Stories of Children in the Program

Here are just a few of the many young girls whose lives have been drastically changed through their participation in this program:

Cecilia

Cecilia is a student in CENIT’s Primary Workshop School. She lives in an extremely poverty stricken condition. She is 13 years old and one of seven children. Cecilia’s parents separated several years ago and her mother struggles to support her children selling herbs in the local marketplace. Cecilia helps her mother by looking after her younger siblings and keeping house.

Anita

This child belongs to a very poor family that migrated from the city of Ambato to Quito to find work. Her father died and her mother went to work in Spain as a cleaner so that she could send money back to her children. Anita has one brother and one sister, but the children were separated when their mother moved to Spain; now the child lives with her aunt who makes money washing clothes and has four children of her own. Anita came to school at CENIT in 2001; she works to help support her family and in July of 2002 she suffered from an accident while working which required extensive eye surgery. She has been receiving a scholarship through the Adopt-a-Dream program which has helped her continue her studies through the high school level. The scholarship also allowed her to receive her emergency operation when she needed it.

Maria

This girl started studying at the CENIT ESTAR School in 2001 at the request of her aunt. She was living with her mother and step-father, who made their living through illegal activities such as drug dealing. This girl and one of her sisters were victims of constant physical, psychological and sexual violence from their step-father. She is one of nine children and her family’s economic situation forced her to abandon school so she could work to help support her younger siblings. She now lives with her aunt and her younger siblings and has been studying at CENIT for three years. She has been working closely with the social workers and psychologist here.