Helping children to grow
Grants allow 40 children from Ecuador to continue to go to school
Education does not come free of charge. Teachers and carers have to be able to live off
their work. However, children from poorer backgrounds often cannot even afford the modest
school fee that the school has to charge. An initiative by the head teacher and local
Carmelites is trying to change this and pay for part of the fee with donations.
The García Moreno parish school was founded over 100 years ago. For around 170 children
from modest backgrounds it represents an important opportunity to acquire through hard
work the skills required to get on in life. This starts with pre-school and finishes
when they complete their basic education at the age of 12. However, the lessons have
to be financed. The teachers and other school personnel have to be paid and the building
has to be maintained.
500 dollars (just over 280 euros) per child is required to make the school pay for itself.
Sandra Vanoni Castillo, the school's headmistress, knows that it is not possible for all
of her pupils to raise even this modest school fee. Together with the Convent of Disalced
Carmelites in Guayaquil, she has therefore kick-started the donation project "Helping
children today to grow". The aim is to pay half the school fee of 40 children and in so
doing ensure that no child has to stop going to school just because his or her parents
are among the poorest in the country.
This is also important because it is in particular the school's children and youngsters
who promote and do youth work in the parish. Each child who is able to finish his education
is therefore also contributes towards social cohesion - and towards a youth that provides hope
of a better future.