Help working children into school

CENIT continues to face many challenges and the need for the centre’s services has never been greater. It is a tragedy that there are increasing numbers of working children on Quito’s streets. They are not safe and working also interrupts the children’s education making it increasingly difficult to secure a brighter future.

The crime rate has risen in Ecuador due to the pandemic and economic crisis, which has left the country in dire circumstances. The streets are not safe for children and yet many children are out working, collecting bottles to earn a few cents, for example. Some children chose to stay out on the streets because family life has broken down, with more people turning to alcohol and drugs to escape the bitter realities of daily life.

ViaNinos UK supports the tutoring programme at CENIT by financing the salary of a local teacher. Through this programme, volunteers and teachers support children who are struggling at school to help improve academic performance, build confidence, and prevent school desertion. The programme also offers recreational activities, a safe social space, and a hot lunch and/or healthy snack. At CENIT, they ask for a contribution of 25 cents for lunch, but many families can’t manage to pay this. Of course, nobody is turned away.

The tutoring programme offers a safe space for children, where they can get help with their homework. Through the programme, staff can also identify learning difficulties, behavioural issues, health, social or family problems and access support for the children.

In the academic year 2022-2023, CENIT provided services to 375 children, of these 49 children were supported through the tutoring programme. Thank you for your donations which make this possible.

Did you know ViaNiños was founded in 2003 by former CENIT volunteers? That's how long we have been working together with CENIT! Thanks to your help, we can reliably support CENIT every year, thereby enabling working children in Ecuador to access education build a brighter future.

Whilst ViaNiños makes plans for our 20 year anniversary, CENIT have already celebrated 30 years with the release of a book. The book is called "Memorias del Corazon" (Memories from the heart) and provides information about CENIT's valuable work in promoting education and fighting child labour in Ecuador. There was an official book launch in Quito.

CENIT always marks important events in the calendar with the participation of all the children and International Women's Day is no exception. Historically, CENIT was started to help working girls and the CENIT community know only too well about the suffering and injustice experienced by girls and women in Ecuador on a daily basis and work hard to fight against it. 

Below are some photos from when ViaNiños volunteer, Eva-Maria, went to visit CENIT. As you can see, all the core programmes continue and children still benefit from a daily hot lunch as well as a welcoming centre, professional support and other resources such as the lovely library.   

Thank you for your donations and thank you to CENIT for all that you do!