Less work and more education for children in Quito

Tania and Nicky, trustees of ViaNiños UK, visited  Ecuador in early July and spent most of their days out in the indigenous markets of Sangolqui’, Guamani’ and Chilogallo in Southern Quito, joining the UBECI social workers and volunteers and their activities in the children’s playgroups.  

The children played with colour and paper to produce picture frames and frogs from an empty toilet roll, portraits of each other, listened to children’s stories, and learnt English with an American volunteer, to mention just some of the activities. The playgroups ended with everybody dancing a traditional Andean dance.
As we arrived at the markets with the UBECI team every morning, we were welcomed by a swarm of children really looking forward to the playgroup. We spoke to several of the mothers, who explained to us how grateful they were for UBECI’s work teaching their children motor and behavioural skills, values, respect for each other, as well as supporting them with school work. Many mothers are illiterate and unable to help their children with homework.

Seeing UBECI’s work with the children in the markets and speaking with Monica and Byron of UBECI, served as a reminder of how important the work of UBECI’s social workers and psychologists is in changing the lives of these children living in poverty.

Since COVID, sadly the presence of drug gangs in Ecuador has grown. Older children and teenagers struggling with school are easy prey for these groups, who recruit them into criminal activities. UBECI’s role in helping with these children’s education, convincing them to persevere and not drop out of school, enabling them to enter a profession when older, is the only chance they have for a better life and an end to the cycle of poverty and violence.

In one of the markets, an illiterate mother, whose native tongue was Quechua, one of Ecuador’s indigenous languages, and who learnt Spanish only to be able to sell her wares at the market, proudly told us how thanks to the help of groups like UBECI and CENIT her eldest daughter had gone on to study civil engineering and had recently graduated. Her ten-year-old daughter was also one of the best in her school class.
Without the intervention and programmes of UBECI, many of these children coming from poor indigenous families would probably have continued working at their parents’ fruit and vegetable stands, failing in school.

I am sharing some of the photographs of our experience of the playgroups to convey the enthusiasm and happiness of the children. It is thanks to all of you that ViaNiños and UBECI can continue their mission to offer street and working children a better future.

UBECI thanks all donors for the support provided in 2024, another year of impactful UBECI programmes in the markets of Southern Quito, Chilogallo, Huamani’, Sangolqui’. UBECI opened up two new playgroup sites in La Michelena and La Jota markets, reaching out to and engaging with over 400 children across all sites, contributing to reduce levels of child labour in these markets.

Education, emotional health and personal development are at the core of UBECI’s work.

Some of the main areas UBECI’s programmes focused on during the year to strengthen the children’s soft skills and resilience included

-        Effective communication

-        Management of emotions

-        Team work

-        Gender equality and respect for all human beings

In playgroups of 10-15, the children are given the space to write, draw, paint, sing and dance. UBECI engages them in role plays, team work and games to learn how to solve problems together, and teaches basic techniques to recognise and manage emotions such as frustration, stress and sadness, increasing their resilience in dealing with the physical and emotional violence they are often subjected to at home.

Through the interaction with foreign volunteers working at the markets together with UBECI’s social workers, the children become aware of the existence of different cultures. They try to communicate with the volunteers and are thrilled to be able to converse with them. At the same time, attention is given in the playgroups to strengthening the children’s identity and identification with their own culture, including teaching Kitchwa, an indigenous language.

Emma, a 5-year old girl, attending UBECI’s playgroup at La Michelena says:

‘’I’m always really happy and full of energy when I take party in UBECI’s playgroups. I sometimes have to work with my father, but prefer attending classes with UBECI’s teachers. I like to learn new things and meet new teachers that are fun and kind, even though they speak another language’’. 

An equally important and complementary aspect of UBECI’s work continues to be the engagement with the children’s mothers, to help improve family relations and the children’s wellbeing.

This work is aimed at providing emotional support to women who face difficult family and work challenges. Poor emotional health, lack of communication and empathy, and domestic violence are all issues that these women need support dealing with. UBECI involves them in  workshops aimed at improving their self-esteem, learning about new ways of educating their children and to tackle domestic violence, helping the children grow up in a more positive environment.

All of this valuable work is made possible only through the continued support of ViaNiños’ donors.

A big thank you to all of you.

The Via Niños UK Team