends, gets to eat a healthy snack, and has a chance to play as well. Thank you Marisa for giving Roberto the opportunity to succeed in school!

Isaac is 6 years old, and is in second grade at the Otto Arosemena Gomez in the south of Quito, Ecuador.  He is originally from the province of Imbabura, a mountainous province in the northern part of Ecuador. His family moved to Quito in search of opportunity.

Isaac lives with his mother and his stepfather. He has never known his dad. His mom works cleaning houses, and is often rough with him.  His stepfather works on the Coast of Ecuador, and usually isn’t around. Isaac is working through both these issues with CENIT’s psychologist, and is doing better in school.

Isaac is very smart, he likes to study, and to play with his friends.  The knowledge that he will have a month of warm, healthy lunches at CENIT is really important to Isaac, as this is often his best meal of the day. Thank you Ryan for giving Isaac this sense of security!

Physical education is an important class at CENIT because it gives the students the chance to play and exercise – luxuries they normally wouldn’t have between school, work, and helping out around the house. The chance to simply be kids for a while, to run and jump and even to work on their motor skills is really important. Physical education class is a time when CENIT students can be distracted, when they don’t have to think about their often volatile home and personal situations.

The students also appreciate having a positive male role model who they can relate to like they can with Fabian.

Thanks to your generosity, CENIT will have enough funds to pay Fabian’s salary for another month, and keep their students in gym class!

Rosa is 15 years old, and is in ninth grade at the Rosa Virginia Vocational High School at CENIT.  When she was young, Rosa was a victim of domestic abuse: something which she is working to overcome with CENIT’s psychologist. She currently lives with her mother, stepfather, and her siblings. Her mother works for the Ecuadorian newspaper “El Comercio,” and earns $260 per month. Her step father works in construction. Her mother also receives counseling at work, and Rosita hopes that one day they will have a better relationship.

Rosita takes comfort in knowing that she will have another month of warm, healthy lunches at CENIT. Thank you Gillian for your kind donation!