Help working children into school

The CENIT community are still feeling the impact of the pandemic. During the lockdowns, markets were closed and the children and families that make up the CENIT community lost their main source of income. CENIT staff saw many more children out working in dangerous environments and spending time begging on the streets. In the struggle to eliminate child labour, things have been moving in the wrong direction, which is why CENIT's work is more important than ever.

Thankfully, the children are all back in school now, but of course there is a lot of catching up to do. Approximately 90% of CENIT children do not have access to internet at home, so it was impossible to conduct online learning. Instead, during the lockdowns staff visited the children every two weeks to provide worksheets for children to be able to learn at home. But the consequences of the school time missed will be felt for years to come.

The demand for CENIT’s programmes is greater than ever and they now have 80 children participating in the street outreach programme, 90 in the tutoring programme and 80 in the school. There are also 25 members of staff supported by volunteers. Since the pandemic, there are far fewer international volunteers, but CENIT have successfully engaged more Ecuadorian volunteers mainly through links with the universities.

CENIT continues helping children and young people turn their lives around through education and training as well as social and psychological support and healthcare. We are proud to be partners of this fantastic organisation.

Thank you for supporting CENIT.